Hi Carl,
I really liked this post. No question about it; we're putting way more emphasis
on being consumers and producers when it comes to what we teach our children
these days.
I like the way George Carlin puts it:
"we teach them just enough to do the paperwork and run the machines. We don't
want problem solvers and critical thinkers."
I still believe that the kind of traditional liberal arts education that was
more prevalent in high schools and colleges in days gone by produces a human
being more capable of getting along with a wider variety of humans. It also
puts way more emphasis on what some right-wingers believe to be an outmoded
concept. That's the public good. A good grounding in the importance of the
public good produced the greatest generation. The public good was at the center
of their education. Changes that began in the 1960's and continued until today
gave us the baby boomers and generation X.
The greatest generation dealt relatively well with the Great Depression and
World War II. Until very recently, I had concluded that the baby boomers and
generation X might not have fared so well. But the young people of Parkland
have renewed my flickering hope for the future. Perhaps today's kids understand
something that baby boomers and gen Xers do not. Some how, some way, perhaps
the pendulum is swinging back in the direction of the public good over self
only.
Bob Hachey