I need to write some things down and, being at work, I am limited to either A) hand writing them on something that will inevitably get lost or B) write them here where they will more or less be preserved (barring some catastrophe of unknown proportions). I’ve said it before: This blog is in function much like a journal. Below are some thoughts that don’t necessarily match the “journal” paradigm.

I read an article in the Kansas City Star this previous morning that shunted a slew of disparate trains of thought into more of a cohesive whole. The article in question had to do with a local (Kansas City area) study done on high school students and their parents with regard to their opinions about the quality of current and need for further math and science education. The largest percentage of both the students and the parents opined that the current (abysmal really) state of affairs was either 1) fine or 2) better than fine. Most students felt that they would be fine in the real world (whatever that is) with the education they had already recieved. Most parents felt that all such teaching was adequate. Something like less that 30% of parents polled thought that math and science education were lacking and needed improvement.

It almost goes without saying that the most recent testing shows that high schoolers’ math education far underprepares American students for even entry level college courses. And that underpreparedness pales in comparison to just how far our students are behind much of the rest of the world.

At this juncture, it would be meet to list some other late observations:

1) Interstate highway systems (bridges in particular) that are old, falling apart, killing people.

2) Same as above but for inner cities. Recent hearings in congress about the content of rap music and its effects on young listeners brought some sharp rebuttal from one rapper: “Fix our communities and we’ll fix our lyrics.”

3) Same as above but for rural areas. There are some ghost towns here in Kansas that used to be small farming communities. There was also a short film about the skyrocketing suicide rate among farmers. Killing themselves for insurance money to pay off debts. This is a strange problem, but illustrative.

4) The Barak Obama campaign/fiasco/whatever. This is tough, but let me point out what he’s basically doing. His campaign is being run on a “I don’t know shit about Washington so I’m uncorrupted” platform that has a lot of young people engergized enough that they might actually show up at the polls. Many think that he’s a breath of fresh air or some other spurious metaphor. What he represents is the failure of our government, in whole and in part, to do things like… oh, I don’t know… govern without at the same time stealing every dollar they can possibly steal.

I should also note at this point some discussions that I’ve had with various individuals lately concerning work ethic. I know that there is a certain segment of the population that is simply lazy, and wants to get paid for being lazy. I’m willing to except that. What I’m not willing to except is the sense of entitlement that everyone seems to have these days. It’s like people think they should get paid simply for living in America. I’m postmodern enough to ask the question if there has ever really been a strong work ethic in this country. I wonder if all the hoopla has been a hold-over from Max Weber. Protestants populated America; Protestants have work ethic; Americans must have work ethic. Someone can write a book about this, but at least cite where you got the idea from please.

All of these things put together evokes a certain lament from parts of me that I didn’t even know existed. Growing up in America our youth are told that they live in the greatest nation on the planet. We’re supposed to trump everyone at everything. This enculturation produces, perhaps, the type of person that is willfully blind to our failures; whose rose colored glasses are produced in China. At some point I need to explore the post-war-to-present timeline for the origins and progressions of this failure, but now is not the time.

I sound like a Republican and that disturbs me a lot. It’s probably not so disturbing because the whole wheel has been moving for quite some time. The far right has pretty much turned radical and the far left is pretty much fundamental… and vice versa. There is strangely little difference, it seems, between a revolutionary and his dictator.

I’m going to stop here, but I have more to say on this subject. Notes to self: Fiddling while Rome Burns; Why Canada and Sweeden win at the world; The impossibility of fixing the impossible.

-vec