The Thinking Press

The children are our future. Never was a truer phrase uttered. It has become a cliché, something teary women say to each other. Won’t somebody please think of the children!? The fact is, you and I will grow old, and then the kids that are being educated right now, are going to be in charge of the businesses, the schools, the churches, the next wave of progeny. I would say it is fairly important to educate these piss-panted, pimpled future leaders of America.

I don’t have kids of my own. I am not concerned about getting my fair share out of the public education system. I’m concerned about having to deal with a bunch of morons who don’t have any perspective on the world and a poor work ethic. I look at the schools, packed to the gills, using books that are as interesting to read as stereo instructions, in trailers, out behind the school on the blacktop the children used to play on. To me this is the catalyst of a problem. We are teaching our children that learning about the world they live in is not worth spending any real effort.

I know people whose sole accomplishment in high school was their tag, spray painted on mail boxes and street signs, marking their corner of suburbia like dogs. I’m all for the blind fervor of adolescents trying to make a mark on the world, so why the hell are we taking music and art out of their hands? Idle hands do the devils work. Kids flock to video games because it is an activity where they actually feel some sense of accomplishment. Very few people get excited over an A anymore. When was the last time your kid came home and said “Daddy, Mommy, we had the most amazing lesson in math today!!!”

I say we have taken art out of the schools, but math is a great art. Have we taken all of the fun out of proving PI? With the right mathematical knowledge, you can build the pyramids. [X = M+ 3 (V/2 – Y * 3) / S (# of slaves + # of whips)] is the equation, if you need to know. I was worried that you might sit there and try to work it out for yourself and not read on, and the best parts are still to come.

And don’t get me started on chemistry. Hell, with the proper understanding of chemistry, using just what you have at hand in your house, you can make alcohol!

History. I know there are some great teachers out there, and they work their butts off to make a difference, but most kids learn history the same way you and I learn that we have gout; a series of very unpleasant tests. Is history so important, really? Yes. Yes it is. Say, for instance, that the president of the United States starts saying “we have to free South Vietnam from the communist oppressors of North Vietnam.“ Well, because of my knowledge of History, I can say with authority, “That is a bad idea.” Whereas a person who didn’t have a knowledge of History would say “HELL YEAH!” and then dance around like Yosimite Sam, firing his pistols into the air.

People want to learn. It is fun to know how to do shit. People flock to learn about something they are interested in. Especially the resourceful teens of today. Oh you scoff? I can prove it. Go to any highschool parking lot and pull out a sack of weed, then ask any one of the kids to make you a bong out of whatever materials are available. You will see America ingenuity at its finest. Well if we can make school as interesting as weed, then we are on to something.

As I get older, I find that I wish I knew more. I wish I knew how to fix the engine of my car. I wish I knew how to build a nice dining table and chairs. I wish I knew how to distill liquor in my bathtub. I wish I really understood what is going on with the economy. I wish I knew how to sew. I would love to be able to make my own pants. Our kids need ingenuity, and not just when building water pipes. They need to know how to take whatever job they are given, and learn how to do it, and do it well. In that sense any task can be enjoyed. If we teach children to make an effort, it will be much easier to deal with the mechanics, the doctors, the bankers of tomorrow. Though we will all probably end up bitching about them anyway. “You can’t buy a decent pair of shoes these days!” we will say. But, hopefully, with the proper education, our shoes will be just fine.

See the video blog of this article on Robin Cowart’s YouTube channel