"Education will never be as expensive as ignorance."
- Anonymous
I must veer away from my usual practice and express this clearly as my personal opinion.
Most, if not all, of the ills of today, both personal and social (community, national, international) would be greatly reduced and many would disappear altogether if a reasonable level of social teaching were to take place in every country.
Terrorism, for example, is on the minds of many people. Yet the methods practised by so-called terrorists would be clearly seen as anti-social if the values of the majority of people were taught to every child.
Terrorism happens in the United States every day, for example, but it may be called gang warfare, mob murder or a psycho on the loose. They dress differently from the terrorists who struck the World Trade Centers and who bomb restaurants in Israel or mosques in Iraq.
These are not moral values in the sense of being related to a religion. These are widely held and respected human values. There is no society, tribe or cult in the world today that abides by mass murder, as in the habit of the terrorists. We can include the Hutus of Rwanda in that, as even they would rather put their genocidal past behind them and live in peace and harmony with their Tutsi neighbours.
Every terrorist of today is taught, thoroughly and meticulously, the reasons why suicide bombing is necessary, worthwhile, an act of courage and heroism that is supported by God. The lessons taught to a majority of children, that murder is wrong and mass murder is even more wrong, does not get imprinted on the brains of suicide bombers because the lessons are not taught to them thoroughly.
This is not rocket science. It's human nature.
Would you blow yourself up and kill a bunch of innocent and unarmed strangers in the process? For most people, the answer would be no. For the remainder, the lessons that you learned were not taught to them thoroughly enough.
What we want our children to be when they grow up, we must teach them as children. If we want all adults to observe the same aversion to anti-social behaviours, we must teach every child the same lessons.
There is nothing to disagree with here. Teaching otherwise--as is done today in terrorist cells--is a crminal act in every country in the world.
The bad guys are doing what the rest of us are shy about doing, teaching young people. They have no competition from society as a whole, other than the incompetent police and military who are not trained to cope with any situation involving children or non-conventional crime.
In the United States today, one citizen in ten is behind bars. The lessons are not being taught. While the numbers are lower in other countries, the percentage of incarcerated people in most western countries is far too high.
Teach the children. Teach every one. Teach even those who don't want to pay attention. The message will get through to them.
Your life or the life of your child may depend on it.
Bill Allin
'Turning It Around: Causes and Cures for Today's Epidemic Social Problems,' striving to spread the word before it's too late for everyone.
Learn more at http://billallin.com
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Comments: 14
What I want taught would cost nothing more than what education today costs. The part of the plan before the classroom would cost relatively little. The overall savings, within a couple of decades, would be billions per year (in taxes).
Neil Young's "town in north Ontario" is near where I live. Since his father died we don't see him around much any more. He stays at his California ranch. Neil didn't write that song, but the relationship between him and his father was interesting, a text book case.
it's a shame that after high school the best colleges seem to be only for the spawn of the rich
College is a way of formally organizing our education, not a way to enhance it. We don't learn in class so much as we learn by taking what we have learned and working with it by doing research or writing papers.
Education is what you get when you leave school. Libraries are for everyone, of any age.
Before considering how much it will cost to fix it, consider how much it will cost if you do not fix it.
wonderful quote Dolphi!
Public support for schools and libraries is low (in the sense of what the municipalities and other government are prepared to do about them) because teachers and librarians are too quiet about the good they do and the lack of funds that makes their patrons or students suffer.
Teachers and librarians should all take public relations courses that focus especially on advertising.
Advertisers don't use newspapers to sell their main products. Not enough people read advertisements in newspapers.
Publicity these days means television--make your issue into a news story and the stations will carry it for days so long as they can keep getting something new.