We are not doing well, America. We’re too busy arguing about whatever dichotomy’s deacons/esses of media and spin are shoveling. This is not good.
Because I genuinely hold this as a valid assertion, I must also outline my thinking so I can determine which actions will best support what I think in the world. After all, that’s my part of this social contract and I’m all about doing my part….
The reason education is so incredibly important for ALL of us is that it is so critically important to ALL of us; as a community, a culture, a conviction, and a country.
The foundations of community, culture, conviction, and the concept of “a country” encompass the unspoken agreement that all members of the set reap the benefits so long as all members of the set weather the banes.
“Woah, woah, wait, that’s COMMUNISM!” Except, um, no, it isn’t.
It’s the baseline that all present in a set have, or will be supported in having, utterly and empirically equal access to circumstances and things that provide and sustain livelihood.
The balance FOR that equal access is paid not in taxes, not in levies, bonds, or extending the hand.
The balance FOR that equal access is paid in how much work the individual YOU, YOURSELF actually DO to maintain it, OR it is paid for in how many times it CAN collapse (for lack of said maintenance) before there is ruination.
No matter which you pick, you have to pay. Pay it NOW and you’ll pay it repeatedly and forever.
Pay it FORWARD and not only will your resources bring you fruition, your access TO resources benefits from fruition, and ALL of it increases in sustainability.
You know, long-view thinking. “Leave the life and world better than you found it” in SOME way, in at LEAST ONE way, eh? I mean, sure, ok, do it in multiple ways if you can, but no one can reasonably expect that, can they? A person can only be mandated one “life’s work” under this social contract; mobility from it can be expected to be exponentially more difficult (thought not impossible); more power to you if you can pull that off because, as you will find as you age, THAT shit is hard.
Thing is, it’s OK to NOT want to be William Gates. Or “The President”. Just like it’s OK to NOT want to shelve inventory your entire life. Or just like it’s OK to NOT CHOOSE when you can’t find something you can choose with gusto… that makes YOU happy.
But you see, there’s only one way to have any of these conversations for yourself; there’s only one way to even begin owning your life in such a way: You have to know how to do it.
Do you regularly learn new things?
Where do you learn new things?
Why do you learn new things? (Not to be confused with “What interests you, what makes you want to learn?)
Now consider those questions from a perspective of:
– Your communities (the groups to which you define yourself as ‘belonging’)
– Your cultures (the culture(s) from which you draw meaning of/for yourself in life)
– Your convictions (the “things” that matter to you more than yourself in life; your influencers)
– Your country/countries (the places to which you dedicate your life’s work in exchange for its support in assuring equal access AND equal assessment)
I find that the above neatly encompasses all systems so long as any system in question is willing to bond on similarities in favor of arguing over differences.
I also find that the degree to which a community, culture, conviction, or country is in conflict IS the degree to which the Country’s interests are out of alignment with its contained communities, cultures, and convictions.
Finally, I find that if one can read all of the above and NOT have their eyes find this paragraph begrudging of ANY of its many assertions…. Only then can one say that one knows the degree to which one is self-honest about how healthy their individual relation with community, culture, conviction, and country is in the moment.
This is why education matters.
Excellent links where people with more access and authority than I say the same things as I do (hurray, I can logic!):
Sir Ken Robinson’s RSA on Education Paradigms: https://youtu.be/zDZFcDGpL4U
Global Competitiveness Report: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GCR2016-2017/05FullReport/TheGlobalCompetitivenessReport2016-2017_FINAL.pdf