A Product of Our Youth

Always it has been a toss up between parents and teachers as to who educates our children.  Teachers in fact attempt to "school" our children  instilling a set of values or rules which hopefully will steer us in the direction of success in our lives.  Schooling attempts to thwart the hard knocks school of "education," the process from learning from one's mistakes.  Schooling is important, and the older I get and less facile my mind becomes I realize this.  If I have a routine upon which to rely to solve a problem, one that I have learned somewhere, my chances of solving that problem are much greater.  Creativity is not involved.  Inquisitiveness is not involved. Haphazardness is not involved.  Simply you implement a process or series of events that intend to solve a problem.  Sometimes the steps are more.  With no process upon which to rely, without a creative and inquisitive mind it could be difficult to succeed.  In school and the field of education in general often it has been heard we are taught certain things to help us solve problem.  We are taught certain processes to help us think.  Usually this is met with disdain and the busy schedule of a teenager justifies they only should be involved with something that provides immediate gratification.  Probably each and every one of us doubted the validity of Algebra, Calculus, or Chemistry.  Would we ever really use these in the future?  Certainly we would use a laptop computer or an iPhone.  So what?  While a laptop computer indeed is an indispensable tool, its processes related to Algebra, Calculus, or Chemistry are cloaked.  Rarely as consumers are we going to be exposed to the intricacy and artistry of their programming language. It is an interesting dichotomy.  A deep and engaging a field of study in anonymity is providing for the consumer a tool they may use on a completely different level.  Imagine Algebra, Calculus, or Chemistry doing that.  I can't.  I can't begin to think of an example.  How could mathematics create a tangible consumer level product?  I'm sure it does in many ways.  I just can't think of them.  It is interesting still that computer programming creates viable consumer level products.  The plethora of "apps" has grown exponentially since the inception of the iPhone.  Incorporating entertainment into computer programs has become common.  Worlds are colliding and new boundaries staked.  It seems Apple one day will control it all maybe with the resentment of Google and their hierarchy.  The point is Algebra, Calculus, and Chemistry relate to the Liberal Arts.  What are these?  Quoting from Wikipedia, "The liberal arts are those subjects or skills that in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free person to know in order to take an active part in civic life, something that included participating in public debate, defending oneself in court, serving on juries, and most importantly military service.  Grammar, rhetoric, and logic were the core liberal arts while arithmetic, geometry, the theory of music, and astronomy also played a (somewhat lesser) part in education.  While utilizing a laptop computer does have its challenges, say understanding file hierarchies, we must agree that its usage does not seem to quality as a Liberal Art.  It is not.  Traditionally schooling had a purpose.  It was meant to prepare us for a much more evolved involvement with a society.  That has changed in America.  Our society and thus education system has devolved.  Somewhere down the line becoming an educated being was discarded.  Instead the impetus for our children simply was to take advantage of them.  It is despicable.  Two glaring examples come to mind.  One is the priests of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.  In depraved acts of blasphemy, these priests physically molested hundreds of naive alter boys in their churches.  Instead of giving them the spiritual guidance they needed, they gave them something else.  Secondly the sound of suction in a young boys anus rings clear.  Jerry Sandusky serially molested boys through his Second Mile non-profit charity for underprivileged and at risk youths.  It seems Mr. Sandusky profited after all.  How can these incidents happen in other than a vacuum?  Surely such high profile people in same way will be discovered during their crimes?  It is a new level of sordidness.  It is rather common knowledge the ancient philosophers of Greece were prone to their liaisons with little boys in the public baths.  Evidently this behavior is a part of human nature if having survived all of these centuries.  It seems like an adult problem.  It seems like a huge failure of responsibility for an adult human being to in any way think they can rape and pillage children.  They should be put to death.  This inclination has proliferated in the last decade with the youth of America carrying this heinous intent on their backs.  I can't imagine what it would be like spending my time trying to figure out if it was okay for Monsignor to stick his penis in my ass.  If this example of organized religion has become the norm for America, truly we have a problem.  Possibly we can sell them violent video games that will teach them how to murder their teachers and friends.  Possibly we can steal their money by instilling an instinct that each and every youth should own a portable electronic communications device.  Possibly we can abandon the responsibilities of their public education instead teaching them the concept of immediate gratification.  The list goes on.  When I look out at the public and see hooligans with their pants hanging around their knees, when I hear ghetto double talk, and when no youth can seem to form a coherent sentence, I think only, "This is what WE gave them."