Time to Reflect: Step 54

Before stating this week’s quote it is important for me to acknowledge that while my current writing covers my schooling during my adolescent years the path of classes continued through institutions in three states and up until three years ago. For my efforts I have accumulated over 300 college credits, three degrees, and numerous certifications. But, as Mark Twain, an author from whom I draw great inspiration stated, “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” Of course I have gone a step further than most people in the world of schooling, since I participated both as a student and a teacher. Maybe it was as a teacher of teachers that I came to the conclusion that the term lifelong learner was more than just a cute little axiom to trot out at educational conferences or when applying for a teaching position. Nothing amazes me more than people who have no desire to learn anything new unless it is something they are required to know to perform their specific task in life. In which case school was a complete waste of time, because it never taught me how to prepare a meal, make a bed, wash dishes or laundry, or pay a bill. It did provide me with lessons on how to drive a car, but these days most schools have turned driver education over to private companies. Besides filling me with a bunch of esoteric facts like the ability to perform multiple column multiplication problems, something a cheap calculator can do faster and with greater accuracy, school taught me to reason, analyze and comprehend beyond simple calculations. Knowing the names of all the state capitals or presidents of the United States does not uniquely qualify a person to be a citizen. However, when someone claims to be a patriot because he joined a movement to curb government such as the tea party it would help if he knew whom the guy on the twenty-dollar bill was. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that in this age of plastic currency my use of cash is limited, but even if he doesn’t know that Jackson was Andrew Jackson, famous general at the Battle of New Orleans known to his men as Old Hickory whose wife Rachel smoked a corncob pipe, he should know he was our seventh president. Yes, if he has any ability to think at all he can simply go online and google the answer. Fair enough, but even though I am laughing I am more than a little embarrassed by the answer he gives Jay Leno. My first thought is to blame the school system for failing to provide him with the answer. Actually, it didn’t. Every school system teaches a basic social studies curriculum, but that shouldn’t interfere with a citizen’s education. A calculator can add up the numbers, but it never says what to do with them. Google will store tons of information, but they are not going to tell you how to use it. To think that wanting less government or lower taxes makes you the kind of patriot depicted in schoolbooks throwing tea into Boston harbor precipitating a revolution misses the real lesson. The slogan was no taxation without representation. The lesson not in the books that is clear if one thinks is some of those who threw the tea became representatives and helped build the government of this nation. I hope people keep this in mind when they vote this fall and make sure the man or woman running in their district has some idea who is on the twenty-dollar bill. Comments welcome.