Is this the price for not educating our people?

More than 25 years ago, I moved to US. I was shocked to see the number of uneducated people around. In my culture, you are middle class if you are educated. In US, education had nothing to do with your social standing. As a result, the richer you were, the less cultured you seemed. I mean look at Trump!!!
I left US after 8 years.. back to Europe and Cental Asia and Middle East. There is an old saying that to travel is to live. No one I knew in US ever really travelled. And if they did, they never saw anything but a hotel and a pool.
Anyway, I wonder sometimes if the lack of curiosity and hunger for learning has put the globe in this situation now. US’s policies are effecting everyone, especially Middle East. In the old days it was ok, because you still had a moral code to follow. Now the construction of a hotel determines who are allies and who are foes. Business in Saudi for Trump, gives us war with Iran. Business with Netanyahu, moves embassy to Jerusalem... business with Putin, gives us fanatic Christians running the county, protecting unborn zygots, while killing living ones at the boarder, in Yemen, in hospitals in Iran..

America. Please educate your children. Make education free like so many other countries. Teach them history and empathy, science and collaboration. With the amount of money you spend on weapons, you put the globe in danger with every uneducated child you send into the world.

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

windinhishair · 61-69, M

Thank you for the post. You are so right about both education and travel. We raised our children with the expectation that they would have at least one college degree, and that they would travel. When each one was in college, they were sent overseas on at least one trip to experience different culture and thought. All but one spent at least one semester living overseas. One served two years in the Peace Corps, where he met and married his wife. Now, it is interesting to listen to them when they are together, discussing what they like about Tibet, or Cambodia, or Dominica. They have more of a world perspective which serves them well in life.

We should be spending more on education than we are, to provide more opportunities for critical thought.

Recently, when Trump's Interior Secretary was making another anti-environmental decision, I asked a Trumper whether Trump had ever been to a National Park. In his lifetime. He couldn't name one time when Trump had done so. He doesn't even know what is in his own country, let alone the world.

gol979 · 41-45, M

@windinhishair critical thinking is to be discouraged at every opportunity

windinhishair · 61-69, M

@gol979 It often is now. We need more of it, and soon. Our future depends on it.

gol979 · 41-45, M

@windinhishair I agree but I'm not sure what institutions can offer what we need to make available for all people who want to be educated or learn......you have to self.learn as an adult and if I had children I think I would home school......we need vast societal change and that change is only a story of narrative

Writer · 100+, F

@windinhishair I am happy to read your post. I think many people misunderstand travelling. They think they should travel to learn from others. In reality, many times we learn from the mistakes of others and this knowledge can inspire so much good.

windinhishair · 61-69, M

@gol979 Each of our kids was home schooled for a time which gave them a leg up on public schools when they went back in high school. Institutions can offer opportunity, but you are correct that the individuals have to want to pursue those opportunities.

I read somewhere that the average US adult reads less than a dozen books in the rest of his/her life after high school. I thought there was no way that could be true. Sadly, what I see now leads me to believe that number may be correct.

gol979 · 41-45, M

@windinhishair touche dude 👍

Why read books when we "think" we are up to date on global goings on by watching 24 hour "news"? If you don't know them why change?

windinhishair · 61-69, M

@Writer You are so right! When my oldest son graduated college, my youngest graduated high school. I sent them to the UK with sufficient funding to travel around once they were there. The itinerary was completely up to them. Did they make mistakes? Oh yes, they did, but they learned how to travel to Scotland and Wales and make do with what they had, meeting some very interesting people on the way that they talk about to this day.

Then they passed the knowledge and love of travel on to others. One of my youngest son's friends grew up and had never been more than 90 miles from home in his life. I got them direct flights from Newark to Shannon Airport, dropped them off in Newark and picked them up 10 days later. My son showed his friend the ropes, and now that friend is travelling internationally when he can afford it and learning more about the world each time.

Life is good. Life is short. You've got to make hay while the sun shines.

Writer · 100+, F

@windinhishair 💚💚💚