Something to consider. Excerpts from US President Barack Obama's State of the Union address last night:
Meanwhile, nations like China and India realized that with some changes of their own, they could compete in this new world. And so they started educating their children earlier and longer, with greater emphasis on math and science. They're investing in research and new technologies. Just recently, China became home to the world's largest private solar research facility, and the world's fastest computer. . .
So yes, the world has changed. The competition for jobs is real. But this shouldn't discourage us. It should challenge us. . .
The future is ours to win. But to get there, we can't just stand still. As Robert Kennedy told us, "The future is not a gift. It is an achievement." Sustaining the American Dream has never been about standing pat. It has required each generation to sacrifice, and struggle, and meet the demands of a new age. . .
This is our generation's Sputnik moment. . .
Good spech. Not sure about the Madison Avenue sports/war metaphor, "The future is ours to win,"* but the idea of having a better rail system, stronger insfrastructure, more jobs, and some thought about the future seems better than anything the GOP has in mind.
*(Reminds me of "The Future is Now at Honeywell.")
Obama's ideas are undoubteldy more on the mark than this July 1968 Kroger ad, "JOIN THE KROGER REVOLUTION." If I'm not mistaken, that's no Molly Pitcher there. On the other end of the macho spectrum, I recently saw -- during the NFL playoffs -- an equally ridiculous ad featuring George Washington in a Dodge Challenger swooping down on a line of British redcoats -- who stampede and run away cowering. "There's a coupla things America got right. Cars -- and freedom." People seem to love it. If only life was so simple for some. The past is ours to win? Pitiful, man. Here it is:
Today's Rune: Defense.
4 comments:
Good luck to education.
What to teach - hopefully the basics, very well, for a few years. After which a lot ought to be learned more flexible ways that don't require gumming your ass in a chair through and beyond adolescence. More people need to know that school, while it has its place, is sometimes not the best place for learning/training/education.
Thanks, t, for the comment. Clearly what the US is doing now isn't working very well. And we should probably move on from the old factory assembly line paradigm. That would require a major revolution in how American society operates -- babysitting/prison complexes ("schools")--> learning/training/education campuses complete with beautiful grounds and maybe gardening and streams or ponds? Less emphasis on stupid shit, more on what will be of personal and social value in the longterm. Maybe even school centers at work places with people of various ages and backgrounds pitching in.
Education is key. But really to bring our now first graders up to speed with the rest of the world in literacy, math, and science you're talking 20-25 years of a different system than the outmoded thing we call education now.
I would abolish school boards nation wide. let the administrators administer and the teachers teach. Cut the fat out of the middle. and for God's sake quit allowing Texas to be a major player in what text books are used.
If that commercial was going to be honest the chargers would have ran over the English soldiers. what is happening to advertising is even it pandering to the tea baggers?
Our generation's sputnik moment. I think that's just right, and it scares the holy you know what out of me.
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