Nov 20, 2008 14:27
My sister is working on her masters. While she does work (part time) she's never stopped taking money from my father, and has never fully supported herself. She's very smart, and fairly well educated, but has no experience with the world of actual consequences.
I've been working since I was 15, trying to read and study, while working, but have no formal education beyond compulsory schools.
It's painfully obvious to me how sheltered she is, and how her visions for a better future all involve the government doing everything for us. She can see no use for the freedoms I would protect, instead believing that the government, even as it gets so big that we rely on it for everything, will still be under our control. How someone can hold these beliefs, especially in light of the last few years, amazes me. However, given her years of indoctrination and separation from real consequences, I can understand it as well.
Meanwhile, I am surrounded by magicians and philosophers, and playing a desperate game of catch up, due to my lack of education. I am preparing to dive back into a formal education, if only at the local college level to start, being on my guard against a system where the vast majority of not only students, but teachers have never lived outside the aegis of a large and very controlling government, in the form of the school system (which is also receiving US government funds)
If conservative theory really is about small government and large personal freedom, then I can not expect that the education will be something I'm 'given' for showing up, but none the less, it's patently obvious to me that I'm failing to achieve it with the speed necessary on my own. Where and how does one acquire a conservative education? It's not just schools, but obviously it can't avoid the schooling entirely either.
-- James