I'll Probably Never Have Children
Sometimes, you see a news report on TV and it really makes you think. Just now, I finished watching 20/20's report entitled, "Stupid in America", an hour long tirade about how bad off America's schools really are. For sixty minutes, they ran interviews and discussions with officials, teachers and students from all over. They had results from international standardized tests that show several dozen countries do better in schools than we do and how they all laugh at us and believe we're stupid. They brought up a lot of great points about how the American educational system appears to be broken.
Makes me think back to my own education. Was it really that bad? Am I on par with my peers in Belgium? For me personally, I'd like to believe I am. I did great in my public education and I'm now a college grad. But... Did I do well because I wasn't ever really challenged and the schools I went to are simply easier? Is the real gauge of the value of my education in the kinds of jobs I've been able to get since graduating 27 months ago? Such a gauge would read near zero.
I can't imagine being one of the parents in the 20/20 report who are desperate to get their children into certain, over-achieving public schools. I don't know if I could trust the system with any child I ever have. The more I learn about how bad off things are, the closer I get to deciding never to have kids. But I have to remind myself that the 20/20 report only covered the worst schools in the country and they have problems that we don't have in Oregon..... Or do we? Nrr...
Maybe I should move to Belgium... But to say that is unpatriotic. Some people might say, "If you think it's bad here, try to fix it before jumping ship."
Okay! I've been playing with the idea of running for some kind of public office and working my way up to running the moon or something. I have zero experience, but I'd like to think that it doesn't matter these days if you can put a monkey in the highest office in the land and manage to keep him there for 8 years. I think it'd be nice to pour myself into public service and make some changes. I wonder how much more productive a president would be if he didn't have a spouse or children. Now before you pounce on me for implying that love and relationships slow down America, think about it. If I were president and weren't married, I could pour 100% of my time into making America better.
Plus I'd love to travel the country and meet as many people as I could. Screw vacations at Martha's Vineyard, I'd drive to Kansas and stay on a farm for a week and talk to people. Huh, I'm off on a tangent now. Although... Elections are coming up...
Makes me think back to my own education. Was it really that bad? Am I on par with my peers in Belgium? For me personally, I'd like to believe I am. I did great in my public education and I'm now a college grad. But... Did I do well because I wasn't ever really challenged and the schools I went to are simply easier? Is the real gauge of the value of my education in the kinds of jobs I've been able to get since graduating 27 months ago? Such a gauge would read near zero.
I can't imagine being one of the parents in the 20/20 report who are desperate to get their children into certain, over-achieving public schools. I don't know if I could trust the system with any child I ever have. The more I learn about how bad off things are, the closer I get to deciding never to have kids. But I have to remind myself that the 20/20 report only covered the worst schools in the country and they have problems that we don't have in Oregon..... Or do we? Nrr...
Maybe I should move to Belgium... But to say that is unpatriotic. Some people might say, "If you think it's bad here, try to fix it before jumping ship."
Okay! I've been playing with the idea of running for some kind of public office and working my way up to running the moon or something. I have zero experience, but I'd like to think that it doesn't matter these days if you can put a monkey in the highest office in the land and manage to keep him there for 8 years. I think it'd be nice to pour myself into public service and make some changes. I wonder how much more productive a president would be if he didn't have a spouse or children. Now before you pounce on me for implying that love and relationships slow down America, think about it. If I were president and weren't married, I could pour 100% of my time into making America better.
Plus I'd love to travel the country and meet as many people as I could. Screw vacations at Martha's Vineyard, I'd drive to Kansas and stay on a farm for a week and talk to people. Huh, I'm off on a tangent now. Although... Elections are coming up...