Like father, increasingly like son
Parental role modeling, in my experience, is far more influential than what kids are being taught at school
As we watch the crisis in Europe grow and we consider the impact of second order consequences of our policies, energy and otherwise, let's take a break from the present and think of the future. More importantly, a great hope for the future.
As I’ve been horrified by the last 2 years of policy mistakes, near the top of my list has been the loss of education for kids. The loss of social interaction. The loss of school sports and dances and first loves and first heart breaks. The loss of all the things that make us who we are when we grow up.
I have been concerned about curriculum (why don't they teach balancing check books and the ROI of a car). I am concerned about teaching WHAT to think, not HOW to think. And I am deeply concerned that increasingly, kids know "the answer their teacher wants to hear" not the one they believe, or, even don't believe, but can effectively argue. Which brings me to my son Andrew and his assignment in class three weeks ago.
Andrew has watched over the last two years, as adults tried to put masks on his face despite him researching and knowing his own risk factors (he is his father's son), take hockey away while he tries to improve enough to play in college, and have grown ups tell him the color of his skin mattered more than the content of his character. He has watched cancel culture and safe spaces and virtue signaling. I have been concerned as to how it might shape him.
Here was his assignment:
"At the heart of the communist ideology is the idea that wealth should be distributed equally among all people. In theory, the redistribution of wealth would reduce the large gaps between the rich and the poor. The Soviets used the state-run command economy to reduce the economic gap However, this method failed to proved a stable economy and, along with huge military spending, was the major cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union. But in capitalist economies, the gap between rich and poor still exists and in some places, the gap is widening. Should capitalist countries try to narrow the income gap? Why or why not? What kinds of policies do you think would work? What are some of the effects of poverty? Can you see evidence of the income gap in your community?"
This was his answer.
Capitalist countries should not try to narrow the gap, and here is why. David is a high school student who works hard, gets good grades, doesn't go to parties and graduates with 4.0. He gets several offers from schools and even a full ride academic scholarship.
Mike goes to the same school, doesn't pay attention in class, goes to parties, does the bar minimum and passes with a 2.2, making college applications hard. However, before the final grades are released, Mike is given 0.9 of David's GPA because Mike decided to tell the school board that communism was the answer to everyone's grade problems.
David gets his scholarship revoked, but they are still able to get into a reasonable college. After they graduate, David starts a tech company and sells it to Google for a billion dollars and gets to live happily ever after. On the other hand, Mike was given an opportunity that he didn't deserve or earn, and learning nothing from his experience, he didn't work hard in college and dropped out. Subsequently, he started working for Chick-Fil-A full time.
After he discovered that David had made it big, he gambled all his money away trying to be like him, and died penniless on the street at the age of 36.
The policy that could improve everyone's situation and close the income gap is to have mandatory jobs and stop letting people reap the benefits of unemployment. If you don't have a job, study and find one or make your own. There will always be enough jobs if everyone could be educated and create a business.
Some effects of poverty are that you don't have enough money to afford the costs of life. There is always an income gap, but that is society and it would not be wise to try to change that. Some jobs are harder and more important that others, so they get rewarded."
I must admit, I laughed a lot.
My hope is, rather than failing kids, the failures that increasingly apparent with education will create a generation of rebels. Of free thinkers. Of challengers. Of those that don’t take no for an answer. Of those that don’t believe everything they are told.
My hope is that these 11-17 year olds push back, in college, at work, in politics. They push back on safe spaces and virtue signaling and identifying people by the color of their skin or their gender or their sexual orientation. They judge people on merit, on compassion, and their ideas.
But more than anything, I hope these kids all talk to each other and debate and discuss without canceling each other and genuinely move to the middle, built on a shared understanding of the problems and a compromise in their vision for the future.
This picture was taken in a building where masks were required… they texted it to me. God Bless the children.
Nice! I'll definitely be sharing this one with my two teenage sons.