(I make no guarantee on the latin translation)
Reading Romeo and Juliet with students gives rise to many interesting conversations. It also leads to daily shocks about how little knowledge is being passed on in the educational system... We came came to the line "Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear." The students got the meaning, but the not the context. In asking for a definition of Ethiop - I got Blackhawk Down definition. If you haven't seen the movie, just let me say it wasn't all that flattering. What they couldn't understand was how this Ethiopean got a rich jewel. In their minds, Ethiopia is a desperately poor country where everyone starves to death... if not murdered first. The fact that it might have once been a wealthy country, let alone an entire empire was about as unreal as space aliens attacking us.
Why do I write about this - besides the obvious disappointment in humanities education? Because Joanne Jacobs pointed out this article and I thought to myself, we are destroying ourselves. What is it about our culture that drives this ideal of lying-cheating-stealing your way to the top is perfectly legitimate as long as A. you're not caught or B. the lying-cheating-thief has enough $$ to pay everyone off. Instead of focusing on why the "richest nation in the world" has lower rate educational success than many third world countries, our cities focus on how to get more tourists. Yes, lots of low wage jobs for those who graduate with little to no actual skills are wave of the future. Is this what we should strive for? When did we become a country that needed Nanny 911 because parents are so afraid of anything negative happening to the child, they overprotect to the point of no consequences? And those are the parents who actually care - let's not even get into the selfish ones (drugs, alcohol, career, sex, etc.) Did Ray Bradbury hit it on the nose when he wrote Fahrenheit 451? We've become fat, lazy, slobs who don't want to think because it's hard and makes us sad? We've become addicted to pleasure, so work on anything must be quashed? I'm including myself in this, Lord knows I can be just as fat and lazy as the next person. 300 years from now, will a child in some far off place scoff at the idea that the US was once a wealthy country?
Is this even something we need to worry about? Following the commercial model of education, those who are able to aquire the skills needed for success will rise and those that don't will self-select out (either through failure, quitting, incarceration or death). The haves and have-nots. Our medical system is collasping under the pressure of have-insurance vs. have-little-to-none. Try calling your doctor to see if you can get an appointment today or even this week... chances you won't even if it's an emergency. In fact, if it is an emergency, you'll probably be directed to the closest emergency room, where you'll be waiting with dozens of other people who also don't really need an emergency room.
I'm not advocating that we absolve people of responsibility for their lives, but maybe we need to expand that idea of responsibility to include those around us. Even the ones we don't like or agree with.
Reading Romeo and Juliet with students gives rise to many interesting conversations. It also leads to daily shocks about how little knowledge is being passed on in the educational system... We came came to the line "Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear." The students got the meaning, but the not the context. In asking for a definition of Ethiop - I got Blackhawk Down definition. If you haven't seen the movie, just let me say it wasn't all that flattering. What they couldn't understand was how this Ethiopean got a rich jewel. In their minds, Ethiopia is a desperately poor country where everyone starves to death... if not murdered first. The fact that it might have once been a wealthy country, let alone an entire empire was about as unreal as space aliens attacking us.
Why do I write about this - besides the obvious disappointment in humanities education? Because Joanne Jacobs pointed out this article and I thought to myself, we are destroying ourselves. What is it about our culture that drives this ideal of lying-cheating-stealing your way to the top is perfectly legitimate as long as A. you're not caught or B. the lying-cheating-thief has enough $$ to pay everyone off. Instead of focusing on why the "richest nation in the world" has lower rate educational success than many third world countries, our cities focus on how to get more tourists. Yes, lots of low wage jobs for those who graduate with little to no actual skills are wave of the future. Is this what we should strive for? When did we become a country that needed Nanny 911 because parents are so afraid of anything negative happening to the child, they overprotect to the point of no consequences? And those are the parents who actually care - let's not even get into the selfish ones (drugs, alcohol, career, sex, etc.) Did Ray Bradbury hit it on the nose when he wrote Fahrenheit 451? We've become fat, lazy, slobs who don't want to think because it's hard and makes us sad? We've become addicted to pleasure, so work on anything must be quashed? I'm including myself in this, Lord knows I can be just as fat and lazy as the next person. 300 years from now, will a child in some far off place scoff at the idea that the US was once a wealthy country?
Is this even something we need to worry about? Following the commercial model of education, those who are able to aquire the skills needed for success will rise and those that don't will self-select out (either through failure, quitting, incarceration or death). The haves and have-nots. Our medical system is collasping under the pressure of have-insurance vs. have-little-to-none. Try calling your doctor to see if you can get an appointment today or even this week... chances you won't even if it's an emergency. In fact, if it is an emergency, you'll probably be directed to the closest emergency room, where you'll be waiting with dozens of other people who also don't really need an emergency room.
I'm not advocating that we absolve people of responsibility for their lives, but maybe we need to expand that idea of responsibility to include those around us. Even the ones we don't like or agree with.
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