An Overview Of Education And American Democracy
It's the American dream. An impoverished family-- immigrants or natives-- sacrifices everything to provide a better life for the children. They live in squalor, wear worn clothes, live off the cheapest foodstuffs available, forgo healthcare, sell assets, deplete savings, anything, just to provide for the their children.
And always, always, that provision places education foremost.
Some will point to laws, to government, to the Constitution, and say "Here is America." They are wrong.
As important as these things are they are not our country; they are simply the guardians. This country, is a country of, by, and for the people. And the people who strive for more, who sacrifice and risk all they have, and all they are, to move the next generation forward ARE America. Because as they build and enrich their lives, so America is built and enriched. It is an irony: the poor Nigerian mother working in a sweat shop, to provide the most meager food, clothing and shelter so that her children might have a better chance, is every bit as American as Washington, Jefferson, or Adams. She isn't following the American Dream; that Dream is HER.
So, how can it be that sacrificing to provide and education for your children is the American Dream for individuals and their families, but it is not our collective dream? How can it be that while anyone and everyone we admire struggle to provide an education for their children, and often for all children... but that collective Dream is not realized at the level of our own government, the one we elect, the one we pay for?
As individuals, we say that what is most precious to us is our children, and their education. But somehow, we when supposedly speak with one voice, education and children are given a minimal priority.
Simple. We haven't put our foot down. We haven't insisted on better.
We have watched the campaign donors, the big multinationals, the Pentagon, the bureaucrats, and the lobbyists get the lion's share. We haven't said that education comes first. We haven't demanded that children, ALL children, are to come first.
All of us must speak up, and dictate to our government, in no uncertain terms. Children and education are the American Dream, and our government must care for them first.
And always, always, that provision places education foremost.
Some will point to laws, to government, to the Constitution, and say "Here is America." They are wrong.
As important as these things are they are not our country; they are simply the guardians. This country, is a country of, by, and for the people. And the people who strive for more, who sacrifice and risk all they have, and all they are, to move the next generation forward ARE America. Because as they build and enrich their lives, so America is built and enriched. It is an irony: the poor Nigerian mother working in a sweat shop, to provide the most meager food, clothing and shelter so that her children might have a better chance, is every bit as American as Washington, Jefferson, or Adams. She isn't following the American Dream; that Dream is HER.
So, how can it be that sacrificing to provide and education for your children is the American Dream for individuals and their families, but it is not our collective dream? How can it be that while anyone and everyone we admire struggle to provide an education for their children, and often for all children... but that collective Dream is not realized at the level of our own government, the one we elect, the one we pay for?
As individuals, we say that what is most precious to us is our children, and their education. But somehow, we when supposedly speak with one voice, education and children are given a minimal priority.
Simple. We haven't put our foot down. We haven't insisted on better.
We have watched the campaign donors, the big multinationals, the Pentagon, the bureaucrats, and the lobbyists get the lion's share. We haven't said that education comes first. We haven't demanded that children, ALL children, are to come first.
All of us must speak up, and dictate to our government, in no uncertain terms. Children and education are the American Dream, and our government must care for them first.
