• How to eliminate that most devastating handicap — self doubt
• How to free yourself from worry, stress and resentment
• How to climb above problems to visualize solutions and then attain them
• Simple prayerful exercises that you can do every day, throughout the day, to reinforce your new-found habit of happiness

Now, it’s certainly fine to think positively to focus on positive thoughts. And you do want to overcome the devastation of feeding into anger, fear, and worry. And it certainly is fine to hold onto a “mental picture of yourself as a success” to “practice happy thinking” even every morning to “let pictures of each happy experience you expect to have that day, pass across your mind [to] savor their joy [so that] such thoughts will cause events to turn out that way.”

But unfortunately, there’s a downside to all this happiness.

In recent years, the power of positive thinking has gotten so out of control that if you think negatively or experience negative thoughts you are at fault, need to repent, and avoid ever doing so again. But I’ll let you in on a secret negative thinkers, those advocating positive thoughts are not always positive. They too experience doubt, disappointment, anguish, and pain.

So what’s a poor negative thinker to do?

Well, first of all, let’s take a look at reality.

There is a difference between being positive and negative when dealing with reality. Sure, on the one hand in the long run, you want to be an upbeat and can-do person. But on the other hand, you don’t want to be a perpetual downbeat, can’t-do person. However, if you are generally a positive person and you begin to inordinately experience doubt, fear, worry, anguish and so forth, it’s for a reason. And you need to stop, examine your circumstances and figure out why all this negative stuff is happening and not just block it out with positive thoughts.

What if you are in a job or career that is in dire need of change?

What if you are in a relationship that is falling apart and you need to address the negative issues?

What if you are confronting an individual on a daily basis who is brining you down?

And, more importantly, what if there are deep-seated issues that have been in your psyche since childhood that need to be looked at in detail, confronted, examined, and addressed? It would certainly be foolish to try to just think positive thoughts to overcome here.

Sometimes, being too positive or overly optimistic can be problematic. What if you are a CEO, physician, or general in the field of battle who must deal with the reality of the negative or not so favorable facts? Should the CEO ignore the negative financial reports coming in with positive thoughts? The doctor with a patient who has a life-threatening illness with positive thoughts? The general in the field who is outnumbered with positive thoughts?

OK, not many may be CEO’s, doctors, or generals in the battlefield, but you see my point. However, it is also critical to not avoid those everyday negatives that arise: jealousy, anger, spite, fear, remorse, doubt, hatred, shame, worry, delusion, and so on. Even the generally positive person will have such emotions arise on occasion. And that’s OK. They are there for a reason, warning signals that must be addressed not ignored or glossed over with positive mantras.

At times, self-examination alone is not enough to fix some of the negatives. Depending on the complexity and depth of the issue, you may have to go to a professional. But for lesser issues, and for those who have had some training in doing so, self-examination is enough. For instance, if you are a normally emotionally healthy person and you find yourself all of a sudden becoming jealous of someone’s success, maybe it’s merely a signal that it’s time for a change in your life. Maybe you need to obtain some of that success for yourself.

Now some in the field of motivation and success advocate positive thinking like it’s the only avenue to success. And, sure, you would probably prefer to be a bright, shiny, positive thinker than a dull, downcast, negative one. But you certainly shouldn’t put your work toward success on hold until you become the paragon of positive thinking.

And who knows? maybe you’ll never get rid of the negative? Lincoln didn’t. Here’s a man who often suffered extreme bouts with depression and a fascination with death. But he still achieved within his “negativity.”

And who’s to say negativity is not of an arbitrary nature? For in the United States, someone who is a pushy, get ‘er done, go getter is generally looked at in a positive light. But if you put that same person in certain countries in Asia such actions would be looked at as highly undesirable, maybe even negative.

And who knows? Maybe the reason your negative is that you’re just uninspired and it’s time for change and continued growth. Hell, if you had reached this point and thought “Gee, I’m negative, I’ve got to think happy thoughts” then this would not be considered positive thinking but insanity. It’s not negativity but uninspiring goals that are your problem.

The bottom line here is that being negative is not a death sentence nor is being positive an indicator that all is well. It’s best to be somewhere in between, a realist, and to take an honest look at what is causing you distress or, for that matter, what is causing you happiness and joy. An active, examining, honest mind is your best tool to success and not worrying too much one way or the other how much more positive or negative you “need to be” according to somone’s arbitrary standard.

Here’s to your success.

Need to build a new cabinet under the kitchen sink?

Need to make a career change?

It’s a bedtime story you need?

Have to make an important political decision?

Got an exam you’ve got to pass?

On and on and on it goes. All begins in thought. Everything under the sun began as an imagined reality that eventually came to fruition. Yes, even the sun, the moon and the earth . . . and then some. But what is most sad of all is that critical / creative / intuitive thinking-the most important tool you’ll ever need-is left on the back burner and little touched during one’s formative education years. Most of the time it’s memorize, regurgitate, and purge. Yes, purge-intentionally or through lack of use. Education often overlooks the most important skills we can learn to focus almost exclusively on content. It’s like an artist knowing color, shape, and form but not having the heart and vision to do anything more than copy what she sees.

How sad.

But there’s hope.

Let’s begin that hope by focusing on critical thinking first. What is it? When I told a friend of mine that I teach critical thinking, he asked, “What’s that?” I told him, “I teach people how to think.” He laughed, “What’s there to thinking?” A lot, actually, much more than most believe-a testament to our educational system’s lack. But that’s not the focus of this article. Let’s get into the thinking, shall we?

Critical Thinking: Three Part Model

Reasoning: Foundation of Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is technically defined as the ability to come to a conclusion based on one or more arguments. Here arguments are not Jerry Springer Show, chair over the head smack downs, but rather a discussion: “The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress” Joseph Joubert.

Arguments typically persuade (persuasion, argument’s cousin) with good, clear reasoning. They are sound logically and the evidence that supports them is reasonable, and in most cases, good arguments have evidence that is more reasonable than those that support other, lesser arguments. For example, if I told you that all conspiracy theories are true because Dr. Thompson of Quack University said so, you would know my evidence is not sound or reasonable. One, because making an absolute statement (as in “always” “never” “all”) is often incorrect. Very little is always or never true. And you would know that I’m making a generalization based on limited support. We’ve also got a hasty conclusion here (picking one conclusion when others are possible). I would probably need to bring in other experts to concur as well as some research and data to solidify my argument.

Assumptions:

Often these are lying underneath the argument going unnoticed and unmentioned. For example, if someone says “Every parent needs to be responsible for their child’s education,” how many would pick up on the fact that this person is conservative? If someone states that “Nuclear energy is not a viable source of alternative energy,” how many would pick up on the fact that this person has come forward because there are plans in the near future to build a nuclear reactor in his back yard. And so on. In arguments I teach that there are two levels of thought: one, the one you are arguing on, and two, the counter argument or refutation that looks to take down or invalidate your argument.

Logical Fallacies:

These are some of the most common and pernicious aspects of arguments. These are basically tricks or misdirection in thinking, getting people off the topic or issue at hand to distract attention elsewhere. These happen unintentionally but intentionally as well, for there are those who don’t have a sound argument and try to get you not to notice by distraction. Now, a few of the more popular fallacies:

Ad hominem: a personal attack. During Clinton’s campaign, many attempted to attack his character not his track record as a two-term governor of Arkansas-where he had very solid political record.

Red herring: or getting someone off the trail by distracting with an unrelated issue. For example, “I’m going to grade this test on a curve because it creates a better relationship between student and teacher.” Wrong! The issue at hand here is not “student / teacher relations” but rather the student’s education.

Either or thinking: “Either you’re for our troops in Iraq or you’re not.” Often this is to get people to kowtow to one’s desires. It is lazy or abusive thinking. There are often grey areas that which people who use this fallacy don’t want to deal with.

There are many more fallacies, but I think you get the point.

There’s quite a bit more to critical thinking than I can talk about in this one article, but there are a few other points that need to be addressed before we can move on. First, a good critical thinker admits that she doesn’t know. As I state to my students and clients “We are all equal in our infinite ignorance.” What we don’t know is quite a bit more than we’ll ever know. Not sure about this? I tell my students that if they think they know a lot, go into any large library, stand in the middle of the middle floor and regurgitate on cue every word in every volume. OK, begin. How far did you get? There, I told you so.

That’s why with complex issues, like health reform, illegal immigration, and global warming, you may want to take considerable time before you arrive at a solid argument. Personally, regarding illegal immigration it took me several years of researching, listening to immigration stories from those who have been there, writing several articles and observing the responses before I reached a well-thought out conclusion as to the main cause for this issue being an emotional hot-button. And I discovered that it is not based in fact but rather emotional reaction to race.

And there’s another point to consider: emotion. When we deal with arguments emotion is not only frequently attached but hard-coded embedded. Often it breaks down to an emotional sword fight (”Hey, that’s MY’ argument you’re dis-ing here!”) more than a logical one. To argue best, one must work at detaching from one’s emotions. Certainly easier said than done, for I’ve certainly failed on occasion even being quite aware of this foible, but it needs to be mastered to argue from a solid position. No one’s perfect, but we’re not looking for perfection, remember, but a moving forward.

So some things to think about regarding critical thinking: admit you don’t know; you have emotional buttons that can be pushed; there is often great complexity in issues; you need to research and verify complex arguments.

Bottom line, critical thinking is key in making any important decision be it personal, local, national, or otherwise.

Creative Thinking:

OK, let’s get this out of the way right off the bat. If you’re thinking creativity is beyond your grasp or interest that it’s only for artists or those “creative types” think again. Consider the following:

The creative sector of the U.S. economy accounts for $1.7 trillion per year, nearly half of all wages and salaries. So if you think creativity equals art and art is simply the candy store of the economic sector, think again. Not that creativity is all about making money, no. But many do have a false understanding of the important role creativity not only plays in our lives economically, but intellectually and spiritually. It is an all encompassing, multi- faceted tool.

Who are these “creative” people in the economic sector? They are artists, designers, writers, analysts, musicians, entrepreneurs, inventors, scientists, engineers, and so on.

What type of mind set is required to be “creative”? Open minded, flexible, forward-looking, innovative, tolerant, experimental, hopeful, all that one needs to create.

Let’s take a look at the field of science as an example. Specifically, let’s look at physicists or those attempting to come up with a theory that ties quantum with relativity to discover the mind of God or why we are here, where we came from, and where we are going. For it is this theory, or string theory, when found will allegedly, according to some scientists, tie the two aforementioned theories together and we will, according to Stephen Hawking, discover the mind of God.

Now in order to work with this theory one certainly needs all the attributes mentioned above and more. Patience certainly needs to be involved as well, for according to scientist there are so many possible outcomes or answers that the theory is not even right. Huh? Well, that’s where an open, flexible, forward-looking, innovative, tolerant, hopeful mind comes into play. You can see the merit of all these characteristics alone or existing outside creativity. In order to be successful in career and in life one needs these attributes, so it’s no accident that they are so valuable and of such great merit to our emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and financial well being.

A point of practical note is that many employers complain that new hires often lack a creative ability to use the right-side of the brain to problem solve solo or in teams. This supports the point I made earlier about most high school and college grads lacking critical, creative, intuitive thinking skills, those skills that are little paid attention to by educators.

But how exactly does one go about being creative?

Practice, of course. You have to get back to being a child, those kids who say the craziest things. In the 40s, 50s and 60s the show, Art Linkletter’s House Party ran a segment called Kids Say the Darndest Things. Bill Cosby revived a version of the show in the 90s. You can see its popularity. But why?

Well, kids are cute, of course. But they are funny and damn creative. Once while talking to a friend of mine, her five-year-old daughter out of the blue asked, “Mom, when I die, will I dream of dinosaurs?” We all have the ability to think creatively to think as a child, but we have to practice being open enough and feeling safe enough to make odd connections to be flexible, tolerant and open minded. It is here and only here where one can create. And in this day and age of the consultant, the entrepreneur, the recommendation age, according to Glen Dietzel, one more than ever needs to create and be creative. With the economy being so turbulent just relying on a single source of income or job is suicide. Now more than ever one needs to branch out to secure multiple sources of income so that when one stream dries up in these turbulent time there are others to replace them. And it is here where creative, critical, intuitive thinking is vital to one’s survival.

Intuitive Thinking:

This is knowledge or belief obtained neither by reason nor perception, creativity’s cousin. It is based in instinct, a gut feeling and not one based in thorough, in depth analysis and research. It is a hunch or unjustified belief. But according to many it is one of the most important skills to the successful in any venture.

Consider the following, Dr. Mohammed Abdulla El-Erian, CEO and co-CIO of PIMCO, the world’s largest bond investor over US$1 trillion in assets, speaks to the importance of intuition. In his book, When Markets Collides, he mentions that while training as a stock broker, he was working with a very talented young man. As far as his ability is concerned, he was certainly book smart; however, according to El-Erian he was exceptional because of his intuitive insights. El Erian goes on to speak of the great importance of this acquired skill in analyzing the stock market that it is a skill the best master.

Enough from me, let’s cut to the chase by hearing what others have to say about the importance of intuition:

“All perceiving is also thinking all reasoning is also intuition, all observation is also invention” Rudolf Arnheim

“An absolute can only be given in an intuition, while all the rest has to do with analysis” Henri Bergson

“Cease trying to work everything out with your minds. It will get you nowhere. Live by intuition and inspiration and let your whole life be Revelation” Eileen Caddy

“Good design begins with honesty, asks tough questions, comes from collaboration and from trusting your intuition” Freeman Thomas

“Intuition becomes increasingly valuable in the new information society precisely because there is so much data” John Naisbitt

“All human knowledge thus begins with intuitions, proceeds thence to concepts, and ends with ideas” Immanuel Kant

“Trust your hunches. They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level” Joyce Brothers

“If the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“For whereas the mind works in possibilities, the intuitions work in actualities, and what you intuitively desire, that is possible to you. Whereas what you mentally or “consciously” desire is nine times out of ten impossible; hitch your wagon to a star, or you will just stay where you are” D H Lawrence

“Knowledge has three degrees-opinion, science, illumination. The means or instrument of the first is sense; of the second, dialectic; of the third, intuition” Plontinus

“The only real valuable thing is intuition” Albert Einstein

And on Mr. Einstein’s note I end.

So putting it all together, you can’t have one without the other: critical, creative, and intuitive thinking. Creative thinking is about coming up with possibilities. Critical thinking sets the mind to discipline and accuracy. And then when our efforts are exhausted and infinite ignorance takes precedence, it is our invaluable friend intuition, the “only real valuable thing” that makes things absolute.

Develop it. Trust in it. With work, discipline, and faith it will not lead you astray. My rational mind has failed me, but the trumping power of intuition never does. Rely on it for its vision is absolute. But trust not, faith not, it will run from you as quickly as the wild wind.

Here’s to your success.

And therein lies the strength of the power of self-control. In this day-n-age of express-yourself-no-fear-me-firtism, it is difficult if not impossible to get this concept over to people of such a mindset. But self-control is at the root of the establishment of this country. Even in our anthem “America the Beautiful” we here these prophetic words:

But we have not maintained this ideal and it has hurt us as a nation and individually. It is something that has been spoken to again and again over the decades since establishment. Here’s a current message from the pastoral staff at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Medford Oregon that speaks to this verse:

Because of this lack of self-control, even our courts have been affected by it in setting precedents that enable the uncontrolled. In one case, a 79-year-old woman burned herself with coffee that was bought at McDonalds and was awarded $640,000. Applying the principles of comparative negligence, the jury found that McDonald’s was 80% responsible for the incident and the woman was 20% at fault. Though there was a warning on the coffee cup, the jury decided that the warning was neither large enough nor sufficient [emphasis added]. In looking at the statement emphasized, one can see by this precedent where our country is headed. Most would know or be accountable or responsible enough to know that the coffee was hot whether it was 190 degrees (the actual temperature) or 140 degrees (the proposed temperature) and could cause serious pain if not serious burning.

Never before have cases of a similar nature been heard in such great numbers. Now, because of a systemic lack of accountability stemming from a lack of self-control or that which requires one to be “exercising the discipline” thereof, we have more and more become a nation of finger pointers, and those fingers very rarely if ever point backwards.

In the field of self-improvement or self-help, one often hears of overcoming weaknesses and shortcomings. Offense is a big one. Certainly we can all become offended. But the point here is that if you are too easily offended, you will spend a great majority of your time heading nowhere or, worse yet, going backwards as you spin your wheels in anger, resentment, revenge, and spite for those who have done you wrong.

There are different ways in which one may be attacked. Someone could slander or liable your good name, but if your name is good, what’s to worry? Time and time and time again, we find those who speak the loudest about the ills of others eventually shoot themselves down. I can think of two well-known performers whose act was built on attacking the character of others: Dice Clay and Joan Rivers. Their popularity was short lived. This mindset is not healthy to the individual purporting it or to those on the receiving end. It creates much more harm than good in any situation.

I can tell you of several personal experiences where people who desired to besmirch my name were not able to do so only to have it backfire because the people involved knew me or found out who was actually culpable.

If you want to do something with your life, if you want greater self confidence, less anxiety, and greater spirituality, if you want to do good for yourself and others, if you want to move ahead you need to solidify your character to build self confidence and self esteem by not letting others take cheap shots to take you down, waste your time or hold you back from growth and the opportunity to help not only yourself but others to a greater and greater degree as you overcome weaknesses. If you work on yourself, helping yourself to be good, to do good, to help others, to come to the aid of others, to lift and support others, you will create such a solid footing for yourself that those who take shots will not be able to take you down.

“I am rubber, you are glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.”

It may appear childish, but this motivational phrase actually works well at helping the child build self confidence to know that the source of the bad is not in her and that she is good, but most importantly, that the good in her will shine on to aid her in overcoming challenges or the negative and bad that will stick and stain and drain her of life if she believes in the insult, the lie coming her way. This is certainly not where any of us desire to be: young to old.

In order to not be offended, the majority of the work has to be done on your part. You certainly have to build yourself up in the manor suggested above, but it also takes a concerted personal mental effort to overcome the habit of emotionally attacking the offender as well. We have to think before we act. Emotions are not thoughts, they are habits put in place by years of poor or inadequate thinking / reasoning or even its complete lack. This poor reasoning must be undone by good, healthy productive reasoning, for in most cases if not all these bad habits will persist until we consciously intervene.

We can also seek the help of others by informing family and friends of our new mindset. By doing so, we not only bring them to our aid in overcoming bad habits but we help them to overcome them as well.

May you seek the good, the productive, the positive in all that you do in seeking greater self improvement, personal development and self worth. We are not here seeking perfection, nor should anyone believe that we can go throughout life without being offended, for we all have our weak moments, even the strongest. But we must desire to not find offense, to have the negative bounce off us the majority of time; therefore, we can only get stronger for ourselves and, even more importantly, for the many brothers and sisters who need lifting and strengthening. By doing all that is suggested here, you will gain confidence and improvement through these simple self-help techniques.

Personal growth and development are ongoing and never-ending. Until you’ve perfected yourself, you need to grow. Overcoming the self by making the self bigger than your problem or offender will motivate you, and through this motivation, this self improvement, this overcoming, you will gain greater and greater personal strength and desire to reach out to others to do the same for them. Strength breeding strength breeding strength breeding strength. May the line never be broken.

The real problem lies in the economy. What with a marked rise in the cost of living, an alarming increase in divorce creating the need for dual-household income, outsourcing, multinationals that are richer than most countries creating CEOs that earn 1500% more than their generational predecessors, and so on. It’s just gotten downright ugly.

It used to be that with one job you could buy a house, a couple cars, and provide the essentials for your family. Now with both parents working in 70% of U.S. homes, it still doesn’t provide financial security. Like the get-a-college-degree-job-security myth that many still feed in to, even with both parents working the safety-in-numbers myth provides little security as well.

Why?

Consider this, the top three reasons why there are over two million foreclosures in the U.S. are divorce, job loss, and illness. Regardless that it was a 40-year low in interest rates that got most there, outside of this there lies another, more deep-seeded problem. One income cannot do it anymore. Even two are struggling to get by. Here’s a sobering report from Elizabeth Warren, author of “The Middle Class on the Precipice” (Harvard Magazine, Jan. / Feb 2006).

“By 2004, the family budget looks very different. As noted earlier, although a man is making nearly $800 less than his counterpart a generation ago, his wife’s paycheck brings the family to a combined income that is $73,770-a 75 percent increase. But higher expenses have more than eroded that apparent financial advantage. Their annual mortgage payments are more than $10,500. If they have a child in elementary school who goes to daycare after school and in the summers, the family will spend $5,660. If their second child is a preschooler, the cost is even higher-$6,920 a year. With both people in the workforce, the family spends more than $8,000 a year on its two vehicles. Health insurance costs the family $1,970, and taxes now take 30 percent [ it's actually 42 to 50%] of its money. The bottom line: today’s median-earning, median-spending middle-class family sends two people into the workforce, but at the end of the day they have about $1,500 less for discretionary spending than their one-income counterparts of a generation ago.”

More and more middle-class citizens are falling into the lower class, many by way of foreclosure. I was watching the news last night with my wife at a friend’s house. A man and woman had just lost their home and were sitting outside their new trailer home with transplanted lawn jockey, pots, and planters. Through teared-up sobs, the man explained how disheartening it was to work so hard for a dream only to see it lost with little chance of recovery.

What is the solution? Well, instead of going to a job factory (university / college) to learn a craft or skill only to end up working for the government (40 to 50% taken in taxes), banks, and credit card companies (average American owes $10,000) our students should be learning about finances, more specifically, how to own a business and invest.

Time and time and time again, I have gone to wealth seminars and heard former mortgage brokers, insurance agents, Kentucky Fried Chicken managers, teachers, the homeless (sometime the same–I know!), talk about dire times, skimming for nickels and dimes in the change jar to pay for groceries. It is a sad state of affairs, and some, like Hillary, feel that the government needs to do something about it. Well, if you know how the government moves, I’m not waiting. So what do we do?

Instead of working for a company, one which tells you when to come, when to go, how much your worth, and whether or not you’ll be working; instead of never even seeing 45% of your income; instead of being caught in the education matrix; instead of relying on the pain of scrimp and save to no safe solution; the only alternative is to let your money and the government work for you. Here’s how.

Consider the following trend. Most micro-business owners represent:

99% of all employers

50% of all employees

44% of all payroll dollars

70% of all net new jobs

Today, one out of six people that you meet are taking matters into their own hands and have joined the ranks of the “better-off,” if not secure.

If you want to get your taxes down to single digits, start a business. It can even be a part-time online business selling knitting techniques. Really! The tax write offs alone are worth it. Here’s a few examples:

Home Office Deduction: You no longer have any non-deductible commute. All of your mileage is now business related.

Pay your child up to $5000 to help you run your business and pay no taxes (fica, fed., state) and get $2500 back from Uncle Sam.

Convert other medical expenses from itemized deductions to business expenses. Convert limited health insurance deductions into fully deductible business expenses. You save not only on federal income taxes but reduce self employment taxes as well. Save up to 45% by deducting payments that you are already making.

For retirement, up to $45,000 / year can be deferred. Invest in your future and the IRS will reward you with lower taxes.

Why let your Bad Uncle take your money when your Good Uncle is only a business idea away?

How else can you win the money game? Real estate . The government wants you to do two things: start a business to create jobs and feed the economy and to provide affordable housing. And you don’t have to be “The Don” when it comes to real estate. But keep in mind that 7 out of 10 millionaires own real estate. It’s the safest and most profitable way to make passive or leveraged income. And by the way, the government is dying to give away money, provide the down payment, even forgive loans (yes, there are forgivable loans that don’t have to be paid back; hell, they’re forgiven!).

Need a home? Here’s a possibility. Try the 203 (b). It’s the purchase of a four-plex, where you move in to manage for a year before selling or keeping as an investment. And the good part? You live for free as you build equity.

Bottom line, the government wants you to help out, and if you do, they’ll help you, in a big way . There’s many ways of getting ahead. The limit is only in your ability to imagine.

So even though there’s a lot of bad news out there (foreclosures, job loss, cost of living increase), if you keep your eyes open there’s always a way out. With a little shift in thinking, a willingness to change, you can not only get back on top but rise higher than before. Good luck and God bless.

There are over 15,000 individually run school districts. Some rich. Some poor. And others in-between. Those districts of the well-to-do benefit the schools in which they live more than those of the not-so-affluent. This should be obvious, but it’s an assumption not made evident to the masses. Keep in mind that the race to educate (No Child Left Behind) is a nice federal ideal, but it comes down to individual districts as to what happens. If there’s no money the national ideal dies. Also consider that most politicians run on short-term personal interest, more interested in drumming up support and votes than long-term fixes.

But there’s more.

Even if there is money, what of the intangibles?

For example, there is the divorced father with a gifted child who should be in a magnet school, but his wife-who has custody-does not want to drive the extra few miles. So the child goes to a public school is under-challenged and bored. The child may, in most likelihood, turn out fine and not be turned off by school because of a pressing intellect, but the father is distraught that he can’t do anything. Here’s an issue educational reform rarely addresses.

Also, reform often speaks of new programs or pedagogical theory that will enable children to learn, but how many and to what degree? What sounds good in theory is not always practical in applying to reality.

What is forgotten here is that children outside of any program or education technique will not learn if emotionally or intellectually disinterested.

Some are emotionally distraught coming from broken homes or living in situations that are not conducive to education. For example, I had a student who left home because his father’s girlfriend threatened him often; she did so especially after she had gotten high. The father did nothing.

What if a child is living on her own with a parent, stepparent, grandparent, relation or friend who doesn’t give the emotional support needed? With divorce hovering nationally around 50% this is not a rare occurrence.

Then even if the child is living in a healthy environment, if she is not interested in a particular subject she will not only most likely get poor grades but also never work in a field that uses that subject of disinterest.

I’ve taken informal surveys of my students in-class time and again, asking how many find themselves using algebra, geometry, history, biology, chemistry, literature, and so on extensively in their future. The majority of time I get no response to one or two out of thirty or more for each subject. So here’s something to consider. Maybe in achieving educational reform we should ask the students what they want.

Another point to ponder is that we need to be leery of politicians who tout educational reform, for even if they are sincere, it is a complex issue and not something that can be fixed by simply increasing the length of school days or the school year.

And a final point of interest is that if education, like health care, were so important something would have been done decades ago. But politicians are swayed by lobbyists who focus on monetary gain for their good not the educational good or improvement of opportunities for our youth.

In his book The Art of Loving, Erich Fromm mentions that if loving were a priority, not monetary gain and social standing, then best how to love one another would be our central focus. We may pay lip service to love and its greatness, but our “say” has not or will most likely never catch up with our “do.”

May those who are most interested in our children rise to the forefront of society to bear the truth to the masses that education reform has little to do with class size, length of school days or year, and more with understanding our children’s lives and their day-to-day challenges more intimately. And may parents, for whom their main responsibility is to educate their children (emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually), have greater awareness of the role they play in their children’s lives. Teachers are but the tip of the student’s education while parents the 99%, the foundation below.

First, to set the stage, let’s start by saying that most believe education to be critical. Education here meaning high school since it is compulsory and everyone is required to attend. But specifically the content of the “education” spoken to by the majority is quite different from what is essential to survive in today’s competitive world. (More on this later.) Nevertheless, the popular content of the general high school curriculum those in the media, political and public arenas speak of entails arithmetic, science, language, phys ed, history, and English.

And most have been conditioned to believe that this type of education is necessary or critical or that a child without a high school education and, in most cases today, a college education limits the average child’s chance for success in the job market. And this is true to a degree but less so than most believe. But to continue our definition, it should be pointed out here that education gained usually translates to “job,” meaning that the belief is that high school and / or college are preparing the student for her life’s work. But this is not true and our youth are being shortchanged. For after twelve maybe sixteen years of education, then what? Education stops because institutional education is complete?

Today such thinking is disastrous, for with the opening of the global job market and greater competition–therefore the greater creative destruction of capitalism–one needs to be on the ball and constantly updating skills, even deleting and re-learning new skills, a situation that requires less of educational standards and a greater understanding of the critical need for developing one’s self-education skills that readies one for the great changes ahead–not only numerous jobs but careers that are sure to come. Never before has it been more critical for students and workers to understand the need to keep one’s skills, attitudes, and knowledge in tip-top shape, up to date and forever expanding.

And of course, as I’ve mentioned before numerous times-but bears repeating-high school grads and even college grads are lacking fundamental skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are more critical today than ever before: self-educating skills (as mentioned), critical and intuitive thinking, financial IQ, honesty, integrity, work ethic, success principles (upwards of 64 of them!), ability to work well with others, public speaking / leadership skills, and so much more.

Why are these intangibles, these often over looked skills, knowledge, and attitudes so important? Well, it is just the foundation of these very intangibles-which are rarely addressed in education-that will keep the average graduate on solid footing in regards to the many career changes guaranteed to come. After all this is, as Allen Greenspan states, the age of turbulence. The new grad must be adaptive, focused, work ready, and basically a company of one, ready and able to adapt as change occurs on the job, in the world national and international, and in ever changing career shifts. How market ready are you? How valuable and adaptive are your insights, skills, and attitudes? No longer can one rely on just one degree, skill, or job to see them through to retirement and its pension (by the way, pensions will have nearly evaporated by the time those who are just entering the work force have retired if current trends continue–they already are weakened and dissappearing).

This now brings us to the current state of education and belief that a standard high school education is necessary. Let’s bear down on the point at hand.

We often hear that schools are doing poorly or doing well in regards to testing and grades in the standard disciplines mentioned above–math, science, English, etc.. And it is generally taken for granted that we need these courses and that our children will benefit by taking them. However, how do we know this? What tangible evidence, research and verification tells us that what our children study is benefiting them five, ten, twenty years down the road?

As far as I know, there is none. To ensure that an education is critical it first must have value for the consumer, for if it holds none its hold on the consumer will be short lived. If we looked at the truth, we will find that not only are most not using that which they’ve learned in school and even college but they have little to no desire to retain it in the first place. Here are a few direct quotes from current and former students of mine.

“Got labs today. Can’t wait to purge this junk once the test is over.”

“Dude, that class is a joke. Do what we all do. Get the grade, dump the junk, and get on with your life.”

“Whoever thought we needed half this crap [knowledge gained from classes taken] should be shot, run over, then shot again.”

Some of these statements I’ve overheard or seen posted on various social media. (I’ve left out  the numerous comments that have an “R” rating or higher.) The point being that there’s a lot of precious “knowledge” out there that has little value for many in high school and college.

Why is this allowed to happen in the first place?

Well, most education is not for profit, meaning that if it were there would be a lot of asking of the customer what she likes and doesn’t like, as well as what is useful and not useful to not only retain  customers but to encourage them to come back. There’s little if any of that concern in education at any level. For emphasis, just consider where you get optimum service, at the DMV, US Post Office, or INS? Or maybe more so at Blockbusters, Wells Fargo, or Vons Supermarket? Yes, where the customer is king, in the private sector.

Most education is run by states and, therefore, talked about by those governing the country–those with short-term agendas to get elected or re-elected–not with the long-term picture in mind. And this bears out the point that most have little interest in or concern for what happens to grads after they’re gone and whether or not what they’ve studied is needed or necessary. Even schools and colleges are guilty of this offense. Have you ever been approached by your school or college with a survey to discern your consumer satisfaction? Then my question is, how do they have any idea that what they are doing is right? Good? Of merit or quality? Of need, even?
On top of it all, students attending school and college and their parents just take it for granted that authorities and governing bodies (regional accreditors that are academically oriented and not tied into the realities of the private sector) have selected curriculum that is appropriate for ever child’s needs, a ridiculous proposal at best. Does anyone ever question what they or their child is taking in school and / or college and how it specifically applies to them, their abilities, talents, character, skills, and desires? Trusting so much in governing bodies that do little to no checking to see if that which they are requiring students in schools and college is beneficial years later? If private companies were run like this they’d be out of business quicker than you could say “failed thinking.”

It is critical today more than ever before that consumers-students-understand thoroughly not only what education means, and its limitations, but what they need to ensure success not only in the workforce, but in their families, society, and spiritual life. There is so much that so many are missing out on with the current state of the education nation. It is in a sad state indeed and only its privatization or the seeking of a proper, thorough and adequate education by individuals in the know of what is needed will truly reform education. As consumers of education, we certainly need to be better trained in what we are receiving, what we need, and how to go about getting it.

Going with our original example, now flash forward a couple decades or more, what do you see? Around the age of thirty, maybe thirty-five your words and phrases, and mannerisms become familiar, and for good reason. Why it takes so long for us to realize (or are these things time released?) that who we are hearing and seeing is our parents I don’t know. It is our mom or dad or both. We may hear them when we get mad at our kids, run into frustration at work, or even in the joy we express; it is our parents coming alive in our own words and actions.

Now let’s get to the issue at hand: best teacher ever, greatest influence in our lives.

Well, of all the dozens of teachers I’ve had through elementary, high school, college, into grad school, who do I remember? Who stands out in my mind? Some teacher I think of now and again as I learn and move forward in life? Not one of them. But there is one teacher who comes back to me time and again through the good and the bad and the ugly, for our relationship as student / teacher was never a smooth one, yet one of the most personal teacher / student relationships I’ve ever had.

It is funny to me all the praise and great value we place on school teachers, as if their influence and words will be remembered through the years. It is like a great conqueror who desires to be remembered through the ages when he is lucky if people give him a few thoughts a few times a year for all his bloodshed and efforts. Greatness is fleeting if it is sought after without the focus being on the giving not the taking. And the best school teacher is one who works in the shadows to the betterment of the student.

“A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary.” ~~ Thomas Carruthers

“The kids in our classroom are infinitely more significant than the subject matter we teach.” ~~ Meladee McCarty

“The teacher is but the catalyst, the poker and prodder, the tweeker standing quite in the shadows, a magician casting spells, the child thinking she has done it all herself.” ~~ Jeff Brown

“Instruction begins when you, the teacher, learn from the learner; put yourself in his place so that you may understand what he learns and the way he understands it.” ~~ Soren Kierkegaard

But my teacher is one I remember, my father, for he was with me always. Little did he leave my mind when I was younger, and little does he leave my mind now as I achieve, as I come to understand it was the curiosity and imagination he instilled in me; the discipline he formed; the tenacity laid in foundation; the honor and honesty that keep me at my best; responsibility and sticking to the task at hand, all that he taught me, my greatest, my only teacher, that has enabled me to succeed at work, in public, and at home. For what school teacher is close enough to teach the essentials, the critical lessons of life, love, and home to make the better man the best-of-all men?

“The one real object of education is to have a man in the condition of continually asking questions.” ~~ Bishop Mandell Creighton

“He who has imagination without learning has wings but no feet.” ~~ Joseph Joubert

“You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.” ~~ Clay P. Bedford

My father taught me those things no teacher can, things of the heart that are not, unfortunately, fiscally in demand but oh so much more important.

“Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.” ~~ C. S. Lewis

As the years go by, school teachers we’ve had over the years will fade in our minds, few if any ever coming to the forefront again. So if you want your child to succeed, if you want the best education your child can have to come to light, teach him all that you know and everything will turn out alright in your imperfect educational role, a parental delight.

“Spoon feeding, in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.” ~~ E.M. Forster

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” ~~ Aristotle

“Children learn to smile from their parents.” ~~ Shinichi Suzuki

“It is the responsibility of every adult to make sure that children hear what we have learned from the lessons of life and to hear over and over that we love them.” ~~ Marian W. Edelman

If we desire our children to get the best education, then we must desire the best from us and to pass it on, to encourage and instill in the child a solid sense of self, character, responsibility, work ethic, honesty, honor, accountability, tenacity, discipline, focus and all that goes along with success, for if we don’t prepare the vessel and prepare it adequately regardless of what we put in it, that which is so secondary, it will not matter. For the vessel will spill over all that it has taken in and never achieve regardless of all the knowledge, ability, skill, gifts and desire.

It is time for parents to take responsibility for teaching their children and teaching them well all that they need to know to prosper them to the end of their time.

Teach your children well,

Their father’s hell did slowly go by,

And feed them on your dreams

The one they picked, the one you’ll know by.

Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,

So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

Crosby Stills Nash Young — “Teach Your Children

But there are other problems.

First, this is a federal law superseding what is state sanctioned territory, so states don’t have to adhere to its requirements, but more on that later.

Second, schools that don’t meet the standards will be forced to initially develop an improvement plan; by the third year of failing to meet AYP, free tutors to failing students will be offered; by the sixth year of failure the school may be turned into a charter school, a private company hired to run it or the state office of education; or it may just be shut down. Since the law’s enactment, various schools have been shut down as a result. So what’s a poor school to do?-poor here taken literally, for it is usually the schools in poorer cities that get shut down.

Because the effect of poor test results can be quite devastating, to avoid being taken over by the state or shut down, many schools have simply lowered test standards-certainly encouraged by the dummying down of text books to increase inclusion mentality brought about in the 70s. Today, close to twenty states have lowered standards in reading or math or both.

Some schools even do what is called “creative reclassification” with drop-outs to reduce unfavorable statistics.

Another issue is teaching to the test. If teachers know that the math test, for example, will ask students rote knowledge / skill items rather than well-constructed, high-order items that’s what will be taught. A teacher may get the students to understand how to produce the right answer but not teach more practical applications. Teaching to the test is oftentimes limiting and narrow in focus. And keep in mind that a good portion of grades three through eight spend a great deal of time preparing for these tests, so how much of the rest of their education is being sacrificed to the tests?

Another problem arises because of the pressure put on schools to achieve minimal standards in reading, writing, and arithmetic, programs for gifted students are often neglected.

There is also the narrow curriculum effect of students losing out on a broad education. Three quarters of public school principles believe that art, social studies, foreign languages, and even physical education have been slighted to a great degree. Some principles believe that because of the NCLB, obesity has increased with a lack of focus on physical education.

Another issue, brought up previously, is the fact that the direction of schooling traditionally and constitutionally is done at the state level. States don’t have to comply with the NCLB law, but if they want funding they do.

But is 100% efficiency possible?

Well, it’s actually 95% because students with learning disabilities are taken into consideration. But not every student is equal in skill, ability, and development. Some students are just not “proficiently” gifted in math and reading / writing.

Since 2001, however, there has been no great improvement in reading and math scores. Some educators and administrators are yelling that they’d better get going and fast to meet the 2014 deadline. But there are others who say that the NCLB needs to be scraped all together.

In February 2007, the Aspen Commission on No Child Left Behind, announced the release of the Commission’s final recommendations for the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. The Commission is an independent, bipartisan effort to improve NCLB and ensure it is a more useful force in closing the achievement gap that separates disadvantaged children and their peers. After a year of hearings, analysis and research, the Commission uncovered the successes of NCLB, as well as provisions which need to be changed or significantly modified.

The Commission’s goals are summarized as follows:

• Effective Teachers for All Students, Effective Principals for All Communities
• Accelerating Progress and Closing Achievement Gaps Through Improved Accountability
• Moving Beyond the Status Quo to Effective School Improvement and Student Options
• Fair and Accurate Assessments of Student Progress
• High Standards for Every Student in Every State
• Ensuring High Schools Prepare Students for College and the Workplace
• Driving Progress Through Reliable, Accurate Data
• Parental involvement and empowerment

Whether it is the Aspen Commission or another group, the NCLB over the last eight years has severely under performed. There are too many problems: excess focus on testing, limited education, and states fearful of punishment and lack of funding who avoid creative curriculums that excite students and encourage learning.

Ultimately, education needs to first and foremost begin with parents and their commitment to their children’s future. Why parents are rarely in the picture in regards to our children’s education is a mystery to me. They must be trained to work with their children and teachers to improve education to instill an enthusiasm for learning, not merely producing students who are grade focused and purge information after testing like it’s poison. I’ve seen thousands of students over the years who not only lack an enthusiasm for learning but go about their education like zombies merely waiting out the week for the weekend.

In today’s unsure, shifting job market mere math and writing skills won’t cut it. As a matter of fact, the majority of those in the work force don’t use or need to know anything beyond basic math. High math, algebra to calculus, is required only by 5% of the workforce which works as engineers, scientists, architects, and so on. The majority of jobs do not require high end skills. We certainly don’t want to get behind other countries technically, but the greatest efforts should be focused on creating life-long learners, those with an enthusiasm for learning, and a focus on transferable skills: critical thinking, creativity, intuitive thought, a passion for learning and a compassion for helping fellow humans.

According to Kathy Kristof, “Crushed by College,” the above attorneys were “victims of an unfolding education hoax on the middle class that’s just as insidious, and nearly as sweeping, as the housing debacle The ingredients are strikingly similar, too: Misguided easy-money policies that are encouraging the masses to go into debt; a self-serving establishment trading in half-truths that exaggerate the value of its product; plus a Wall Street money machine dabbling in outright fraud as it foists unaffordable debt on the most vulnerable marks” (Forbes, Feb 2, 2009).

There’s also the myth that if you go to college you make about $1 million more on average than a high school grad, once again, failed thinking. The belief is that it is college that is enabling the individual to make more money. Maybe it’s just that smart people go to college and are more likely to make more money than high school grads because of their smarts, and it has little to nothing to do with the degree. It’s failed cause effect thinking. There are many who have never gone to college or dropped out, like Bill Gates from Harvard, who don’t have a degree who are making cash hand over fist.

Even if you get a degree, there’s no promise that you’ll use it, need it, or that it will prepare you for the work you desire to take up. For example, I hear time and again that those who are now in business have little use for their business degree. Personally, I obtained a certificate in programming and had to get in at the entry level shuffling reports. I eventually got into programming, but I didn’t use any of the languages I learned and acquired all of my know-how on the job. Even my BA and MA in English did little to nothing to prepare me to teach grammar, mechanics, punctuation, and composition, all of which I learned on the job, once again. Interesting to note that an English major was not required to take even one grammar or composition class.

But there’s more to the story.

If you add the expense of going to college (tuition, fees, books, room & board: $46, 700 / yr. public schools; $99,000 yr. / private schools) what isn’t taken into consideration is that the “$1 million college over high school grad” advantage doesn’t kick in until the grad has been out of school twelve years or more (don’t forget to include the four years of college where no money is earned) before the loan is paid off.That is if you graduate (half entering college never do), don’t default on your loan (17% write offs), aren’t delinquent (upwards of 24%) and pay without interruption (many defer payments or file for hardships while interest continues to accrue).

On top of all this is the fact that private lenders add 10% “origination fees” onto 18% variable interest rates (there’s no legal limit). These private loans are now twice as profitable as government loans and has attracted financial institutions like Citigroup, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo.

The arm of abuse extends far, for according to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office, investigations have discovered “troubling, deceptive and often illegal practices . . . involving lenders, educational institutions and financial aid officials.” So those “sacrosanct” college and university staff are not as many perceive them to be.

Another thing that colleges, universities, and other institutions of learning (for profit) don’t tell American Dream hopefuls is the reality of what their degree can actually get them. Often times, as stated above, the curriculum to job or reality match is not even close. Some students are preached to about the great paying jobs they’ll get only to discover that it is those with years of experience or a greater degree and years of struggle that has “ensured” said success.

Here’s another sobering factoid:

“One in four college grads takes home considerably less than the top quartile of high school grads, according to a College Board study” (Kathy Kristof, “Crushed by College”).

Also, if you’re thinking of taking the traditional path to “job security” and the American Dream through being a doctor and opening up your private practice, think again.

In a recent survey only 18% of physicians deemed their practices financially stable. What with liability, exorbitant student loan debt ($155,000 average which has jumped from 20% of their average pay to 60%) and the fact that the self-employed don’t get considerable tax breaks like business owners or investors, the American dream here has moved into nightmare territory.

One day at a McDonalds, my wife and I were sitting next to a nanny with two children. Speaking in Spanish, she told us that she worked for a couple with private practices. They worked from seven in the morning until seven in the evening seeing their children for an hour before putting them to bed and going to bed themselves.Why? To survive.

Another consideration is a single income stream and its overall disadvantage. Even if the employee happens to be a college grad who has optimized her income (some $30,000 / yr. over what high school grads make), what happens when that steam dries up in these economically challenging times? where cost of living to income ration is the worst it’s ever been for single income employees. Never before has it been so challenging just to pay the bills never mind put away a little money for a “rainy day.” If the employee can’t work any longer for whatever reason (health, business or industry collapse, competition), what is a single-stream income employee to do?

It’s old thinking, out-dated thinking, failed thinking, and most of all, dangerous thinking. Never before has it been so critical, so essential that the individual understand that he is responsible for his financial future and that financial IQ is one of the most important elements of his ongoing education.

The American Dream has changed along with the economy and few are aware. There needs to be an awakening to the facts that achievement of the American Dream through college and “job security” are things of the past and that people need to quickly get up to speed as to what needs to be done to survive financially through the working years into retirement. Little of what is needed relies on a college degree. Just ask the experienced. They’ll tell you the truth. No lie.

But if a child is to learn, spending at least the required twelve years in school in America, why this “education”?

For one, there are certain, as Allan Bloom believed, education standards required to enhance not only communication amongst a people but understanding. In addition, there is a certain level of significance to the fact that children must learn reading, writing, arithmetic, science, literature, history and such, for intellectual and vocational satisfaction. However, specifically what the depth and breadth of that knowledge should be is widely debated.

But there is more.

As we all know, there is quite a bit missing from education: for one, the heart and soul little touched.

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” ~~ Aristotle

And imagination is given lip service in the arts (it should be used in all disciplines) but our students are little encouraged to fly, rather working to the test ingesting fact, theory, and formula.

“He who has imagination without learning has wings but no feet.” ~~ Joseph Joubert

In addition to an under-stimulated imagination, we do little to encourage independent intuitive and critical thinking, the student marching on for the academic machine; or as one of my students claimed “To serve.”

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” ~~ Dorothy Parker

“To control and sort young people for the sake of institutional efficiency is to crush the human spirit.” ~~ Ron Miller

And little is done to encourage individual thinking that which comes through quite reflection and solitude, especially in a day-n-age of constant motion: texting, television, games, and chatting.

“The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.” ~~ Albert Einstein

But I am here to tell you that even though all of these greater things are missing, the argument as to what of the lesser (fact, theory, formula) should be taught in school matters little.

But “Why?” you say. Because most of what is taught to the student is not only of little interest but most of it is never thought of or used again.

But there’s more.

As long as a child is exposed to a good variety of knowledge and, probably more importantly, an enthusiasm for gaining discipline and consistency in obtaining that knowledge, when the child obtains young adulthood she will, through proper training or happenstance (which unfortunately is most often the case), learn what she desires to end up doing the majority of her waking hours here on this earth. And from here she will take the necessary steps to seek satisfaction, if she is fortunate. Unfortunately, within 5 to 10 years after graduation, 70% of college grads are no longer working in a field related to their major. After all that which has been learned in high school has been forgotten and that which has been learned in college no longer of use to the majority, one can see the waste this so called “education” is.

The key issue here, as alluded to above, is that the student needs to know how to self-teach, for it is here and only here where most of her development will occur. (An inward understanding of desires, talents, abilities, and gifts is also necessary to waste less time working where one should not be, a critical point I have spoken to often). It is interesting to note that the majority of those seeking improvement from the mislabeled field of self-help (interesting that ideally this is where the help should come from–the self) begin to do so around the age of twenty-seven. It is at this point in life when the majority get an inkling that “education” has failed them and that they must personally make amends.

But why is this self-educating critical to one’s greater education?

For those who go the extra mile, students will complete their formal education at the age of twenty-two. Of course some later, some sooner, and some will return, regardless, for those who maximize their education they will do so after completing 16 years of a formal education.

Then what?

Since school systems force what is to be learned upon students in a rigorous manor with little desire for input or feedback from them as to feelings, concerns, or thoughts, this has turned off the majority to learning; because of this there is little hope that learning will continue beyond those 12 years, 16 if going on to college. And since learning by wrote to the test is often the plight of most students (after all this “training” they get it and do little other than look to nurture their grade average), learning how to think creatively, intuitively, and rigorously to see the more stimulating and enlivening bigger picture is a moot point. Unfortunately, we are creating drones with little imagination and ability to adapt and think creatively, intuitively, critically in an age when job security and even career security (some experts say up to 10 career changes over a workers life span) is a thing of the past.

Bottom line, if education does not instill a passion for learning in the student, the student has been shortchanged emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually.

Another related point to consider is that education fades. Consider that within 24 hours of reading one forgets 80% without review, what does that say of an education months, never mind years, after completion if, first, that knowledge gained is repulsive (many taking the test and then purging what has been learned like a bulimic), second, that knowledge is never revisited for lack of use.

We fool ourselves as a nation if we think education has any great redeeming or lasting importance under these circumstances. People treat education as if it were a saving grace, the knowledge and understanding gained to be used for greater human good or “job security” (to be a good human one learns wisdom–difference between right and wrong–not facts, stats, and formulas). Yet the majority of knowledge is taken in and lost faster than you can say “Senior skip day.”

“Education in our times must try to find whatever there is in students that might yearn for completion, and to reconstruct the learning that would enable them autonomously to seek that completion.” – Allan Bloom, Closing of the American Mind

Some of that “completion” may entail a standard education, but not much. There is so much beyond what schools teach our children that is not only never taught but never mentioned and is, in most cases, stumbled upon as graduates real from trying to discern why their lives are out of control and missing so much satisfaction not only in career pursuits but greater pursuits of the emotional and critical strengthening of the character.

“As it now stands, students have powerful images of what a perfect body is and pursue it incessantly. But deprived of literary guidance, they no longer have any image of a perfect soul, and hence do not long to have one. They do not even imagine that there is such a thing.” – Allan Bloom, Closing of the American Mind.

May our minds remain open to the possibility of the need for the greatest of change to bring about a better education so that formal education does not simply expire and fade away. May we seek the best answers for our youth now and in the future.