Liberal Education

The focus of our education system is on reading, math and science.  At least in the primary education years.  Although I understand the principle behind the concept and realize that we are living in a society with an ever increasing infrastructure of technology, I wonder if it is the right path for the education of our youth.  My main concern is that as society becomes more complex and relies more on technology and less upon human interaction, shouldn’t we spend more time in our education efforts teaching a liberal education?   Our children seem to be thrown into or have access to the adult world at a much earlier age.  Information is more readily available, educational demands have increased and parents are pushed to accelerate the growth of their children.  It seems to me that this is a time in our society when a liberal education becomes increasingly imperative, not less so.

Learning about life, about choices and responsibilities, about ethics and morals, about our history and culture.  These components of liberal education are extremely important to the development of our children and should have time allocated within our educational system equal to  the sciences.

The quality of life is relative to our perspective of it.

Columbia University Defines a New Low Point in American Education

It is absolutely absurd that Americans should have to allow Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad access to speak within the shores of this great country, at least outside of the halls of the United Nations.   The fact that it occurred on a university campus speaks to the outright hypocrisies that occur with too much frequency.  A campus that will not allow military recruiters or ROTC units access has invited the man who is responsible for the death of many our military service members.  

The president of the university has claimed that Ahmadinejad has the right of free speech, but he has forgotten that that right exists and is extended to American Citizens not to Iranian Citizens, and that the people who are responsible for protecting that right are the very individuals who have laid down their lives so that Columbia President Lee Bollinger could have his moment of glory.

I applaud President Bollinger’s attack of several of the ludicrous statements made by Ahmadinejad in the past but it does not excuse the fact that he gave Ahmadinejad the right to express himself on American soil.  There must be some course that teaches patriotism and honor somewhere on campus?  Probably not.

Finally, I amazed by reports that suggest the students of Columbia University applauded Ahmadinejad?   Does that mean they are encouraged by the civil rights he extends to his citizens.  The exclusion / denial of gays, the stoning and rape of women, the list goes on, I guess these are all things that the students of Columbia University support.  Their charter should be revoked.

What Price for Freedom?

Today (Sept 17^th, 2007) is the 145^th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam.  The battle was the single bloodiest day of the Civil War leaving some 23,000 Union and Confederate soldiers dead or wounded.  It cost George McClellan his command of the Union Army and lead to the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Lincoln.

The Battle of Antietam is relevant now as a point of discussion when considering the current Global War on Terror.  We often hear the cliché “freedom isn’t free” but never really stop to consider what it means in the context of the history of freedom.  What price has been paid?  What price will be paid now and in the future?  

As the debate about our mission in Iraq rages across the country and in the halls of Congress I think a little perspective is in order.  The seminal issues of the Civil War; slavery, states rights and the preservation of the Union cost 620,000 American lives.  It would have been very easy for President Lincoln to let the issue of slavery lie and allow the South to secede but he didn’t and we are better for it.  We as a country and we as a people could not allow the institution of slavery to continue. 

The price for democracy in Iraq, the overthrow of a brutal dictator and the security of its oil resources has been 3,000 plus American lives over the last 4 years.  Freedom still isn’t free.  If history is an indicator of probable events in the future, freedom never will be free!

Feeling out of place

I collect old books; most were written and published prior to the 1900’s. I have focused my collecting on American history, books that discuss the times and events that occurred much closer to the important events then; that still have ramifications in our lives today.

The sense that I get after reading those stories is that of an almost overwhelming sense of pride in our country and ourselves. It is the exact opposite feeling I get when I watch the evening news or read any of the local or national papers.

I want to be motivated and inspired to do better things and create a better life for my family, I want to believe we can achieve great things. When I watch America’s mass media, I feel like I must be in another place. This isn’t the America I knew and read about as a youngster.

We have somehow lost the ability to feel good about ourselves in this country. We wring our hands over the slightest issues, particularly in cases where it appears as though we may be upsetting someone’s feelings. It seems as though our new national goal is not to offend anyone.

I have to wonder where that will lead us? Are Americans becoming stronger as a nation, are Americans becoming stronger on the global stage? I have come to believe that we as Americans are on the precipice of a dramatic change in our culture. Where that leads to is the interesting question.

Setting the Rules

Teddy Roosevelt preached that the American character was “not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.”

Yet it seems that we spend an inordinate amount of time trying to live a life of easy peace. That in fact we shirk from danger and hardship and from bitter toil.

 

What do we want for our children? Are we, in America, slowly eroding away the “hard work” ethic and motivation to improve that brought us to this place on the world stage. Is the vast wealth our nation and the quality of life that is has brought, our down fall?

Historys Heroes Website Launch

My wife and I are proud to launch www.historysheroes.com as part of our effort to build American pride and cultural awareness among the youth of our great nation.

Our project to produce animated 3D videos of and about American Heroes is well underway and the addition of this important website is critical to helping us preserve great American stories.

The website is meant to be a fun and useful tool for kids, parents and educators who would like a little help in learning or teaching the stories of American Heroes. 

 Enjoy and please let us know if you have any comments.