Let's continue today with how we got here, that is, why we seem to think that we should be able to poop out babies without regards to whether we can pay to raise them, have risky sex and bill someone else for the HIV treatment, or stuff our pie holes until we weigh 400lbs and then expect society to buy our diabetes medication.

Or, for that matter, "deserve" a $500,000 house if we make $8/hour cutting hair.

Someone commented today that I forgot to rant about the government schools that are at the base of all this crap.

Well, guess what? Yesterday I got yet another dose of it as my daughter "graduated" 5th grade (where did THAT stupidity come from; when I was in school you graduated exactly once, at the end of your 12th grade year) and got to sit through something that I have ranted to the school about before.

As I was checking my daughter out of that particular part of the government indoctrination unit for the last time, I managed to corral one Ms. Norris, the Principal, and give her my screed about their "ceremony". She had not heard it before, although her predecessors had - this was her first year.

Specifically, they "recognized" every 5th grade student for "outstanding achievement in art education, musical education and physical education", just as they had in every previous year.

Some students were also recognized for actual achievements - you know, something that exceeded waking up and going to school?

But wait - can't some students be outstanding in their prowess in art or music, at minimum?

Certainly.

But if there are over 100 students, can all of any group be outstanding?

No.

out·stand·ing (adj.)
1. Standing out among others of its kind; prominent.
2. Superior to others of its kind; distinguished.
3. Projecting upward or outward; standing out.

So if we have 100+ students, all cannot be superior to others of their kind by definition.

Of course vocabulary is supposed to be part of your primary education, right? Guess what?

This sort of intentional lie - redefine words so they mean whatever you want them to today is a big part of how we managed to destroy individuality and achievement in America!

Why?

Because we refuse to address the truth and this refusal is a systemic and intentional act that begins on the first day of school and proceeds through the entire so-called "educational system."

On that very first day you bring your supplies to school in Kindergarten - and immediately some part of them are confiscated for "the communal good." Do YOU put those THIRTY SIX pencils in YOUR desk? No! Teacher "keeps them" and "hands them out." I raised unholy hell about this six years ago when my kid started Kindergarten, to no avail.

Do you see what's going on here?

Johnny learns on the first damn day in his government indoctrination class that "the government will dole out whatever you need, when you need it, and will take whatever you have in order to do that."

Of course they don't say that, but that's what's going on! Its "not fair" that a "poor" student might not have enough money to buy all those supplies they proscribe, so "Teacher" (the government) will make sure that those who have more pay taxes to support those who have less. This sort of intentional mental "bending" starts when you're FIVE and it never lets up!

It has become more important that we make all of our kids "feel good" than recognize those who truly have distinguished themselves via their achievements.

It is more important that everyone is the same than to recognize the truth that we are all individuals with different abilities, capacity for success, and most importantly, we will have different outcomes in life.

As a direct consequence of this we have a class of over 100 students and every single one of them got an identical award, with the standard of achievement being that you are capable of fogging a mirror and putting up with the school's crap without shooting spitballs at the teacher!

This intentionally and directly derogates those who truly do stand out through their efforts and discourages them from doing so in the future.

It in fact is a boot to every student's head urging them NOT to work hard since they get NO MATERIAL RECOGNITION THAT EXTENDS BEYOND THOSE WHO DO LESS.

This is an explicit and intentional act, it has been going on for more than 20 years, and it is why we are here in this nation today.

When I was in school the "A/B" honor roll was the lowest form of recognized achievement. All "B"s? Not good enough. You needed at least one "A", and we were graded on a 7-point scale.

First we considered someone with all "B"s on a ten point scale to be "honor roll". This is not a trivial difference at all; it is a full six percentage point derogation and even more when one considers that "all Bs" was good enough.

Based on the standards in place when I was in school, we are now handing out "Honor Roll" awards to students who are getting straight Cs! That is, you get an award for AVERAGE performance, based on a real grading scale.

But even that sort of "dumbing it down" wasn't enough! Next, we added "outstanding achievement awards" for physical education, art education and music education and then awarded them for doing nothing more than showing up in class!

So now "outstanding" means "the truant officer didn't come and pick you up, arresting your parents at the same time"?

Nor does this stupidity stop when one leaves elementary school.

I have a number of friends who have kids in high school, and have for over 20 years. For that entire time I have asked each of them who I have become acquainted with at some point in the time we've known each other, usually as they prepare to go off to college, if they can tell me how much a $10 pizza charged on the credit card that they will have shoved down their throat the instant they set foot on campus (at 18) will cost them at age 65 as a consequence of eating it instead of placing that amount in an S&P 500 index fund that would return, on average, 10% annually.

Not one of them could tell me how to figure it out.

In fact the foregone gains on that $10 over the space of 47 years is $881.98.

So if you eat one pizza a week in college, and are in college 40 out of the 52 weeks of the year for four years, you will have spent $1600 but at 65 you could have instead had $141,115.98.

We spend a full semester or more of our high school student's time in "health class" teaching them about "safer sex" but we do not spend 30 minutes teaching them about compound earnings or compound interest.

You want to know why not?

Because if we taught our kids this they would literally riot when they ran those numbers for Social Security and Medicare, and the first targets of their action would be us as their parents who are sticking them with a bill there is no possible way they can pay without bankrupting themselves and our nation.

So instead we lie by omission and over time little Johnny becomes bigger Johnny and he decides he wants a house. He goes and talks to a nicely-dressed banker or mortgage broker who looks at his pay stub and says "you can afford a $400,000 house."

What Johnny doesn't know, because you didn't insist that he learn, is that he can't afford any such thing.