I hear so often “our children are our most valuable resource” and I even have a great T-Shirt with that thought on it. I think that is the exact truth. When one notes the way we treat our natural resources in general, one cannot be surprised that our “most valuable” resource should be treated so badly. We clear-cut our forests. We fish out our rivers and oceans. We use our precious FRESH water to drive natural gas from deep in rocks. We destroy our wetlands to provide entertainment spots for the wealthy. We hunt animals to extinction. We strip mine some of our most beautiful places.
In that same spirit, we allow 25% and more of our children to live in poverty. We blame teachers for student lack of success, then pile more and more children into their classes with fewer supplies, guaranteeing low success for the children in our poorest communities. We allow for-profit organizations (charter schools) to suck the resources of the districts who are already tapping taxpayers out. We drive our kids into prisons because we have no jobs for them. We charge so much for college that it may take a lifetime to pay it off, that is if they can get work.
Like our other “cherished” resources, we fail to see that what we do or do not do now will sharply impact the future for generations. What fools we are to choose to live only for the present, spouting our political nonsense while our children’s well-being goes the way of the dodo.
Peace,
Ruth
Our politicians push solutions to the world's problems indefinitely into the future, so they don't have to do any of the work. Our children will grow into the people who need to solve these problems, yet no one's interested in giving them a decent education. It's not just the children's well-beings that will go the way of the dodo. It may be the whole human race.
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