As I was cleaning the apartment today and finishing off my roommate's General Tsao's chicken, Sean and I had a heated discussion about certain jobs and whether or not people took them willingly or were forced into them. As the conversation progressed, we eventually started laying out, or rather, building on Sean's thoughts for how the ensure that the American promise of opportunity doesn't fade from the realm of possibility.
Imagine if you will, a kind of neighborhood Center which would include, among other things, a more modern public school, a community center, a park, pool, Adult Education Center, library, museum, gardens, theatre, forum, etc. We're talking the kind of Common or Big Green you would find at your big State University, the kind that never closes, with daily events and cultural activities. Now, imagine this place looks as cool or more cool than Downtown Disney Westside or Sea World. This is a place your kids could go and get a full day of learning, play, stimulation and involvement. Your kids would ASK to be taken to school because it would be a place were so much happened, a learning campus, so-to-speak.
What would this cost? My answer to that is I don't know, off-hand, but what I do know is this: I never stop myself from buying a book or other material that aids in my self-education, meaning I consider the cost of such material to be so important that I literally don't care what it costs. This is called investing in yourself and building, staffing, maintaining, and expanding these types of School Centers would be a lot like that. Actually, it's more than that - our culture has to change to one that behaves more like what I just described - we have to NOT CARE so much about spending on education and just know that there isn't a zero-sum game in the works wherein for every $2 million we get a 2.3 point increase in standardized tests. Which brings me to the next point, which is "What will this accomplish?"
This is easier to explain: access to a base-level education, refuge from poor social conditions, inculcation of a love (or appreciation) of learning, contributions to self-esteem, social acceptance, creation of community, atrophy of crime, creation of jobs, job preparation in cooperation with industry and employment trends, better utilization of resources among larger groups of people, better information dissemination, alternative opportunities for after school and weekend activities, increased access to higher education, increased social interaction, community ownership and public awareness, retraining opportunities, and so on.
Churches can do all this, and have, but the intrinsic motivation is always to add to the ranks of the faithfully, which appeals for some citizens but isolates others. Private businesses can do all this, too, but with their own self-interests in mind as well, which is not to say that that's a bad thing, it's just that it is an all-together different reason and not one that necessarily has an outlook beyond the well-being of the company. Hopefully the government would spring for this and develop a plan that would include local business charters so that this wouldn't totally be the responsibility of Uncle Sam. But then again, I can't say I fault the government for the excellent state or our armed forces. If we can have the best military in the world we can certainly have the best education system at perhaps a fraction of the cost. I can totally see spending that kind of money on education initially, which is still compulsory in this country and the major contributing factor to success in our merit-based society, as I think the effects will take hold within a few generations and leave us all much better off, as opposed to hoping and praying that education has any affect on young people (which is the current, and piss poor method). I would include a way that the government can stave-off spending as the program goes full-tilt, using the government as it should be used: as a supporting entity that takes care of things that individuals may need help accomplishing.
We just need to agree that better education is something that needs accomplishing. Then we can start spending money on it and stop blaming class difference completely on someone's inability to work hard or find opportunity.
