Have A Little Faith

I've been accused of wanting to take our country back to the 1800's.  You know, do things the old-fashioned way because the new-fashioned way just isn't working.  You know, run this country according to the vision and wishes of the Founding Fathers.  You know, cling bitterly to my guns and ammo.  Yup, I'm one of them rich old white guys (minus the rich).

It sure would be a lot simpler if we could all just go back to the 1800's.  No traffic congestion.  No humongous national debt.  No income taxes to pay.  I also know it ain't gonna happen and that as an individual, there's not much I'm gonna to be able to do to change things.  But there's one thing I can do.  I can keep my faith.  I have my faith in God.  I've lost my faith in our government, but I still have my faith in my country.  And, I have faith in technology.

To illustrate my point, let's take the system of educating our children in this country.  It sucks.  It's expensive and getting more expensive every day.  It's graduating dummies and those kids at the McDonald's drive-thru are getting dumber every day.  Personally, I think the Department of Education should be abolished.  Heck, while we're at it, lets take the system all the way back to the 1800's and educate our children in a one room school house just down the road.  I know, I know, that's not gonna happen.  However, there are examples of changes happening in our educational system that gives me hope for America's future.

Yup, I used "Hope" and "Change" all in the same sentence.  Imagine a not-rich old white man like me saying something like that.

Below is an interesting article from "The Foundry" that illustrates a little bit of change and gives me a little bit of hope (dog gone, I did it again).  It's called "Khan Academy", a really cool technology tool for teaching our children.  If you look closely, you'll see many of the characteristics of the 1800's one room school house.  Things like this must be an integral part of the future of education in America just like it's becoming a key component of education in developing countries around the world.  If we do not take advantage of emerging technologies such as this, in a few years there'll still be a big chunk of land between the Atlantic and the Pacific and Canada and Mexico, but it won't be the United States of America.

Enjoy...