Education

My career goals have wavered more than once throughout the years. I would probably say that in the six going on seven years I have been at this schooling business (off and on not six years straight, I've been accused of slacking from time to time) that I have changed my path once every year. Now here I am back to where I started. When I began college back in the good ole days of 2002 I liked history and decided that teaching it may be fun. I did not stick with this, as I have said, letting my aspirations move from law, to business, to anything in sports, to construction, and several others. Now here I am many years later and I can confidently say that my first inclination was the right one. Though I had not fleshed out the reasons for my love of history and I did not truly have an appreciation for teaching, the sparks were there for what is now a true passion of mine.

I strongly believe in Education as the second most important factor in building a strong and productive society. The first is healthy family structure. Now, I am not leaving God and faith out of this equation. On the contrary I believe that ones faith should play a role in every aspect of life. Listing God as one factor among many does not truly acknowledge the all encompassing force of guidance and love that he is. I also am not saying that faith in God is the only way a society can have morals and that people can live decent lives within that society. God is more than just moral codes he is salvation. I can go on about that forever but it another blog, or ten, all together. What I am saying here is that my faith in God allows me to pursue a better life for myself and those around me (society) and his guidance and strength aids me in resisting the temptations of selfishness and overall evil that my human nature present. He is not just this and not the only way for people to resist many of the evils that make for a dysfunctional society. I hope that explains my stance on the place of faith in society somewhat.

Back to where I started though. Healthy families are truly at the foundation of healthy societies. A persons family unit is what prepares them emotionally, mentally, physically and any other lly way you can think of, for how they engage the world. People with a cohesive family unit that teaches them love and respect for their fellow man will inevitably be more functional citizens in whatever culture they live in. This is not a guarantee, but I am sure the odds are well in favor of affirming that assumption.

Following family on the list of importance in society is my chosen career path; education. A society that puts priority on educating all of its citizens will see the benefits pay dividends in many different arenas. People will have more job opportunities bringing up the national income level and giving a better quality of life to people from top to bottom. Better income levels would decrease the need of people to resort to crime to survive making a safer society. Also, people of higher education levels statistically are less likely to suffer from addiction or alcoholism and we can all see how those things have adversely affected the lives of millions of Americans. All of these factors increasing the quality of life for those who formerly would have been living below the poverty line enables them to survive without government assistance freeing up a massive amount of government funds to countless other worthy endeavors. Politicians being better educated could very likely lead to a more efficient and wisely run government, but at the same time many politicians already have a high level of education today and this does not seem necessarily to translate into common sense. Where I believe a better educated society, top to bottom, would see changes in politics is in the fact that people would realize when politicians are not doing a good job. Government officials would have greater accountability to a populous that knows exactly what they are talking about. Also, the political arena is typically an exclusive club for the elite upper class. A less stratified society could break some of the barriers that today exist enabling new ideas and viewpoints to challenge the old guard.

Thus far the things I have been saying are admittedly idealistic. This blog already has its share of disclaimers, but here is another. It is not as easy as fix this and all I have said will happen. there are many other factors in play when considering the ills of society, many of which are beyond my limited range of knowledge. Then there is the fact that this is simply a fallen world which cannot be made into some sort of utopia no matter how hard we try. It does not mean we stop trying. Good can, and is, being done and to some degree I believe that the things which I have discussed can be accomplished. That is why I feel the call upon my life to teach.

Some blogs which discuss education in general are http://www.historyiselementary.blogspot.com/ (for a more nuts and bolts approach to teaching), http://www.ahistoricality.blogspot.com/ (for some leftist rants on presently applicable historical topics), and http://www.bluebirdsclassroom.blogspot.com/ (for the humanistic and entertaining side of spending all day with kids). I hope to hear some of your thoughts and comments on what I said. There is so much more to touch on with this issue that I most likely missed and maybe some will disagree with my assertions. I hope to hear from both. Thanks for reading.