Education and Inequities.

 Education and Inequities.

 

Even when we were children in elementary school in the little burg where we lived, it was obvious when some kids did not have a clue about reading. No one had ever read to them and showed them how to carefully turn the pages. No one had made the right voice changes for different characters. No one else learned to read by following their mom’s finger in the church hymnal during singing, either! Eventually some folks figured out that children learned to read more easily if they heard poetry read aloud or heard songs with words on paper. But this was back in the day—about seventy years ago.

 

Today an article about the schools of New Mexico interested me. Since more of that population speak Spanish than any other language, it might just be a good place to start teaching English and reading. If high school students who speak Spanish were offered college hours and scholarships for teaching English to poverty-stricken areas and schools, it is just possible that the level of education in that state could come up from the 50^th percentile as the worst educated to at least as good as some of the areas in the states with better schools. Poverty and lack of family stability truly make a big difference in young people. Give the children food to eat and a purpose in school and their parents a way to make a living without having to be migratory, and we could see a major change not only in that state, but among those who could help us build a better nation.

 

For years we have seen churches send missionaries to Latin America and Africa to help those people become more self-sufficient. In my estimation, we should have a major mission right here in the U.S. New Mexico needs help! Now this is not suggesting that we send a religious delegation to teach Christianity. Nope, the idea is to teach reading and understanding of what is read. Hello! We quite often see high school students in the “better-educated” states who have no idea that Hawaii is one of our states or that George Bush was not the second president after George Washington!! And please don’t ask any of them to tell time with an analog watch! No, we can teach each elementary student to read, to tell time, to listen to history from lessons about our nation—lessons that are NOT leaving out both the good and the bad. We don’t need to teach how to change sexes, but we do need those kids to know that a sperm on the lip of a vulva is all it takes for a girl to get pregnant. Ignorance is NOT bliss!

 

God has given this nation SO many blessings. He has given us a surplus of retired people right now who are well-educated, kind people who are happy to share stories of life and living as well as their understanding of how to build, to cook, to sew, to invent! And gardening! If there is land, it can be made into a garden. Just ask the people of Israel how the deserts became fertile in that land!

 

Let us find a foundation such as the Mars Foundation that can help organize people into crews who can make a difference among those who need help the most. Well, Texas might have a foundation like that if the Perot Foundation does things like that. But now that this nation has been invaded for real, we need to be sure that the children coming in have a chance to become more than just wage slaves. Let us give them a chance to read and change their lives! God has given that to this nation. WE need to share!

 

Rest well, my friends. You are loved.