It Is Better To Build Strong Children Than to Rebuild Broken Men

It is better to build strong children than to rebuild broken men.

Carter G. Woodson spoke those words more than 100 years ago.  Somewhere along the line our society has decided that the economics of life is more important.  Apparently there is money to be made in not educating a certain segment of the population.  If you don’t think so check the crime statistics or welfare statistics.  Are we building more prisons and increasing the Section 8 rolls while population has shown no appreciable growth? How many welfare recipients or people in prison have college degrees?  For that matter how many of them have high school degrees?

How many of our kids go to school because they believe that they have a future?  How do they value education?  How do parents value education?  What example do we as adults present to them that there is hope for them to find jobs, build careers, and realize their dreams?

There are those that say ensure the success all our kids and those that say a certain percentage is good enough.  The problem is that the percentage of under educated kids is growing because we have continually lowered the bar.

Maybe we should ask the young men and women who are in our prisons how they got there and what they thought of their education.  Maybe we should ask our first, second and third generation welfare families what value they place on education.  Maybe the answer to our problems is not more money but more inspired parents, teachers and students.  But then how do we inspire?  What is it that you say as a teacher that can not inspire kids to value education when the kids may not be getting that reinforcement at home?  How do you inspire kids to learn when they may believe it has no value?

They have watched their parents struggle to stay employed or their resignation to remain on welfare forever.  Government and some politician’s think the answer is to throw money at the problem.  If welfare worked, then why do we still have welfare? How many people has it elevated out of poverty? Are we helping to educate or lift them from the welfare rolls?  When did it become a lifestyle?  Are we locking them into a belief and lifestyle that prevents them from ever realizing their dreams, being a contributor to society, or restore the dignity of a person by being self reliant?

There is money to be made by others in keeping that person dependent.  Think of all the government agencies that support the welfare recipient. And since these are typically single family households, how does the government, by putting money on the table, take the place of 2 parents?  How do they help with the raising of the children in that family?  How do they help with the running of a household? How do they provide the security and joy of a child knowing that mommy and daddy are there to protect, provide and love them? 

As long as politicians believe they are the answer to our problems our problems will never be solved.  The reason is that the politician needs to be in power to continue the lie. And they stay in power by giving to those in need instead of helping those in need.  By doing that, they guaranty the recipient’s fate of government funded poverty and the politician’s re-election.  Why? Because we have always been told “don’t bite the hand that feeds you”.  Imagine that; politicians who may believe their less fortunate constituents are animals that need to be taken care off.  Here is a thought; maybe those so-called “well meaning liberals” really aren’t so well meaning.  Maybe by keeping a certain class or race of people locked into poverty or in our jails is a way of protecting themselves from really dealing with those that are less fortunate.

How are those in the ghetto ever to get out of the ghetto if the hand that feeds them keeps pushing them back in?.  Again I ask the question; how do we inspire teachers to inspire kids? How do we teach kids the importance of an education? 

Maybe we begin by telling the truth.  Find the truth in your heart to reach out and inspire.  Find the truth in our rich history to use as a tool to inspire. Find the everyday people and leaders in this world that speak the truth.  

Those offering a handout are offering to keep you in your place.  Those blaming the parents for their child’s lack of education are not being truthful about their own ability to inspire kids to learn.  Those blaming the teachers for not teaching are not providing the inspiration that a child needs to be successful in life.  Truth is the answer and history provides that and it provides inspiration.  We tell our kids about our own personal history as guidance, what to do or not to do. Why can’t we get more inspiration from America’s real history? If not, then we are doomed to not just repeat history but fade into future as a once great country that did not learn from its history.

The sign of an intelligent person is one that does not continue to make the same mistakes. Why would this be different for a great nation?  Things that worked in the past we should keep to build on the things we need to do in the future.  Every successful person in life has done that.  Why aren’t we doing that as a nation?