It was hard to be in a bad mood today. New president. New direction for the country. History was made and hope restored. It's exciting!
Yesterday, I read a column by Thomas Friedman imploring us to refocus our energies in education toward science and math in our schools. Today, our new president touched on that same theme in his speech. I couldn't agree more. Add a finance piece to the math equation, so that the average American can understand loan documents, grasp the concept of accrued interest and the time value of money and get the fact that you really can't spend more than you make indefinitely. That said, why stop at math and science? Without language arts, all our presidents in the future will speak more like George W. Bush than Barack Obama. Strategery. Nucular. I rest my case. It is his study and love of words that enables Obama to communicate so effectively and so eloquently. He does not speak to us in bits and bytes, nor does he invoke the Pythagorean Theorem or the Theory of Relativity as inspiration. Words, not alone, but strung together in such a way that we are moved and inspired. Literature and the study of humanities gives us insight into the human condition. It is through this insight that we better understand ourselves, creating a more enlightened populace. Knowledge of history is also crucial, for we must know where we've been and acknowledge our mistakes in order to move our society progressively forward. Obama mentioned our forefathers more that once, those who sacrificed to create and protect this country, who fought to abolish slavery and injustice and to preserve or restore freedom for allies around the world. We need to know who these people were and why they were willing to fight and die for the American ideal. Bring back civics, too, to teach our children how their democracy works and impress upon every American that our system of government and the freedoms we enjoy will cease to exist without full participation by an educated citizenry. We should teach kids the importance of being good citizens, responsible for ourselves and for each other. And finally art and music, to enhance life and allow us not only to express how we see our world and feel about our experiences as human beings on planet earth, but to see the world through others' eyes, thus gaining a deeper understanding of our common humanity. So math and science? Sure. Absolutely. By all means. But why not pie in the sky? Why not a full and well rounded education for our kids. And our adults, too.
Wax on, wax off.
Here's to the next four years. A hui hou. Aloha!
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