When people begin growing older most worry about a declining memory. Well, I’m not sure a great memory is all it’s cracked up to be. The old saying: ignorance is bliss might make a lot of sense today because remembering the “good old days” causes stress to those of us who remain sharp as a tack. For example, I remember when logic, common sense and a basic, fundamental educational system still existed. Anybody up for a trip down memory lane? Focusing on education then and now might be a great place to start.
Going to school in the old days used to include studying the basics: math, science – chemistry and biology, geography, history – world and U.S. and English – spelling, grammar, and literature. It wasn’t that we needed to remember the details of world history or chemistry or the fundamentals of algebra or calculus – instead, those classes made us think, exercise our brains through memorization and encouraged us to apply principles of problem solving in various studies. Critical thinking was necessary if anyone ever expected to get a decent grade
Using math as an example again, remember the word problems? Whether we were learning addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, fractions, decimals, ratios or more – these problems helped us hone both our reading and analytical skills. The result of solving problems, I can recall as an eager third grader, made me feel self-satisfied and momentarily successful. It was a great feeling!
Today, we’re told math is racist and that we’re fostering a “white supremacy culture” by focusing on getting the ‘right’ answer and for students being required to ‘show their work’. This entire concept is so preposterous that I can barely type any of it without feeling a little nauseous. We are robbing generations of incrementally growing their self-esteem through a sense of accomplishment early in life. Tiny baby steps, so children get into the habit of building on one small success after another. With this racist template now being applied to the study of mathematics, for God’s sake, we’re dumbing down society because some must believe the capacity for learning is less in one race than another. What other reason could there be? And in the process, we limit the potential of all. It’s destructive race-baiting at its best.
I also remember science class when we were tested on how well remembered the periodic table of elements in chemistry! Totally useless for 95% of us – who’d never be asked what W, Os or Fe (Tungsten, Osmium and Iron) represented in the careers we later pursued. Still, that requirement exercised our brains and taught us that problem solving, once again, could be used in many different endeavors.
Remaining in the field of science – remember biology? Well gender studies are now being injected into the study of biological science in a way that’s needlessly confusing basic facts. I’m fine with teaching young people that although men and women are born biologically different, that biology doesn’t limit their areas of interest, mental aptitude, sexual preference or other traits that can be flipped between genders. Who cares if a boy likes fashion, or a girl is fascinated with the engine of an automobile? This confusion goes much further.
Transgender cases in the U.S. are totally uncommon; they represent only a little more than one half of one percent of the population. Yet, when society caters to the feelings of a tiny minority by making biological fact seem wrong – it ends up discrediting scientific fact. Let me explain what I’m referring to and how screwed up the world has become.
It seems the group called NARAL Pro-Choice America, whose focus is on every”body”’s rights – insists that we should no longer use the term Mother and instead, substitute Birthing People for that word. As crazy as this sounds, the Biden Administration adopted that suggestion instantaneously and applied that switch in all governmental communications including their initial annual budget proposed to Congress this year. After checking with the largest data base for identifying acronyms, NARAL apparently stands for National Abortion Rights Action League. Anyway, their logic is that a person doesn’t necessarily have to be born female and identify as female to have a baby. Instead, they can be born female and identify as male (without the transgender surgery) to still have a baby. Of course, they don’t explain the nuances and insist on using woke language to explain stating, “not only cisgender women can have babies”. Well, who can decipher that? Regardless, that well nuanced point now is used by the government and major universities to demand we all change our language!! My Lord, can we delve any further into the nits to attempt to nullify science, drive sane people nuts and pander to the tiniest group of individuals – most likely who also believe the language change is ludicrous? It’s completely mind-boggling.
One final example of how far the pendulum has swung from common sense to completely crazy is to believe that erasing history changes anything! When we wipe-out our past - as many are attempting to do today by burning books, toppling statues, and rewriting documented historical fact – we ensure that generations to come will fail to learn the lessons that keep us from repeating the same mistakes made in the past.
I could go on and on, but it becomes too depressing to write about. So, in summary, my point of this blog is caution you that if you see senior citizens, which compromise 17% of the population, walking around with perpetual frowns on their faces, continually scratching their heads, looking dazed or confused, or drinking much more than they should – it isn’t a medical condition, addiction or affliction of some kind.
It’s simply because their memory is still intact!