Ban Schools, Not Guns.
A majority of kids are not too fond of school (I speak from experience as a kid, and as a father of 4 of them). Maybe some of you parents out there have asked your kids the question "What did you do in school today?"
and received this response; "Nothing".
Or the great question, "How was school today?"
"Boring". Or the one I truly dread " So and so said this to someone and then there was this drama, and he called her a slut, and she called him a name, and they were mad at each other........." BLEEEECH!!!
Each of these responses can clue you in to just how the education system we have in place is achieving reaching our children. Let's take a look at what these replies are actually saying-
"Nothing"--- This is a pretty good indicator that the lessons being taught to our kids aren't even engaging and intellectually stimulating enough to merit noteworthiness during their day. The mundane repeating of the same basic knowledge is not enough to keep a child's interest in classwork, and if a child isn't interested, they usually stop participating in any of it.
"Boring"--- This is tied in with the "nothing" response, again pointing out a failure to engage and intellectually stimulate their minds. Each of my children are different in their approaches and takes on school, giving me a diverse range of effects that the system brings. My oldest daughter was a straight A student until she reached midway through junior high school. Then the "drama" of the day became more of the highlight of even going to school for her, and eventually, she dropped out. My oldest son, always struggled in school, would receive extra help and tutoring, and eventually grew to despise school out of sheer frustration. He dropped out, but has real ambitions to finish his education, just not through the current system. My youngest daughter and son are the beneficiaries of my learning with the older two. My daughter, now a high school freshman, is a very social young lady, who also finds school work boring, and often comes home to give me the "he said, she said" report. But she also gets me asking her more about projects and classes than I did with the older kids. Through that, I am able to engage and most times refute or confirm what their teachers are telling them. She often goes back to school and asks her teachers more questions that spur on classroom discussions and engages the entire class. My youngest boy, has always liked to learn. He's the one that I get the "boring" comment from the most. A 3-sport student/athlete, 4.0 grade point average, one would think he has no time to get bored. He is in accelerated classes as an 8th grader and takes classes at the high school. He gets so annoyed at how easy the work is, how the teachers won't let him do other, more advanced work, as they keep him on pace with the rest of the students, (No Child Left Behind). We often discuss things and engage in intelligent arguments, (kind of a who is smarter type game). Keeps him learning outside school as well as defining a great student at school.
As a libertarian, I am also aware of the financial drag The Department of Education presents on our infrastructure. Our taxes dump millions of dollars into an apparently ineffectual system, when kids are coming home from a "boring" day at school, and even more importantly, the established "gun-free" zones that they are, are targets for the "crazies" or the insidious to attack. Why are we funding a program that doesn't really help our kids, and in fact, statistically, puts them in harm's way?
So there you go fans, a solution to gun violence in schools. We have to look at this logically. Why should we give up our ability to protect and defend ourselves from tyranny, just to keep the machine of government funded death zones alive? Is the youth of America better served with education from the state, or education from their parents? Are we being naive to think that the education we got is what our kids are getting today?
Are we falling into the trap of mandatory government education, like the Germans in the 30's? In the age of information ignorance is a choice, and an online education package may not be to bad of an idea.
