Equality should mean Equal

Equality is something that every minority strives for in the United States, but very few ever achieve. Even when the status of a people is considered "Equal," they often receive a limited equality where they have equal rights, but they are not treated equally.

As a good example of the above "limited equality," we can take a look at women in the United States. Women should be paid equally for the same jobs that men are typically paid more for. However, while wanting to be equal, some women will reject equality and play the "I am a woman" card when it comes to getting in trouble, or when it comes to going on a date. There is little to no areas where a man of any color can announce "I am a man so I deserve better," nor can he open his shirt a little in order to make things happen in his favor.

Another example comes starkly apparent when it comes to sports. Teenage sports is the biggest topic as gender mixed sports are becoming more apparent. It made the national news and inspired other girls to try out for Football when one teenage girl was pointed out as being a better kicker than the boys, and as such made the boys team as their kicker. After the initial story came out, at least three other stories launched where girls were trying out for, and making the boys football team. Fast forward six months, and the headlines show a single boy, smaller in size, strength, and weight than the majority of a girls Lacrosse league being kicked off the girls team because his scoring percentage was higher than any girl in the rest of the league. His advantage had nothing to do with size, weight, or strength, his only advantage was he had played Lacrosse since he was a young boy. His only advantage was experience, something any group of minority status people will tell you, should be a reason that they be treated equally and not be rejected.

Equality means to be regarded with the same "quantity, degree, value, rank, or ability." (Dictionary.com, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/equality). If this phrase works to the advantage of one, it must work to the advantage of everyone, regardless of their sex, size, intelligence, beliefs, and character.

In regards to the world as a whole, everyone is made of the same materials in varying amounts, the only difference is in how we look at each other. As a world of people, we should all be treated equally, held to the same regard, and suffer the same consequences. No one should be held above any other, nor should anyone have to want for something because it is being kept away from them by a certain few.

Education, the Great Debate

It should not be news to anyone by this point that we have one of the worst educational records of any industrialized country. Many people would blame this problem on "Standardized Testing" and focus on making working class people instead of future leaders. I personally find that the problem goes deeper than what I previously believed and the blame is to lay partially with our family structures and values.

I have been remiss in blaming the education system as a whole for not educating my children in a way that would prepare them for greatness. I have always had my hands in my children's schooling and some weeks email the teachers every day to find out how they are doing, and what they are doing. It was not until I volunteered that I found out the major causes of the slow progress of our children's education as whole.

1. Parental Interaction:  I quickly found that I was one of only two parents in my child's classroom that was actively interested in what their child was doing, how he/she was doing, and pushing them at home as hard, if not harder, than they were pushed at school to do their work correctly. The remainder of the crowded classroom were rarely paid attention to in terms of education outside of the school boundaries. 
2. Crowded Classrooms:  Standing and walking for long periods of time causes me unbearable pain and I will often use a wheelchair if I know I will be out of the house for a while. Inside my child's classroom is no less than 32 desks that are crowded closely together in order to fit into a room that was not designed for that many children. When I volunteer, I have no choice but to walk as the isles are just big enough for the children to squeeze through.
3. Teacher Salary:  My twins have separate teachers so that they are easier to handle. One teacher started this year with the minimum needed to be a full time teacher. The other teacher recently received her Masters Degree and has been with the district for around 5 years. The new teacher is paid a higher salary than the more educated teacher who has built up seniority in the district. Many teachers will lose their will to go beyond the normal lesson plan at this slap in the face, but for my child with the more educated teacher, she still drives on and extends her lessons outside of what they would normally be taught. 
4. Curriculum:  As it has been the design to produce workers and not leaders, the primary focus of public schools is to teach Math and English. Furthermore, the minimal amount of history, social studies, and science that is taught by most teachers is the oppressive version of our history instead of the true version. As an example, Christopher Columbus is taught in public schools to be the man who discovered America. Nowhere in the teachings does it mention that Columbus took Native slaves back to Europe with him. Our children celebrate a fictitious version of Thanksgiving Day as well. No where do the teachings speak of the systematic slaughter of the Native Americans and how after each slaughter the victors would declare the day a day of "Thanksgiving." I can understand the reasoning for sheltering children to a degree, but teaching them a lie is not teaching them at all and a waste of time. Furthermore, any type of logic and problem solving abilities are barely touched on, if at all, and that denies the children a chance to figure things our on their own. As a parent who is concerned about my children's future, I have taught them at home that which the school will not, but all of the children do not have the same opportunity.

In order to fix these problems, large scale changes would be required. To begin with, paying a teacher what they are worth would pull more teachers back to being truly involved in the teaching of their class. Where the money would need to come from to pay the teachers is an entirely different topic, but raising taxes, and cutting government officials perks and inflated paychecks would be a good start. Restructuring the standardized testing to include more subjects would be a good start as well. If the school day is too short to teach it all in, than extend the school day and send home more homework. My children get home at 330pm everyday, usually with no homework, and spend the next two hours playing until dinner is ready. When my children used to have to do homework, or I do something I would teach them myself, they would often complain about having to do more work the whole time we were working together. Now they have gotten used to it and only complain at first. We are breading laziness into everything we do, and our children are following our lead.

We need to change the path our children are on now, to produce a better future for them and ourselves. 

Where to start?

I would not presume to believe that everyone will read this blog anymore than I could hope for everyone to take something from it. The simple answer to the question: "Where to start?" is to participate. As a people, we have grown complacent in our duty to ourselves. That may sound entirely complicated and I apologize, but when we participate, we are not doing so for a country, we are not doing so for a state, we do so for what is important to us. As an example, and I beg you to read past one word in this statement as my beliefs and values are different today, I initially registered to vote 4 years ago and at the time I registered as a Republican. I have found that I am no more a Republican than a Democrat and that devoting ones self to a party is a blind way of handling business. Today, I listen to everyone, research what they say to find truth or lies, and then make an informed decision for myself on the topics that are important to me. As a quick example, some of the topics important to me as a Veteran, a husband, and a father are:

• Education
• Women's equality (my wife has been the provider for our family for some time)
• Family Values
• Looking out for our own (own being those within our borders)
• Economic stability

Those are just a few topics important to me. Some of them are conservative, some of them are liberal, either way its what I look for in everything that comes out of Washington. Some topics that really make my blood boil have to do with helping under-privileged people in other countries while ignoring our own.

• Homelessness
• If we have a million empty houses in the United States, we have more than enough Homeless people and families who just need a little help to get restarted.
• Hungry
• We send millions of tons of food to other countries to feed the hungry people in "Politically Sensitive" areas. In the mean time, our own hungry people eat broth in dirty bowls and drink what looks like coffee from used Styrofoam cups.
• Jobless
• Our own citizens will not work at jobs that pay less than minimum wage to work because unemployment makes it easier to be unemployed.

Each of these topics will get their own blog post at some point. We as a people, have a responsibility to our neighbors inside our country more than those an ocean away. But in that last sentence, I must also remember that I cannot, and will not tell anyone what to think and do, it is up to them to find their own answers. To be a leader, you must first understand that those following, usually do so blindly. I ask anyone that follows this blog, please do so, but educate yourself outside of my postings as well. Make your own decisions in the end.