Fixing America In 500 Words Or Less Chapter 63 ARE AMERICANS WELL-EDUCATED?        Albert and Agnes attended the same American Elementary School in Anytown, USA.  From the first day, they were both taught to study hard and get good grades, so they could receive a scholarship, attend college and earn more money.        They weren't taught to treat other people like they wanted to be treated, a theory long censored from American classrooms.  Nor were they taught education should be focused on learning what is true so we can be free, rather than being focused on money, another theory long forbidden in American schools.        Albert's wealthy parents had paid for him to attend a private preschool.  He now attended public school because his father believed it was good for him to associate with “regular” children.  Agnes' parents were poor and poorly educated and thus, she was already far behind a learning curve Albert easily adapted to without hardly trying.        Though rarely paying much attention, Albert received mostly A's throughout his American school experience.  Several times he was caught dealing drugs and was twice accused of treating Agnes inappropriately.  But his wealthy family hired an expensive lawyer, who convinced a friendly judge to keep his record clean.        Agnes tried hard to learn, but her grades remained poor and she fell behind a year after Albert forced an unanticipated pregnancy.  Albert was taught from an early age he was smarter and better than most of his peers. Constantly applauded for superior intelligence, he became president of his high school science club and won two state spelling bee championships.        Agnes was ridiculed by other students for being the plainest, poorest and mentally slowest student in class.  Her teachers told her parents she meant well while insinuating she wasn't exactly born to achieve intellectual greatness.        Albert went on to graduate from an expensive American college and an even more expensive graduate school.  He was hired by the American government to design advanced weaponry, lived in an expensive American home and drove several expensive American cars.  He joined the Mensa Society and helped design an IQ test excluding any notion of intelligence in relation to helping other people.        Agnes went to work in a garment factory, where she helped organize a sweat shop union and consequently, lost her job.  She tried to read the Bible but reading wasn't her best subject and, her strange archaic English translation was difficult to understand and relate to.  Nevertheless, soon she moved to one of the poorest slums in India and founded a mission without any money or religious organizational backing.        Agnes remained very poor throughout her life but, by an incredible twist of fate, she eventually became one of the most famous people in the world.  Rock stars and presidents waited in line to meet her.  Because of her example, missions to help the poor were established all over the globe.        Agnes ultimately helped raise billions of dollars to aid the sick and poor and, will long remain an international inspiration for generations to come.  Are Americans well-educated? ¹        You decide. ² NOTES: 1. Jesus said, ". . .you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. . .", teaching as he often did, in a very accurate, simple and concise manner, both the correct goal of education, to know what is true and the correct purpose for being educated, so we can be free.  Unlike other key historical people before him, Jesus taught the common people, the "bar people" and "low" people and, the sick and poor for free; demonstrating by such actions long before modern concepts of human and civil rights, that we are of great and equal value and that even the seemingly worst and least among us has great potential.  As human history's most liberal author and one of is most famous followers would later underscore, long prior to the rise of modern socialism and feminism, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female. . ." Compare this to what is called "education" in the United States today, which costs we the taxpayers significant sums throughout our entire lives and often buries students and/or their parents in debt for decades.  And in spite of such incredible sums being spent, American children today are typically taught bits and pieces of scattered information of questionable legitimacy and encouraged to learn so they can earn more money, as if "I, me, mine" is all that matters in life and will somehow lead to justice, freedom and peace on earth.  Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised when university science graduates seek employment in profitable war-machine related and environmental grossly polluting industries or when economic and finance graduates choose to work for international corporations hell bent on enslaving the masses, using their education to devise deceptive scams bilking the common masses out of jobs, homes and life savings. It is grossly misleading to divide knowledge up into categories of "science", "philosophy", "religion", "history", "literature" and "art", as if one can rationally divide reality up into neat non-connected sections and, expect to retain any hope of understanding what is actually true. American education isn't focused on what is true as being the goal or freedom as being the reason for being educated and thus, we shouldn't be surprised when children often grow disinterested in learning altogether.  If American students aren't provided with a moral compass or legitimate reason for learning, why should we be surprised when they become adults ignoring their fellow citizen's lack of homes, jobs, health care and a living wage and, who vote for corrupt leaders whose policies grossly enhance poverty and otherwise, destroy all hope for their own children's future? 2. The so-called "golden rule" and the so-called "ten" commandments are arbitrarily categorized as "religion" in the modern United States, yet they appear all over the historical map.  All known human societies that don't share all things in common, have similar base rules against murder, adultery, theft and false witness.  Such laws cannot be rationally separated into a "religion" category or eliminated from a sane and just society.  What eventually became known as the "golden rule" appears in at least 37 similar and sometimes exact form in both connected and non-connected cultures.  This is overwhelming evidence that we human beings possess a shared human conscience, on which similar foundational laws and similar "golden rules" are based across the historical map. Many modern educators in great error claim that the so-called "golden rule" of Jesus (he did not call it that) was taught to him or otherwise borrowed from the Jewish Rabbi Hillel, while there is overwhelming evidence against such a biased conclusion.  Like most known historical examples, the "golden rule" of Hillel is negative/passive, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow; that is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation, go and learn".  While the Jesus version is positive and pro-active, teaching us to "do" unto others, to reach out and pro-actively treat our neighbor like we want our neighbor to treat us, regardless of how our neighbor treats us.  One can fairly ask, is it better for human rights, peace and justice to teach a child to not harm his or her neighbor or, to teach the same child to reach out and pro-actively help his or her neighbor?  The version of Jesus is clearly superior to Hillel and virtually all other historical examples.  The Jesus' version in Matthew includes "for this is the law and the prophets", which in the time and place of Jesus was similar as to say that this is the foundation of all wisdom, human and civil rights, peace and justice. Unlike many pundits today out to make a quick buck on the lecture circuit and best seller lists, the words and deeds of Jesus demonstrate humility rather than ego and personal agenda.  Jesus consistently taught the best idea, regardless of who in history taught it first. If an idea was already the best idea, Jesus typically improved upon or otherwise underscored and emphasized it.  Unlike in the modern age where an inferior concept of "empathy" has essentially replaced the far superior idea of pro-active love between human beings, Jesus consistently teaches the best idea.  And if we care about our children and our society, then we likewise should insist our children are taught the best ideas, rather than being given an inferior education. Compare the lyric content of a song written by liberal American peace activist and folk singer Sarah Crews, What You Preach, with what our children are typically taught in modern American public school classrooms.  Why would someone call this "religion", rather than unquestionably the best idea for human behavior?  Who really has the best ideas and, why are we exorcising his ideas from the future conscience of American society?  Can we really expect to avoid the consequences of angry citizens rising up in violent revolution or worse, when we ignore the best ideas of human history,?  To not teach our children the words and deeds of Jesus, is to have no hope of living in a moral, free and just society, to have no hope of comprehending human and civil rights and no hope of possessing even a rudimentary understanding of either American or human civilization history.  See the links below for additional information: a) Comparison Golden Rule Source Link b) Is the Golden Rule Really the Best Idea? c) Does Science Really Know What is True? Bonus Chapter DO SPECIES EVOLVE FROM OTHER SPECIES?        One of the most blindly accepted and rarely thought through very carefully claims of modern science is, that species “evolve” from other species.  This concept is indoctrinated into the impressionable minds of modern students from elementary school forward.  But, is this in fact really true?        What appears to be actually true, based on the modern evidence, is that all of life is constantly adapting and changing in reaction to an ever-changing universal environment.  This is more fairly and accurately described as “life in transition” rather than evolution.        While all of life continues to adapt and change, human beings have invented a system that artificially divides life up into categories like “species”, “genus”, "family" and so on.  Such artificial divisions obviously have no bearing on how life either happens to exist or functions in true universal reality.        It is neither logical, rational or reasonable to claim that a “species”, an arbitrary artificial division of human science, gives rise to another artificial division.  Such a claim is misleading, as what we call birds and snakes and all of life adapted and changed prior to the existence of any concept of species. Life long has and continues to function as it does, regardless of how human beings choose to classify and divide life up.        If someone creates an apple pie and then, someone else slices the pie into twelve pieces, it isn't true that one of the pieces gave rise to one of the other pieces.  Rather, someone created the whole pie and then, someone else arbitrarily divided it into pieces.  Individual pieces of the pie have no relevance to how the pie either came to be or functions.        Even if individual pieces of the pie were observed to be constantly adapting and changing, such changes would be due to the nature of how the entire pie was created, rather than being caused by specific individual pieces. If the pie was instead divided into six or four pieces or, if the pie was left uncut, it would still have come into existence in the same way and, it would still function in the same way.        This is also true of the whole pie of life.  Whether we call all birds simply a "bird" or divide birds up into many species, this doesn't change how birds either came to be or function within true universal reality.  Human interpretations, invented names and artificial divisions of life do not and cannot rationally dictate how life either came to be or functions.        Based on the modern evidence, it is fair to conclude that all of life is created to adapt and change within constantly changing universal environments, so that life itself can survive.  This is what the known evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates when human prejudice is stripped away.        Do species really evolve from other species?  Or, is modern science just pulling our chain, denying the overwhelming evidence of Who is behind the DNA chain of life and larger universal reality?  You decide. ¹ NOTES: 1. Another way to somewhat comprehend the incredibly limited understanding of human science here in the 21st Century, is to consider the following: Not very long ago, the vast majority of scientists believed the sun revolves around the earth.  And, it is fair to say from an earth-based perspective, that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.  Even though it may appear from an earth-bound view that the sun revolves around the earth, today we know that from a larger view outside of our solar system looking in, the earth instead revolves around the sun. Likewise, when science decides to divide life up into species, if we insist on holding onto a very narrow-minded view, it may appear from such a myopic view, that one species "evolves" from another species.  But today, there is strong evidence that life most likely exists elsewhere and, strong evidence life may well be abundant in the universe, existing prior to our own sun and solar system.  When we adjust our myopic earth-bound perspective to this larger probability, which the television series Cosmos attempts to do, a very different picture emerges, similar to the earth going around the sun model championed by Copernicus and Galileo, as being a better understanding of the same phenomena of what appears from our earth-bound view, to be the sun rising and setting in the sky. Rather than one species giving rise to another species, the larger view is that all of life continues to adapt and change.  It is not true that one species "evolves" from another species any more than it is true that the sun revolves around the earth.  Rather, what is really true, as far as we know today, is that the entire universe is in a constant state of transition and re-generation and, all of life constantly adapts and changes along with the rest of the ever-changing cosmic reality.  It is correct to conclude that life as a whole and entire entity, along with the rest of the universal cosmic reality, is created to adapt and change within ever-changing universal environments, so that life itself, as a whole entity, can survive.  Human science then artificially divides life up as it arbitrarily chooses to do so. It is irrational to pretend that an artificial division of science gives rise to another artificial division, as if human classification somehow dictates the reality of how life and the larger universe functions, rather than as is most obviously the case, the other way around.  This is easily demonstrated by the fact that life continued to adapt and change and otherwise function as it does, when all birds were simply called "birds" and, there was no concept of "species", "genus" or any of the other modern artificial divisions of life.  Life continues to adapt and change whether or not we call all spiders simply a "spider" or, we divide them into a thousand or more species.  Such artificial human divisions obviously have no bearing how life either came to exist or functions within the larger universal reality. See Is Atheism Scientific? and Does Science Really Know What is True? for more information. Click Here to Go Back to Contents Click Here to eMail the Author Copyright © December 10th, 2019 by Richard Aberdeen. Copyright © December 10th, 2019 by Freedom Tracks Records. ( including from several earlier copyrights ) No part of this material may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher and signed by the author. For inquiries, please contact Freedom Tracks Records.  The essays entitled Revolution and Revolution ~ Side B are open copyright and may be reproduced and distributed as desired.