There was a time, just a short time after I graduated high school, when society seemed to make a god of education. That is to say, it seemed that no matter what the problem was, it could be fixed by some form of education.

I remember the big one they really pushed was sex ed. With all the unwed mothers of the day, they figured all they needed to do was provide the kids with a good education on the problem and it would just go away.

It didn’t work. You ask me how I know? The answer is simple. After a few years of it, the problem became far worse. They tried to blame it on other things. As for me, it is simple. One day, the problem was bad but manageable. A few years later, it couldn’t be worse than if they were trying to. The truth is… sometimes I think failure was their goal.

Indeed, two minutes studying the courses and it made it obvious why it failed. It was little more than a “how to book.” It’s short of telling a ten year olds how to shoot a gun and never telling them anything about the safety. Oh, by the way, they were teaching the sex ed to 10 year-olds, and 8 year-olds. In cases where they could get away with it, they were teaching it to kindergartners. Common-sense tells you this won’t work. Common-sense tells us this will fail, or succeed, depending on their goals.

The truth is that education can help in many things, provided that we teach the right things in the right ways. Over the years I have come to the conclusion that reading and writing are the most important skills a person can have. I could write a small pamphlet explaining my reasons for the conclusion but it ought to be causal to the most obvious observer. Indeed, why should it be necessary to explain?

Yet every day, our schools turn out people that can’t read. Some people go through college and graduate while barely being able to sign their name.

I am convinced any elementary school that doesn’t have the vast majority of their students reading reasonably well by the third grade, the principal should be put on notice. If it continues another year, he or should be fired, no ifs ands or buts. There is no excuse. It is the primary job of the principal to get the right teachers in the job. If they can’t teach students how to read, nothing else matters.

Certainly, the second most important subject is math, basic arithmetic. I was reasonably skillful at adding, multiplying, subtracting and division by the forth grade, maybe a tad earlier. We now have high school graduates that can hardly add and subtract. I don’t understand that. I am not that smart. Just why are those teachers such failures? Could it be by design.

On the other hand, just how proficient are the same kids on the ABC’s of sex education. Could it be that the subject is given a much higher priority.

The third most important subject is history. To be sure, this should include what we called civics and economy. If an eighteen-year-old is going to vote for a president, he really ought to know something about what a president is supposed to do? If he is going to chose his senator or representative, shouldn’t he know something about The Constitution? Shouldn’t the graduate understand the downfalls of socialism?

Yet, most graduates from modern day high schools are sadly lacking in any of this. On the other hand, their heads are filled with the lies of Communism.

Indeed, education is no god. I never did like it being the fix-all. But maybe it should not be the tool of our own destruction.

I leave you with this one question. How long does it take a person to unlearn all the lies that our schools teach? Is it three years? Is it six? My guess is that it is too long.