November

On the last few pages I talked about my surprise at all the good things that were happening when I reflected on the schools I attended. It now made me realize that this is something to be immensely grateful for. When I was in school I put little thought into it. I remember teachers saying things like “this skill I am teaching is what is taught in college.” How incredible to have adults that believe in your potential at such a young age that they don’t just slack off and say “oh they are just kids. Let us keep this at a low level.” It would have so been easy for an educator to only put in the effort relative to what they are getting paid. I attended an orchestra concert at Eckstein and was astonished that many students could play very complex concertos entirely by memory at the middle school level. According to their director very few middle schools provide students that opportunity.

I am not sure they should get away with such financial benefits even if they could firmly prove their value. In Europe churches and other religious institutions are not tax exempt. These belief systems inherit nature is faith based which can't be easily pinned down. How much full societal support should go their way without a provable objective foundation? Does society just owe it to them to throw colossal support their way? There needs to be a more straight line drawn between what they do and the benefits they reap. In the section I write about high school which comes a few pages down this idea is further investigated. The article talks about how we begin our years describing the world we want to see and then closes them out in a step which moves in that direction.

As I contemplate the term now days I am beginning to think that if anyone can justify that word it isn’t a person but a society. If society at large can’t start to agree on some basic values I think we are doomed and that is what I think the term “the lost” means to me today. I attended a church service earlier this year where the topic of money was brought up. As I look back on finances as an adult a lot of new thoughts came to mind now that I didn’t consider as a child. Of course they would. How else could I have a mature understanding on a topic that mostly governs the adult world when I wasn't yet an adult? I'll continue this topic in the next article but I thought it would be nice to have an intermission to look at some videos. These serve as a memory for the important parts of school and to commemorate the value it provided.