Friday, September 7, 2007
Trail Ride
Yesterday was a beautiful day to be a mounted officer. The weather was near perfect, sunny and in the low 80's with the slightest touch of humidity. We decided to take advantage of the day and go on a trail ride. Once a month part of our job is to ride the trails and the paths in the woods to check for homeless camps and any signs of kids partying in the woods. Without horses these things would probably never get checked because the average cop is lazy and would never get out of his air conditioned car and actually walk anywhere. It's nice to actually ride the horse in the woods in its "natural environment" as compared to the concrete jungle we normally patrol. We found a few spots of graffiti and had to make a report of it but other than that everything was a OK. After taking lunch we went back to the downtown area and were standing in front of the fountain when a few kids approached us and asked if they could touch the horse. As usual we said yes and they did. As the one kid was petting the horse he said" yo, this is dumb smooth". My partner and I looked at each other and shook our heads. The way these kids talk and abuse the English language is amazing. I could only imagine what today's classrooms must be like with this so called street language breaking through in everyday use. All I can say is if this is our future then we must step up our efforts to ensure that these kids are successful or our nation will pay the piper!
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Vinny,
I'm right there with you on this issue. I watch all the presidential debates and, so far, none of the candidates, dem of gop, have made an issue of our horrible education system and the ignorant wretches that spew forth into the ranks of the world every May.
I am 100% sure that education is the foundation from which every civilization must begin. Notice that I used the word "civilization" and not culture. Take Sub-Saharan Africa for example. Mostly, all of the educated to semi-educated people have been killed or run off. The majority of the continent is run by corrupt warlords WHO HAVE NO EDUCATION!
The Asian Tigers (Taiwan, Korea, Japan, etc) focus heavily on educating their youth and their economies are direct reflections of that emphasis. The American is a fighter and indomitable; but, fifty more years of public education and our economy, our super power status, will be greatly weakened.
Privatization and the power of the free market is the answer. Competition can only improve the product created in the schools. Let the government money follow the student instead of the other way around. Let good schools be rewarded and the bad fall by the wayside. This is the nature of the market economy.
For some reason, though, people would rather throw more of my (and yours) tax money at the problem instead of reforming and fixing it. Someday, hopefully sooner rather than later, Americans will realize that government is only good at one thing: spending a lot and getting very little.
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