When I used to practice psychotherapy – we employed a little, therapist trick called “seeding the unconscious” – which essentially means that the therapist secretes an idea (wrapped in wine and roses – because it would normally scare the-Hell-out-of-the-client) into the unconscious of the client. Once lodged in the client’s psyche – this idea festers to the point that the client is forced to deal with the content in his/her effort to discharge the uncomfortable “idea.”
So, too, must I have seeded my own unconscious when I examined Meg Whitman’s interesting attack on Steve Poizner RE: his evolving thinking RE: a woman’s right to choose. I have subsequently learned that Meg is just another corporate, fat cat – ready to continue raping the Golden State under the guise of returning Cali to its former glory (just like Arnold promised). But, sadly – it appears that Meg has slept around with Chevron and other heavy hitters – and the more I look at her face – the more she reminds me of an aging Vegas showgirl who will back “No Child Left Behind” – instead of attempting meaningful reform (which she seduced me with in the first place).
I-kick-myself-in-the-ass that I was going to renege on my self-imposed non-voting moratorium – and come out of voting seclusion to vote for! I’m not sure which part of her propaganda spiel particularly appealed to me (probably the aging Vegas showgirl look) – but I now realize that Meg is no ambassador for change – she’ll just surround herself with sycophants who will continue lining their waistlines with the monies you and I earn in the trenches.
When I heard that Kansas City was going to close down half-of-its-schools – because they are under-performing, AND, when my vice principal tried to ram useless pedagogy down my throat – I, again, realized that nothing short of an educational revolution is going to right our sinking, public-education ship – and Meg’s cheap parlor tricks no longer impressed me.
I propose a 9-hour stint in school for all public school children: from 8am-to-5pm – with 2 flights of teachers coming in: one from 8am-to-2pm, and-the-other, from 11:00am-to-5-pm. Such a model would take care of all-of-the-unsupervised children who do “whatever”; while one-or-both working parents are…well…are working. Public schools would have “parental rights” over their wards – and, any American parent wishing their child to go to a public school, would give up their parental rights during the hours of 8am-to-5pm (most have abdicated their parenting responsibilities anyway – except when there is a buck-to-be-made). Students truant from school would be dealt with in an even more structured environment (perhaps one employed with the many ‘dead-beat’ teachers we hear so much about [with a probation department?]). Gone will be the drug and gang culture so prevalent in our welfare society: anyone with their high school diploma who is not a card-carrying, full-time, college student (which will also be State run) – or gainfully employed vis-à-vis his-or-her social security number – will have to be employed by the military until such time that s/he gains a public sector job
What Obama, Meg and Co. fail-to-realize – is that American Public Schools are NOT failing – it is the American social organization (an oxymoron if there ever was one) that has failed: schools are merely a microcosm reflecting the larger social disorder – in a culture (god, there goes another oxymoron) – that has run amuck.
Nope. I will withhold my vote in anticipation of the revolution.