and that makes me think of Hannah Arendt, who wrote a book by the name, which would drive any good communications major up the wall. Since she was German, it's excusable that her sentences hang long and twisted. But since she knew philosophy and the ravages of Hitler, she can be forgiven for syntax. "The Human Condition" makes a point of defining work. Her nomenclature and mine don't quite jibe, but I think you can understand what comes from it all with my simplified explanation. There are menial tasks which everyone is beholden to carry out to some extent; household chores such as preparing enough food and shelter. There are constructive endeavors which include manufacturing of goods which persist for a time and building works which provide infrastructure, etc. for others. And then there is what we sometimes refer to as "opus" or "calling." The motivation is to give of oneself and present the poem, painting, play, whatever to others.
In the best of all worlds, we should all have something to give to others. Most children come with a sense of wonder and giving--the dandelion bloom as a present to one's mama. Childlike awe is wiped out quickly in many schools, and therefore in many homes. The little "why itch" is a joy to behold in children. A few teachers seem to agree. It formulates a chance to make a living and just live in one person.
In my case, there was never any doubt that I needed to study government so that I could get to Washington and help people have enough to eat, and not lose their farms. (Dust Bowl and Great Depression). I was not anxious to take law, with all those dry torts, and decided the legislature was not my calling. However, it was clear that the greatest need was to have understanding between peoples. By the time I was at the University, reality hit me. We had a dinner for the International Club, and I was told by an upperclassman that I could not seat a Chinese and a Japanese next to each other, because their countries were at war. And so things got rougher. During World War Ii the British, the Russians and the Americans fought together for what I thought would be freedom. Imagine how disillusioned I was to find that US Congressmen were fighting over whether we could abide Russians. McCarthyism was a state of mind much larger than one Senator's name.
Since I decided that information, call it education if you like, was the only way to help people understand that all of them are human. Religious people were likely to say we are all God's children, but they were also likely to say we had to believe in God their way.
During the summer of my tween years I used to walk to our country school to find something to read and think about. I would peruse the faded, fly-specked globe and see various countries defined in pastel colors, surrounded by lots of blue water. It occurred to me that people don't live by such tight boundaries. Even cattle would go from one farm to another unless there were fences, and they were only animals. People could go over and under fences.
Was it money which made folks so cantankerous? Or skin color? Or religion? Or schooling? Wasn't it right to believe that if we learned enough, there would be no wars? That's my take on life and I stick with it. The globe seems a little smaller in space now, but other than that nothing much has changed in 70 years. Different names and new boundaries appear on the globe, but it's still the same old world.
All of the above is a long way of saying that I don't believe people should be propagandized in schools, newspapers, churches, blogs, or stump speeches. Each person is at heart a potential globalist. And the first place to nurture the idea is at school, which is required to accept all young people. Snootiness should be forbidden. If a child is autistic, he is not disabled. He is autistic, maybe can't remember where he lives or what the times-tables say. If a high school graduate is neat, clean and honest and can't parse a sentence there must be some job which fits better than secretary to the CEO. To each his own. Gardner made a dent in that. And a Professor Thompson hit on NLD (non-learning disorder, which is very easy to Google.)
Then comes the mother of all bad legislation. NCLB! The 60s revolution sang of ticky tacky, little boxes. Is there anyone who can write a song to express the little boxes of multiple choice answers to please the likes of Margaret Spellings, just another Secretary of Education who has no clue.
And, in closing, as I forewarned you, I'm political to the core.