Up here, near the face of Tahquitz Peak, the summer twilight lingers a little longer. The evening sunshine bends through the tall shady pines and sweet smelling cedars, basking on Idyllwild…the splendor mile high Southern California mountain village. We breathe deeply and exhale gradually. Time slows to the soft rhythm of Strawberry Creek as it meanders through town.
The kids return to school next week. Back to crowded classrooms and common core curriculum. What could possibly be worse? But, at the moment, we’re not ready for them to close the door on summer just yet.
You’re only a kid once. Why not stretch the summer break out to the last moment possible? Plus, the outdoor classroom on Ernie Maxwell Scenic Trail provides far more instruction than a classroom ever could. Time, gravity, hydrology, ecology, limitations, consequences…you name it, it’s all right here.
Obviously, there are certain rote learning fundamentals that are best suited to the classroom. Like reading, writing, and arithmetic. There are no shortcuts to the practice and repetition required to master these skills.
But once a person has these down they can learn just about anything with their own self-directed study. Likewise, after a person’s mastered these fundamentals, classroom instruction offers a diminishing return. Quite frankly, after about the fourth grade a classroom becomes an intelligence subtracting domicile.
Morons Are Expensive
No longer will a person’s mind be sharpened up so they can think on their own. Rather, they’ll be taught what to think and how to think. What we mean is their brain will be softened down until they learn how to think like a moron…and they won’t even know it.
Educated morons believe their minds are up to the task of tackling things beyond their capacity. Take the First Lady, for instance. She was educated at Princeton University and Harvard Law School. Certainly, two reputable institutions of higher learning.
Yet she sees a problem and directs a solution that’s duller than a plastic butter knife. Several years back she decided there were too many fat kids at school. Now she’s emptied out vending machines across the nation. No more funyuns or corn nuts allowed.
Still, the desired result isn’t achieved. In fact, her efforts make things worse. According to one school Superintendent, the kids “are just skipping lunch and stopping by a minimart on the way home. And when they do buy a lunch, they go by the trash can and throw half of it away.”
This, you see, is the work of a moron. And, unfortunately, morons are expensive. For moronic intellect is rewarded in public professional life. Where else could utter waste and impractical programs bloom so unconditionally?
Morons At Large
Don’t believe us. How about this compilation of the expensive works of morons?
Like the $400 million federal workers were paid to do nothing. Or the $17.5 million in IRS tax relieve for brothels in Nevada. Then there was the $297 billion the Amy spent on developing a football field-sized mega blimp that only flew once.
There was also the $325,525 the government spent to discover that wives should calm down. But that wasn’t nearly as much as the $1 million Arlington County, Virginia, paid for a bus stop equipped with heated benches and wireless zones…yet no roof to protect from the rain or roasting summer sun. We could go on and on…
There was the $1.23 million of federal money spent for apartments for deaf seniors…that can’t be used by deaf seniors. There was the $3 million spent by NASA to research how Congress works. On top of that there was the $3.5 million in federally funded solar panels that had to be covered at Manchester-Boston Airport because the glare blinds pilots and controllers.
Of course, we must mention, the $384,989 federal grant Yale University used to study the oddity of the duck penis. However, that wasn’t quite as much as the $398,990 the National Science Foundation used to study the cognitive abilities of Tea Party members…
But, alas, we’ve merely scratched the surface of the expensive works of morons. They’re up to much, much more. No doubt about it, morons are at large.
Try not to be one of them.
Sincerely,
MN Gordon
for Economic Prism
