Education, Economics, Culture...

This post has been moved from an obsolete blog page. It was originally posted in August 2006.

I am dedicating this blogspot to the collection, preservation, and organization of all the things I will do when I rule the world.

As I am still quite young, you can expect these thoughts to be a bit naive in the beginning. I expect it will take at least 17 posts before I have enough experience to really know how to rule the world.

For this first blog dedicated to when I rule the world, I have composed some thoughts from conversations and emails I have been sharing with friends lately.

Being unfulfilled is really terrifying to me. I just see myself, how I was borderline happy with my last job, imagining if I stayed there two, three, four years. Okay, maybe the organization would have grown; it was small and very likely I could have done different things, and that would have been fine. But if I had a job that was borderline stimulating in a BIG company/organization that was stable and not expanding, and I could be guaranteed to be doing something very similar for years, then, Yes. That is a horrifying thought to me. Other people are fine with that, others seek that out. But I'm different. And the fear of doing something unfilling is defintiely behind it, and is a big deal to me.

It does seem that if you have the level of comfort to be able to consider everything, then you are able to. More about where you come from as an individual than this (our) generation. Although I do think that as a generation, we are very priviledged and have a problem with entitlement. Weddings are a good example. Weddings are so extravagent and I think most females of my generation really feel entitled to having some big hoopla. We don't have to worry about money as much as our parents, and definitely not our grandparents. I mean, the last time an *entire* generation had to go without was our grandparents. And our media promotes this idea sa part of our consumer culture as well - look at TV. All the TV shows have well off people who live extravagently and lots of time off.

There are many interpretations of security and it's realtionship with money. Although money is an accepted way to show value. Like in The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, he says money is a formal token of "I'll scratch your back later." So, while I want to do something fulfilling, I don't think I will be fulfilled unless it I can also have a reasonable financial compensation.

Except the system has been warped by people who find ways to make lots of money for doing valueless things, like the futures market. It's completely made up, and contributes nothing to the world in terms of REAL things, like the basics of survival, nor any kind of cultural expansion.

America as we know it is at risk. However, I don't think that working all the time is important to whether or not America remains as great as it has been, in terms of opportunity, innovation, standard of living, etc. And now that I'm in Spain I think it can be a little too extreme. They take too many holidays here. But we don't take enough in the USA. I think we can all have 4 weeks vacation and have a great economy. Perhaps better because people would be more productive with more relaxation time. I also think a 36 hour work week - with that half day rotated throughout the week for people who aren't as lucky as some and have to work very regular 40 hours weeks - would really improve the standard of living, allowing people to make appoitnments, run errands, etc., on their half day during the week.

I think the real problem is pretty much exclusively in education. Our government has gutted our education system, and it has no funding. Take 10th of the military budget and spend it on education and we will still have a military budget many times larger than the second biggest, and we will have a renewed education system. I think educatoin is SOOOOO important. I think a marked increase in education funds and also a change in the eudcation system are ESSENTIAL. And it is such a cheap way to invest in a country. I mean, the turn around on that investment comes fullfold in 16 years. You send a kid to school in kindergarden, and they go to college, and they're out and well educated in 16 years. Do that for an entire generation, and Voila! An educated workforce emerges. Education fixes teen pregnancy, STDs, drug problems. It can even fix environmental problems if the edcautaion addresses it, and there is an intersting bill that passed CA senate (created by Pavley) last year that does just that, but it's not obligatory for schools to use it. Also, education keeps people out of the labor pool for longer, reducing unemployment.

I also think our military budget is, like shown in Farenheit 911, a major soure of the violence in America. Our military budget is like 10 times Russia's, the second largest. If we cut ours in half, we'd still have a massive military, and we could give a quarter back to the people in tax breaks (not to the wealthy, but to the poor and working class), and redirect the other quarter into education, arts, and science (non military science), and urban renewal like the CCC in the 1940s. Think about what great cultural development we would gain replacing war culture with humane culture.

I do wrangle with the idea of being priviledged. I think the privildeged are obligated to give back. I think I do. I think I am generous and kind and inspiring, so I don't worry about my privildge too much. I also know that others are so much more "privildeged" than me, in terms of money. But I am lucky becuase my family is so great. Some with money have a very unhappy family life. I also know that many many more are poor than rich, but even without money you can be privildeged with a happy life. However, you have to have the basics, and even in USA there are many who don't.

Obviously I value travelling as well, and think it is important to be exposed to other cultures through travelling, travellers, education, museums, and any other form. I think Americans could benefit from being more exposed to other cultures, not necesarrily travelling for everyone, but through studying or some other means.

I wish I was better at Spanish, and I always have hopes to learn even more, other languages. And I just had a conversation with someone about how to really know a language, you have to know a culture There are so many cultural references, that even if you know the words you still won't understand. There's a woman here from the USA who moved to Scotland and has been there 5 years. She said for the first several years she was completely an outsider because she didn't know the culture.

I am going to continue to ponder the thoughts on my place in the world. More to come soon...er or later.