When I was growing up, our exams at the end of each term rated us depending on how many were in our class. There was no ‘we’re all winners’ approach. You were first, second, third etc. out of a class of X-number of students. These results weren’t private either – your entire class knew. The result was a student who was (right or wrong) very driven to understand what they were taught and get the best possible grades.

We studied things like logical self-defense to improve analytical skills and make solid logical arguments, had debates to learn how to put across our point of view, worked on complicated math problems WITHOUT calculators (do you recall the trigonometry books?), studied Greek mythology and Shakespeare….all this before 16 or 17.

I’m not saying we were raised to mouth off to teachers and such. But we were being trained how to see the forest from the trees in many respects, while also learning when/where would be the appropriate time to address it. Yes, sometimes we can smell BS but knowing how to handle it is also a soft-skill that many don’t have today.

Compare that to the fact that today I’m baffled by the fact that most teens can’t function without a calculator. They’re learning fractions that I covered in grade three in grade 10! They’re afraid to speak up in class because of ‘looking stupid’ in front of their classmates…when did learning equal knowing all the right answers? When I didn’t get an assignment done, there were consequences, like calls to my parents from school, punishment at school and then at home. Today, we have gum popping and “I didn’t get a chance to do it”.

And teachers, they have no control over these classes anyway in terms of discipline….unless they want a lawsuit. So they turn to drugs. I have a nephew who had to be transferred out of his school because teachers tried to force his parents to put him on Ritalin for ADHD. This is a boy who is now at the top of his class in university, loves classical music and art. What he needed was to be challenged, not bored to death and held back. It was part of the ‘we’re all winners’ bit.

The downside is the youth today are being dumbed-down, drugged out, deprived of analytical thinking skills and forced more into running with the pack – don’t shake the boat. They’re being told they can have designer items like the stars but they aren’t taught how to earn, manage, save or invest money to get these things.

The lists are endless, but the end result is the same. Kids coming out with a lack of morals, lack of morale and lack of common sense to step back, look at the big question and ask…why? These are minds that are more easily nudged into any category you need them to be.

And just to clarify, it’s not like I’m 60 or 70….I’m not even in my 40s yet! And that’s what terrifies me the most. That I can see such a dramatic change in how my mind was (once again, right or wrong) molded compared to the minds coming out today. My education may not have been perfect, but it instilled in me the foundation of questioning, analyzing, being a leader rather than follower, but if following – analyze the hell out of the leader first to ensure they don’t lead me down the garden path.

P.s. I feel it’s necessary to define my definition of hearsay. What I mean by hearsay is information that one has not received or experienced first hand. eg. I have never read the operation Northwoods documents, thus any information I receive on that I consider hearsay until I can either prove or disprove it by reading those documents.

Be well