Well, we don't "build" much any more. I have problems with the education system because it has been take over by corporations. Everything we do is about creating the next worker bee. However, the push is math and science. I thought this was interesting:
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/09/0082640I personally think we need to embrace our creativity. As an art teacher, I find the constant testing to be a big waste of time. Here's some of how I feel.
http://www.ksvoboda.com/?p=51Lyric, the blogger, you took us to, has a very creative mind. He is a part of the humanity that we all must protect. If corporations want to sell product, they better remember to include the creative genius as no matter how wonderful a product is if its design sucks, no one will want it! You remember the Aztec car, one super ugly beast!
http://www.sodahead.com/living/whats-the-ugliest-car-ever-produced-in-the-us/question-488173/?page=2&link=obafMany of the people he mentions are actually very creative. I think we have to develop the creative aspects of our society. When exposed to the arts, many of these "poor" people are much more creative because they have had to do with out. As an art teacher I generally find that students that have had to "make do" at home, learn creative ways to solve their problems. The student that has a lot doesn't have to push his/her imagination.
I don't know if we are going to be the producers of product any more but I do think we will be the people that create, imagine, and do scientific creativity. Another thing that is rather scary to me is the whole "Kindle" thing. This blogger, Lyric, is really creative, a writer, what will happen to the poor that cannot afford computers if all of our books end up on a computer? Will only those wealthy enough read books? I keep hearing that books will only come on computers in the future. That would be scary. Think about it. There would be a clear divide between rich and poor, one would be educated, one not so much. In our country the poor have been able to get a "free" education (although it's not free as we pay for it in our taxes) that enables many to pursue a higher education. What scares me more than anything is the route I see education going today. Schools are consolidating. There are more charter schools. Public education is kind of disappearing. Lyric is frustrated. Just think how the next generation will feel if they end up more like a third world nation? This is really about the widening divide between rich and poor, those who have and those who have not so much. Lyric doesn't want to work in a factory. Lyric wants to use his/her mind for better pursuits than war and profit. What we must decide is what kind of society do we want to live in. Do we want to embrace our own rich creativity or do we want to be worker bees for the corporate profiteers. I think there is more that we can be in our country than just churning out a widget.
