I wish America had the best public school system in the world. But it doesn’t.
***Book Club Recommendations below***
So, do what they don’t teach you in that public school system…. Challenge the authority & ask why? Why wouldn’t Americans collectively want to have their children be the most educated & well versed in the world? Why would a wealthy nation not want their kids to have the Freedom & access to the most information? Why?
“even the genius asks questions” - Tupac
School seems to be a place where learning to submit to authority & learn how to sit for 8 hours is the absolute design. Why is that more important than learning about the humans in history who challenged authority & changed the world.
There is a collective of topics that are either not talked about, rarely discussed or (and I hate this) have or are having attempts to be banned… imagine that - banned - in the land of the “free”.
Through my reading, I’ve begun to compile a list of vitally important topics that I believe every kid should be well educated on before leaving high school.
First, as Americans know about Labor Day - most are unaware of May Day. May 1st or Workers Day / International Workers Day. Since the majority of kids in classes will become workers, they should know about this day.
Another topic barely - if at all discussed is - John Brown - the man who helped spark the civil war to kill slavery. John Brown is a hero, period. And his raid on Harpers Ferry was destined to bring him to the gallows, where as one of the Transcendentalists (Emerson) put it - John Brown will make the Gallows glorious like the Cross.
A must read book is John Brown - Abolitionist by David Reynolds.
The next discussion should be heavily focused on the late 1960s & early 70s.
America had a renaissance of revolutionaries.
The list includes the less often talked about collective of individuals from that era….
Robert F Williams (civil rights leader)
Abbie Hoffman (the trial of the Chicago 7)
Afeni Shakur (the trial of the Panther 21)
Fred Hampton (Black Panther Party)
The Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI (the uncovering of COINTELPRO & the raid in Media Pennsylvania)
Leonard Peltier (Native American Activist)
James Baldwin (writer / activist)
Citizens United
Net Neutrality
📘 Book Club Recommendations 📓
Behold A Pale Horse by William Cooper
Negroes with Guns by Robert F Williams
The Rose That Grew From Conrete by Tupac Amaru Shakur
Revolution For The Hell Of It - Abbie Hoffman
Any Bill Shakespeare
Any George Carlin comedy in book form (his albums are mandatory listening for my kids once they reach High School age)
Who Moved My Cheese
Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
Robert Frost
Come As You Are (The Story of Nirvana) by Michael Azerrad
The Far Side
The Bible by God
The Storyteller by Dave Grohl
Debt by David Graeber
The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley
The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cromwell
The Way I See It by Temple Grandin
Any of Cesar Millan’s books
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary by Jasmine Guy
Bossy Pants by Tina Fey
To Be Continued…