Tomorrow begins the first day of year three for Smallsteps and it will start at a new school, that has a little more focus on music, and from who we have met so far, the kids themselves seem a little more focused. Quieter, more thoughtful - the kind of kids that measure twice and cut once. I am hoping that Smallsteps gets more space to breathe in this environment, where her voice isn't being drowned by the loudest voice.
Ask and you shall receive.
No.
Because the only currency in the classrooms of today to get support from the teachers is to scream, shout and throw tantrums, and stones through windows. It is the worst students that get the lion's share of support, which makes sense, because raising the average is easiest done by helping the below average improve - even if they will never raise high enough to make much of a positive impact in the world.
Help the needy.
It seems like such a good thing to do, right? Help those who can't help themselves. Yet increasingly, it is helping those who won't help themselves. No matter what support they get, they will forever be in need. Forever reliant on the support. Remove it, and they collapse under their own weight, rather than forge their own path. But it seems so cruel to not help the needy, those without. But, what most people don't consider that for a person to reach their potential, they might have other needs. A smart child is left to their own devices, as the ones with problems get the support. But a smart child still has needs, don't they? But they are expected to fend for themselves in today's system, because the resources just aren't there to help them.
The irony is, that perhaps after a period of assisting the best to be their best, those same children will grow into the adults that are able to better use the resources available, and create solutions to problems that help the needy. But when the brightest aren't supported to be their best, they end up too close to the average, better than others, but still not good enough to solve the problems ahead of them.
Maybe that is why for the first time in history, our health is degrading.
But if we look at the entire global population, it is likely improving, isn't it? Because with so many poor, malnourished people who are getting access to better food, education and healthcare, the average at the bottom is increasing. This is not to say that they shouldn't be helped, but to highlight how it is easy to skew the numbers with averages.
But if we were to help the needy first, who makes it into the NBA? The coaches should spend all of their time with the worst players to bring up the average basketball skill, right? Anyone who wants to be on the team should be included. Any driver who wants to drive Formula 1 should be allowed in the cockpit. Anyone who wants to be a doctor should be allowed into medical school. And if they struggle with the math or physics, they should be given as many tutors and as much support as they can get to try and get them up to a passing grade, even if it takes resources away from the overachievers, because they will pass anyway. We don't need great healthcare professionals. Passing grades is as high as we want.
Helping the needy falls down, doesn't it?
What qualifies need?
Who defines the metrics that decide which resources go where and why they should be spent there, instead of somewhere else? Who decides who is in need, and why that need is more important to satisfy over other needs?
Perhaps we should take a step back and think about what humanity is looking to accomplish as a species, consider what is needed to get there, and then support movements in that direction. In the US they talked about "no child left behind", but how has that worked out.
The US literacy rate for adults is approximately 79%, meaning about 21% of adults in the US are considered functionally illiterate. This equates to roughly 43 million adults who struggle with basic reading tasks. Furthermore, a significant portion of the adult population, around 54%, reads below a sixth-grade level.
Luckily, with all the streaming content being forced down throats, people don't need to read anymore. They don't need to verify, validate or even think for themselves - someone else has already packaged up all they need to know in a convenient video clip that just happens to feed their pre-existing beliefs.
No one need change their mind.
Because the business model is designed to shape minds into whatever generates the most profit for the corporations, and provides the most control for those who have and desire more of it. It is an attention loop that feeds more of what we want, while providing less of what we need to take responsibility for our lives, and build something great together. It is about the loudest voices that can produce the most outrage, rather than the quiet voices who have solutions to the problems we face.
It makes me want to scream.
But no one is listening.
Taraz
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