Students have no realistic connection to the accurate historical past, and therefore have little investment in a future which holds the promise of more ethnic cleansing, bombing, starvation and pandemic poverty. The policies which we enact on a national level have direct effects on a local, even familial, level. A political candidate who promises a stronger military does not truly have our children in mind. By pursing a national missile defense, we are not making decisions with the seventh future generation in mind-on the contrary, we are almost ensuring that there will be no seventh generation. Moreover, we are expediting the process of nuclear annihilation by setting an example of irreverence, global disrespect, and expendability for the onlooking current young population.
Many American kids feel disconnected from world problems like war, poverty and pollution.
It is obvious that they perceive themselves as living in a disposable world by their flippant attitude toward recycling and littering. Using nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction is the ultimate in littering our planet. As adults, teachers, parents and citizens, we need to allow kids a role in the dialogue of what their world will look like when they are our age. A step in this direction is more investment in a nonviolent form of education, one which values questioning the answers and working for practical solutions, rather than achieving the correct percentile on standardized testing. We must assist young people in their growing understanding of themselves and the world around them.