As some of you may know there is a story circulating around the internet about an election in a 3rd grade class in Nashville, Tennessee. Because of the way things end up on the net, I am not going to swear to the veracity of the story itself but I am pretty sure something like this happened and it is certainly a great analogy for what is wrong with society.
The story takes place in fall 2008 and involves a class where the students were becoming interested in the Presidential election. So the teacher decided to stage a class election to take the students through the whole process to show them how things work.
After some discussion and debate two students were chosen, Jamie and Olivia. Both were good students and would be a fine choice for class President. The teacher thought Jamie might have a slight edge because his parents were closely involved in his education while she had not seen Olivia’s parents. Since the students would have to write a speech and plan a ‘campaign’ she figured possibly that the parental involvement issue would give an edge to Jamie.
On the day of the election both candidates gave speeches.
Jamie talked some specific ideas on what could be done to improve the class. Obviously with a third grade class the ideas were fairly basic but they were not bad for a start. He also promised to do his best to help make the class better and to do what he could for his fellow students.
Olivia gave a simple speech: “If you elect me I’ll give you ice cream”.
Seeking to get Olivia more involved the teacher staged a post speech discussion in which each candidate was asked how he or she would achieve their goals. When asked who would pay for the ice cream Olivia responded “I don’t know”. She couldn’t specify if she or her parents or the school would pay.
The students didn’t care, she won in a landslide.
I think this is sadly a good example of what is wrong with society today. Obviously any specific examples right now would tend to focus on the Obama administration simply because they are in power. But it fits for pretty much any politician of the last 50 years.
Just in case you think this only applies to kids, I suggest you check this interview from WJR radio in Detroit. They interviewed people who lined up to receive some government grants. I’m not saying that these folks might not be in need of some help, but the amazing part is they have no concept of where the money comes from. For them money just ‘comes from Obama’s stash’ and the idea that people pay taxes to supply the money is beyond understanding.
Scary aint it ?