Education

     I know that I touched on education in my first blog post, but I feel that it is too widespread and too significant to limit such a topic to a brief mention in an article.
     When I think about democracy as a whole, its successes and failures, how it could work better in some places and how U.S. policy could be different regarding the construction of new democratic governments, I notice a common thread. It seems as if every democratic government relies on the intellectual capacity of its people to survive as an institution that is truly controlled by its citizens. Since the United States has occupied Afghanistan, it has tried to establish a system where the Afghan population is involved in creating laws and representing themselves in the government. Unfortunately, Afghanistan's weak educational system has prevented the growth of a democracy similar to the United States and most European nations. It still excludes girls for the most part and much of the population remains illiterate. Afghanistan has established itself as a poor environment for democracy, solely because of its methods of educating its people, or lack thereof.
     What I feel is ironic is that the United States tries to impress democratic ideals upon nations such as Afghanistan, but Congress considers massive cuts to education quite frequently. What politicians from both parties need to realize is that education is the root of democracy. A more educated voting public insures that elected officials will be more qualified and less corrupt. It also has other perks, such as a stronger economy and better relations with foreign nations.
     Education is a long-term investment. This is why people are reluctant to allocate valuable capital to it. They worry that they will not see their returns in a timely manner. They see it as a leap of faith. But the truth is that money that is spent on schools rarely lacks returns. In the Cold War, the United States responded to the threat of an impending nuclear war and the spread of communism by strengthening the methods by which its children were taught. Math and science education reached a monumental high in the 1960s, as well as physical fitness education. Because of this, the United States was innovating at a rate higher than ever before for nearly two decades and its students were performing better than those of every other nation.
     I hope that it will not take another threat of nuclear proliferation to make leaders from both American political parties decide to invest in its people's intellectual capacity. It seems as if every day, people rant about how this country is going in the wrong direction and how they have little say in the government. Hypocritically, these same people refuse to vote on parcel taxes and other measures that have the potential to supplement schools with much needed funds to improve their pupils' learning.
     A solid education is the source of the commodity that is knowledge. Investing time, money, and political capital in education can provide better futures to United States citizens. It strengthens the government, involving more great minds in the creation legislature and providing innovative ideas to governments, from a municipal to a federal level, improving the U.S. as a whole.