America: military over minds

America seems to think that having the biggest military will make them the strongest country, this isn’t true.

America doesn’t value knowledge or education enough. Too few people are excited to learn and strive to gain knowledge.

Some want to ban teaching certain topics altogether. 

This lack of passion and interest for learning and holding knowledge causes serious issues in our society.

We see it now in those who are dangerously skeptical of news outlets or reliable studies or of trained scientists or medical professionals. 

In 2020, the United States government budgeted a little over $752 billion dollars for the military and only a little under $159 billion for education. 

If this isn’t proof of America’s apathy towards education, I don’t know what is. To put so little money into children, which I firmly believe are the future, is criminal. 

Education is the backbone of our society. We wouldn’t be where we are today without it. 

The Commonwealth Fund estimated in 2021 that if we hadn’t had the vaccine there would have been over 1.1 million deaths in the U.S. from COVID-19.

We saved those people due to education and the scientists that benefited from it. 

To have the strongest military we must prioritize education. Scientists can continue to develop the next advancements in weapons if they are properly funded and educated.

Even the influencers we follow are an example of our country’s lack of regard for education. Think about who you follow on TikTok. On Instagram. On Twitter. 

How many of these people are educators or are highly skilled in their field? Chances are not many. 

The idea that those who can dance, have the money to do pranks or who can do makeup should be who we look up to or believe everything they say is frankly, insanity. 

Now, I understand that not everyone wants to learn all the time or has the time to. When the government doesn’t value it and doesn’t provide opportunities for the average person to have time to learn, it is expected that the average person then won’t.

People need to want to learn so that they can apply their learnings to everyday life. 

Take history for example, if someone doesn’t feel the need or want to learn about it, they won’t. If we don’t learn about history, it is doomed to repeat itself.  

For the past few years, we have been living in a seemingly endless time of historic things. Historic pandemics, historic deaths and even historic protests and movements.

Unless we remember these things, unless we study them, they will all be for nothing. Humanity will have learned nothing from our current struggles.