by HillyBillyB

Created on: July 01, 2007

The wonderful United Stated of America is always on the move for bigger and better things. No stone is left unturned in the adventurous spirit of improving life for the next generation. The never ending quest to improve our schools, our safety, our strength, and our environment has this great country on a forward march. History might be our best teacher but we spend very little time in looking back. We recognize that our past has produced many great heroes and heroines; we nod politely at them in passing. We even set aside a few days on our calendar to celebrate a few of them. In the back of our minds, however, we must be thinking, "Our forefathers and great teachers of the past had everything all wrong! We can, and will, do things better!"

One of the first things our government began looking at in reforming and revamping our society was our schools. Building bigger and better schools and incorporating all the small schools into one large school was one of the decisions made to improve the life of our children. The small classrooms in small schools are now a thing of the past. No more close knit groups of students and teachers. There must have been a good reason, or need, to change all that. What the need was is rather cloudy. A close look might uncover the fact that it was a decision made solely for the purpose of saving money. No one wants to say that, so we say things like: "Bigger and better schools with fewer, but more qualified teachers. This will help our children."

So our small community schools are quickly disappearing across the country. Impressive buildings with the latest technology are replacing the small classrooms where technology was a world globe sitting beside an apple on our teacher's desk. In these modern, fashionable schools we teach things like sex education, practical living, and we also educate our children on the terrible effects of drugs and alcohol.

If all of the things mentioned are such immense improvements, why is our country riddled by the effects of drug use, teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, with an enormous number of children being treated for alcoholism? What is happening to our children on this information superhighway into the future? Do we need to slow down and look back at the way things used to be? Were we not in a far better position only twenty years ago?

I am a product of education in a small community school. I have never used drugs or owned a handgun. I have never been in jail or convicted of any crime.

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