<rspi: rising issues>

On Education in "America" as We Plunge Issue.

With so many United States citizens earning degrees, it’s no wonder the unemployment rate is stuck at nearly 10%. Our nation’s various fields are sopping, unable to grow. College admissions standards have lowered, tricks and answers to the SAT and ACT given at weekend seminars, good grades handed out like cookies to the best-looking and most-loved. Advanced degrees can be gotten online. The concept of I.Q. is being discarded in favor of the “well-rounded”. SpellCheck makes each essay appear error-free at a glance; so many versions of essay topics exist on the ‘net that writing and reading have fallen by the wayside, with multiple choice ScanTron exams taking precedence. So what’s next? Will females return to the homemaker identity, or will that occupation be overtaken by males? Is an automated society to our benefit, or our detriment? What exactly are we learning that’s of no use? Who do we need to know about that we don’t already know we need to know? Finally, why do so many people use the word “America” and ignore the 22 countries land-connected to US?

To Use or Not to Use Issue.

We all know the paradox: without drugs, I would be somebody entirely different. (And yes, as anyone who’s been through The Program knows, “Alcohol is a drug.”) A host of friendships would not exist, the bonding not possible without drugs. A lot of marriages would not have begun. Many children would not have been conceived. Much of the lasting, good music would not have been created. Too many objets d’ art would not exist. A surprising amount of breakthroughs in science or literature would not have occurred. Yet, there’s the flip side, with insanity, suicide, manslaughter, murder, rape, pain, cruelty and hellish relationships that exist primarily because their instigators had or have a link to drugs. What’s the answer? Does prohibition work? How about education? Government regulations? Does using prescribed pharmaceuticals count as doing drugs? What is a ”natural high”? What is moral, in terms of substance use as imagined by God? What answers lie within the concept of Humanism? Did alien visitors plant intoxicating plants? if so, why?

Predators>>>Pets>>>Foodstuffs Issue.

At one time in our history the taming of wild beasts took courage, stamina and intelligence. We would hunt, trap, kill to ensure our safety from wild predators and then feed and clothe our families with the remains. Yet over time the process has grown very simple, easy. Breeding for this or that trait and selling the mistakes cheaply. Exacerbating animal dependence on us via hand-served meals, doctoring for injuries and even psyche. The old joke goes, “If it’s yours and it loves you, why do you lock it up indoors or chain it up in the yard?” The cruel lengths people go to, to “own” an animal: the neutering or spaying and declawing and debarking... What would happen if everybody freed their pets? Would the animals circle our cities in feral packs? Or, would they whine and whimper and stand about like tamed foodstuffs? According to pig-farmers, there’s much similarity between the way a sow and a dog behaves with people. Should the hairless cat be afraid that it’s a new foodstuff? Is fear what drove us to choose to consume certain animals? Is vegetarianism a viable route for our evolution?

Submit up to 10 pages or 10 images