Education...A Tradition?

After our discussion in class today, I began to further elaborate and wonder how in fact how education. After analyzing the problems in today's society, it all boils down to respect for oneself and the respect for others whether it be a race, gender, or age group. Prior to today's discussion, I received most of my inspiration and beliefs about the role of education and respect in our society from the late Tupac Shakur. Apart from the "gangster rapper" stereotype that the media portrayed him as, Shakur was more of a revolutionary than anything. Attached is an interview with Tupac Shakur, an aspiring actor, at the age of 17, expressed his "basic" (but not so basic in today's society) views on how education, respect, and society has evolved and their problems in the world today.
After portraying a vivid image of his childhood, stricken with poverty, he goes on to say how school in today's world has become a tradition instead of a learning tool."School is just a place where parents send their children to keep busy while they're at work." Like I stated in class, I do not feel like children today are given enough time to choose a path in their life that would lead them to happiness. Many people in class seemed to be on common ground in having somebody close in their life unhappy with the path they chose. We discussed parents who didn't end up where they expected in their career, and siblings who were aspiring artists who found happiness in tattoo artistry.
Shakur goes on to say how it is a shame that society's classes are broken down into so many pieces. "Rich people should live like poor people and poor people should live like rich people...and they should switch every week. Then we will have the best rounded people." Though a tad radical, this idea seems like a practical idea that potentially would do some good. He classifies humans as a "worker bee" society, where the lower and middle class talk about things while the upper class make all the decisions and live like royalty. I feel like politicians today care too much about what the public think about their doing, as opposed to what their actually doing. This is similar to the idea that "companies claim to be green" while they're only making minor insignificant changes to make society believe that they are making strides toward a better world, thus supporting their product. Politicians campaign saying that they are attempting to cease worldwide hunger, while people in our own nation are homeless and poor. This is where I feel the government should approach this issue with more of a "actions over ideas" point of view.
The thing that I find most intriguing by the Shakur interview is that it took place in 1988-1989, however, society today is still suffering from the same exact problem...stemming from the lack of respect we possess. From a young age, Shakur looked to change the world to a better place where society understands the world as is it today instead of the "fantasy land picture" that the government paints for today's youths. In my American Political & Social History course, we discussed how the government tries to hide the evil behind the civil war when teaching it to our youth by disguising the truth with memorials and celebrations. That's what I feel is essentially going wrong...children are shielded from the negative aspects of society and the world around them and they grow up "ambitious but unready." That is why there is an underlying ignorance and arrogance all around the world, even in America. In conclusion, this desire for a better world, in my opinion, stemmed from one simple, profound and society altering statement..."We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."(Jefferson - Declaration of Independence) So my opinion is that Earth cannot be a better place until the majority of society develops this respect for themselves and others, and people are looked at as people instead of being shoved into categories like the children in school who are pushed through their routine curriculum.