Tighten the belt, tighten the noose.

Back in internet land. I have lived the last two weeks as I lived during my youth: with a TV that gets two channels and no internet. I, gasp!, had to read when I finished painting, and doing the stuff that a big move requires, at the end of the day. And I realized, once away from all the technology, why my students, for the most part, are poor writers. As a kid and a young adult, my primary news sources were papers and magazines, and I read avidly. I always had a book at my side, as well. After spending a couple of weeks working with a 20-something, who is renting my former residence (the one I have been refurbishing for future sale), and watching her nearly have a meltdown because of lack of internet and tv, I realize that most people born after 1985 have made the net their primary means of communication, reading material, and social medium, and tv consumes as much or more of their time. But by primary reading material, I mean Facebook or myspace. Although the 20-something working with me is a serious reader, she has a hard time reading for long stretches. She usually multi-tasks: reads, runs AIM, and myspace at the same time. Evenings crept by for her at a snail's pace, while I reverted to habits learned young: I read for hours.

This brings me to education. Our education budget in our state is taking a huge hit. Enrollments in state universities are down, we have a huge deficit, and the federal government is not helping one iota. The secondary schools in Michigan are in pitiful shape. In Detroit, only 24% of those who start high school finish, and in the entire state, only 59% of those who begin a four-year degree university depart with a diploma. Now we have state representatives who would rather shutdown schools, reduce support to state universities in a draconian fashion, and generally gut all education than raise taxes. So kids who are struggling now will continue to struggle, and ultimately will not raise revenue for the state because they will either have little education, poor education or will have left the state. It really bothers me that our country is willing to funnel 1 billion dollars a day to the fiasco in Iraq rather than educate the entire populace, especially the at-risk populace. An uneducated country is a country at risk itself.

But back to the net. It is a fantastic tool, a necessary one, but it shouldn't replace reading newspapers or books. One of the reasons that 18-30 year-olds have little interest in Iraq or Afghanistan (and more interest in the misdeeds of one heiress/celebrity) is because they tend to get news exclusively from the net, which doesn't give you the experience of reading one article and then discovering one right next to it that may pique your interest (or not). You have to select an article and hit links for others: not the same thing. We may turn out to have the most technologically advanced youth in human history, but also the most functionally illiterate youth as well. Something to ponder while sending out CVs to more affluent states, or ones that are not willing to sacrifice their children's future because they won't raise property taxes by 2 mills.