Super Bowl Mania

As the favorite son of the Mississippi Delta prepares to battle the boy from the Swamp it is interesting to think how America has changed since the first Super Bowl. More specifically the importance of consumerism in America. According to Dave Ramsey it was normal in the 1950s and 60s for American families to live in a home that was less than 900 square feet and to drive one car. Wives did not work and if they did it was part time. The Super Bowl began almost the same way. Tickets were a bit more than regular season tickets and it did not garner much national attention. Today the Super Bowl represents everything in America that is consumerism. Supermarkets will have special displays for chips, beer, and charcoal grills. Television advertisers will pay millions of dollars for thirty second ads. The halftime show will feature the extravagant and always entertaining Prince. The million dollar heroes will battle for sixty minutes on the million dollar turf grown specifically for this game. The thousands of fans at Dolphin Stadium paid their thousands for a single ticket or even a hotel. Thousands more will flock to South Beach and the hot spots of Miami to participate in the fever of a South Florida party. It will be a weekend of money spent and if we are lucky a good game. When I tell people I do not have cable they are shocked, this past weekend I had cable and I was glued to the TV. Constantly changing the channel to see what was on the next station. The more and more I watched the more and more I saw and the more I wanted. There is something to be said about living the simple live. Desiring to have that small house with one car. At some point, acceptable American culture changed from one that was lived within ones means to know where the average American household credit card debt is $13,000. The Super Bowl is not a celebration of the best from the NFC and the AFC, rather, it is a yearly celebration of all that is consumed.

As I have heard on the radio and TV, the only real way to watch the game is on a plasma.

State of the union address

Last night was the first night that I was able to make it through an entire "State of the Union Address." Maybe it is because I am becoming more mature in my position as an adult American or because I essentially work for the government. In the speech last night President Bush said that English and Math scores have gone up significantly and the achievement gap between minorities and whites has gone down significantly. He said much more work is to be done in the areas of Science to prepare our students for the ever changing workforce. He wants congress to pass an extension to NCLB. I think this is great, NCLB needs a few changes but overall it is a good plan to provide accountability to schools and hold a standard that is the same for everyone. What I disapprove of is that there was no mention of Social Studies or History. Where does a person learn what the State of the Union is? Where does a person learn why it is important that we keep a close eye on Iran? Where does a person learn that it is honorable to help others and lead a life of service? There are many more where ifs that can be asked. The answer always points to Social Studies and History. By not testing in the areas of Social Studies and History NCLB has told low performing districts not to worry about that subject to focus primarily on reading, writing, science and math. In most cases I would argue that many students do not leave elementary school knowing the difference between a town, city, state, and country. That they cannot place the state in which they live in, on a map or they cannot even name the states that surround their state. Middle school is the time to learn of people from around the world, to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to live on a diverse planet. High school should take the knowledge of geography and basic civics from elementary school combine it with the knowledge of civilizations from around the world and the beginnings of America learned in middle school to give a student the opportunity to discover how politics, religion, economics, and diversity affect the decisions that world leaders make and that they make on a day to day basis. If I could afford the lobbyist to get this included in NCLB and create a curriculum that would satisfy all of what I said I would be a rich man and way smarter than I am. Instead I hope and pray that one day the people in D.C. will decide that what they learned in their social studies classes as children is what taught them how our government works.