School House Rocks!

I (heart) Miss Liberty.

The Statue of Liberty, that is, Miss Liberty of Ellis Island.

Back in Belgium, thinking about the recent past of being in the United States with my daughter and contemplating the unthinkable future of soon to be in India, here I am in Antwerp, my head filled with thoughts about giants , islands, and statues. Go figure.

I flew out of Amarillo two days ago, which now seem like a lifetime with all of the thoughts going through my head of people, places, and things...those nouns that seem to dominate so much of our thoughts. Speaking of nouns, one of the greatest traveling companions for a little traveling companion such as my five-year old daughter, is the videos from Schoolhouse Rock from the 1970's. These can be downloaded now via iTunes for a nominal fee, but well worth it.

If you are of my generation, you will never forget the opening twangy notes of "Nouns," nor will you ever forget that a Noun is a person, place, or thing. However, you have to know something before you can forget it. Each time I encounter American education, however, there is a bittersweet feeling that no-one will ever forget much because we aren't taught much any longer. Now, before you jump on the bandwagon of saying I am on the bandwagon that education is so much better elsewhere (it isn't), then let me vent.

I had several conversations with many friends while traveling in the States, friends with kids, kids who are in schools, schools that often suck, etc. And, to then see that the biggest anti-educational governor in recent memory in Texas, Rick Perry, is now a possible frontrunner for the Presidential bid of America, I fear for education, deeply. I am not so naive to think that one politician can ruin a country, but yikes, this is scary.

So, I am making a proposal. Bring back Schoolhouse Rock! to our kids! If you read this, "pass it on" as the ubiquitous billboards around America suggest. Pass on the message of making education something that kids actually want to have more than the latest xBox. Trust me, if your kid is not humming along to "Lolly, Lolly, Get your Adverbs Here" after two viewings, well, I would be surprised. "Conjunction, Conjuction,..." come on, you know the rest "what's your function..." Brilliant, sheer brilliance.

On the Nouns video, the little girl goes to the Statue of Liberty to meet her friend ("he took an early fer-ry) in middle of June and it started to snow. Well, not exactly snowing when I flew into Newark's Liberty International airport five weeks ago, but it was great to see the Statue of Liberty and to have that song running through my head since my daughter had been watching it on iTunes on our flight from Brussels. I made her a promise to one day take her up in the real statue as we only got to see a small replica in the customs area at Liberty airport.

I missed seeing Miss Liberty on the way out of the US this time. We flew through O'Hare, which I have always disliked, and still do as I always encounter a delay or rudeness there, but hey, that's just me, and we didn't get to see her waving us onwards towards our Belgian destination this time.

Perhaps those are two things that I do really love about America though. The concepts of Freedom and Liberty and the innovations in education such as Schoolhouse Rock. We've got our flaws and our faults like the best of them, but for just those two things, I am pretty proud of those visionary minds who came before me from back home.

The School House does indeed Rock, as does Miss Liberty.

PS Yes, I know she came from France...