What is this world coming to?

Well, I've successfully completed my first week at my new job. The first two days were a bit hard, but in retrospect, more so because I was outside my old "comfort zone." I work in a completely different building now. I no longer get to see my two closest friends, nor eat lunch with them. So I felt a bit lonely and disheveled. The last two days have been much better. I'm starting to settle in and get my sea legs. I still have a ton to be exposed to and learn, but I have no worries about being able to handle it. Best of all, I can honestly say I have no regrets.

I was listening to the radio on the way to work earlier this week and a comedian talked about an alternate Google-like search engine....Gizoogle. I thought it was all a joke, part of his routine. But no...it's real. The returns are in izzle-speak and ebonics.

Now before I say any more, this is not about race. I do not have a prejudiced cell in my body. I grew up with a grandfather who was fond of spouting very unethical statements and from an early age I could see the unfounded hate within those comments and the hurt that they inflicted.

But, I have a problem with the dilution of the English language. Yes, occasionally slang terms become mainstream and are folded into what is considered "proper", however the whole ebonics debate is a symptom of a much larger problem that exists in our country...the vilification of intelligence. You see it on tv all the time...the smart people are made to look nerdy...dorky...foolish, while the characters who make poor choices have a brief 2 minute conversation of how they'll do better next time and then get all the rewards. While I'll admit that there are many story lines on crime dramas and movies-of-the-week where the intelligent people are the cool ones, consider what our adolescents are watching. Certainly more often than the crime dramas, kids are watching sitcoms, music videos and playing video games, where the triumph of the witless over the knowledgeable is far more pronounced. So at a time in their life when peer pressure is taking hold, kids see being smart as more of a negative than positive attribute.

I don't blame the people who make these shows and videos (although I wish they'd also make better choices), I blame the same people who are by-and-large failing the most at getting our youth on the right path...parents. I see it around me everywhere (I'll admit, sometimes in my own home)...parents are too wrapped up in their own pursuits to see the influences at work on their children. Who are the heroes to our youth...Stephen Hawking? Marie Curie? Bertrand Russell? Mark Dean or Dennis Moeller? No. More likely it's an over-priced, over-paid celebrity or sports figure.

WAKE UP PEOPLE!! There's a reason that the U.S. is in decline. We're not focusing on educating our youth. How do we expect to have an population that makes smart decisions (such as a presidential election) when they're not educated? It leaves room for the Carl Roves of the world to make a detrimental impact.