Great Expectations Today

Life in these United States of America has changed a bit from my memories of growing up. Some changes have been for the good, others, not so much. The single biggest change toward the negative side of the scale is the lack of expectations. When I joined the Boy Scouts, I was expected to learn and live by the Scout Law. I knew that I was to be Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent. And that from memory at the age of 65.

One primary focus of mine revolves around the merry-go-round of education. Bear in mind that I am all for getting kids involved in learning. How they learn has challenged many educators over the years. Some students will only learn after they mature more. Some students won’t learn in a rote environment. Some students will learn in spite of a teacher’s style. No matter how the students learn, there remains one sure way for them to fail—don’t expect them to learn.

My wife of over forty years invested her career in educating elementary students. One time her elementary class received calculators with which they could figure out what 2+2 equaled. My discussion with her at the time revolved around the problem with not expecting them to learn, and to know what 2+2 equaled, for if a student could not or would not learn this simple fact, they would be challenged the rest of their life by any subject matter. Sadly, these students and many more like them now struggle with daily math application. Perhaps you know some of them. They are the ones that cannot make change at McDonald’s. They are the ones that never learned what year the United States federal government was ratified. They are the ones who were never expected to behave in public. They are the ones who pass you on a solid, double-yellow line in a no-passing zone while you travel at the speed limit .

They are also the ones to whom the progressives have appealed for votes. Since the children were never expected to perform or to succeed in doing some little thing, they don’t believe that they should have to work at anything. Their expectations are that someone should supply them with all their needs because, like their parents who would not allow a teacher to expect them to perform, they learned to expect something for nothing. They feel they are entitled to pass a grade without studying, without knowing any answers, without having basic math facts at the ready to use. They are the ones who have no work ethic. They are the ones who refuse to take a menial job because they are better than that.

The latest news affecting much of our nation concerns the influx of children from developing countries crossing our borders through no legal process that qualifies them to be here. Again, I am all for children receiving education, medical assistance, clothing, meals—a new start to life. Our household contributes far more than an average household to organizations doing exactly these things. However, if these children entering illegally are taught by experience that there are no expectations of following the law of the land in the United States, to what end will they aspire? My guess, and my fear, is that they will simply add themselves to the rolls of entitled individuals who don’t contribute to society, but will vote themselves a benefit.

The founding fathers of America warned over and over that the Republic would soon fail under these circumstances. In the book, Why Nations Fail, you can read about the Roman Empire and the Roman Republic failing. If I were to copy and paste that narrative here, you couldn’t discern it from today’s news.

It is time to call America back to an era of expectations. Expect children to learn. Expect young adults to work for a living. Expect businessmen to have character. Expect statesmen to make decisions for the benefit of the country, not for the benefit of the faction with the loudest voice and not for their personal wealth management plan. If you don’t start to expect these things now, today, then you’ll have very little to complain about when you don’t expect to use your vote come the election cycle this year.