A ride on the Ferris wheel

I’m reminded of a story that I heard or might have even made up about a young parent who had a baby girl. That parent cared deeply for the young girl and did everything possible to provide for her all of the opportunities that would lead to a successful life. As time progressed, the parent began to neglect the girl with the promising future by denying financial and emotional support. See, the parent had other pressing issues to worry about instead of the future of the little girl; powerful rich friends often requested help from the parent to set in order their affairs. That once promising young girl was quickly forgotten and left to her own devices to find success. You may be surprised that you already know this negligent parent and young girl; they often go by their more familiar names of the United States government and the public education system.

Most of the demise of the public education system can be traced back to one single event. Some suggest the end of segregation, Republican budget cuts or Mormons having way too many kids (I just threw this in for fun because it’s just this empty rhetoric the church is often criticized for). These are all wrong; David Hasselhoff had a better chance of winning dancing with the stars than any of these being legitimate causes of the education downfall. No, the real reason this happened is because of a well known movie that came out in 1986, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. This movie glamorized the notion of not going to school. Before this movie came out, no child or teenager had probably ever played hooky instead of attending class. The concept of not going to school was outlandish and completely foreign to students in the United States; (almost as foreign as Spin occurring in the Bill O’Reilley No Spin Zone) no one thought it was possible. To say that the fad of cutting class caught wild fire is an understatement, Ferris essentially ruined the American school system by teaching it was cool not to go to class.

For those of you who haven’t been alive for the last twenty years or in a hole and not seen this anti-school propaganda film, Ferris Bueller is a young boy who develops an intricate plan to not go to school for one day. Principal Rooney (Ferris’ arch nemesis) does all he can to foil young Ferris’ plans and at one point even shows up at the house to gather evidence in hopes of expelling the brash young school ditcher. Mad props are due to the nefarious Principal for going above and beyond his call of duty, but as we’ll see it was of the utmost importance that Ferris’ not get away with his radical ways. Never has someone done more to attack the public school system and never has someone accomplished so much in one day off of school. Ferris did the following things in roughly seven hours:

Talked his friend into also cutting class and picking him up

Schemed to getting girlfriend out of class and then picked her up

Attended a Chicago Cubs Game

Went to tour the Sears Tower

Walked through the Art Institute of Chicago

Crashed a massive parade in the middle of the city and “Twisted and Shouted” all over it

Weaseled his way into a High-end Restaurant for lunch

Went swimming with his friends

The amount of time this would take any normal human being to accomplish is roughly 38 hours (give or take), but Ferris’ magically achieves so much in just seven hours?!?! Let the delusion begin!! Teens everywhere were suckered into believing they too could cut class and crash parades. (Why do you think we no longer have random parades in the middle of the week with thousands of people?, that is how the world was before this movie came out). Kids realized that 1) principals were not in fact student’s pals (or prince’s for that matter) 2) crashing parades was normal 3) cutting class was the coolest thing ever and if you had a fun enough day they might make a movie about it some day.

No matter how you slice it a pie is still a pie and no matter how you slice skipping schools it’s still giving the old screw you to lady America. But I must digress for a minute. Is the education provided for in America’s school really worth not cutting class? As I illustrated in the beginning, the deplorable state of America’s schools has left many children unable to receive the education that will provide them with the skills they’ll need in life. “Waiting for Superman” is a movie about children throughout the United States who are trying to get the best education possible. Some must go through admission processes that utilize a lottery selection; which doesn’t allow some children to attend their preferred school. This process is difficult for families with low incomes because they often do not have access to the same private institutions as higher income families if they are not accepted. Interestingly enough, many school aged children could ditch school to watch a movie about how inefficient school is; they would learn more about school by not going to…. wait for it…school. I don’t necessarily condone this behavior, but I don’t criticize it either. The purpose of schools is to provide learning, but if instruction isn’t adequately offered children should not be punished for not attending?

In high school my friends and I always tried to replicate Ferris' sweet day off, but we always fell short. We went to hang out at an abandoned house and it got cold so we left and went back to school. Other times we went and played basketball or nintendo at one of my friend's houses. The best time that I ever had when ditching school was to go see Star Wars 2: Attack of the clones. I never traveled more than 10 miles away from my school in all of the times that I ditched, and as you can tell I never did anything remotely cool at all. Basically, there was nothing worthwhile to miss school for and I probably did myself a great disservice by not attending school, even though I got great grades. There really was no reason to go if I could maintain high marks and enjoy some friend time, even though I never had close to the day that Ferris did.

Ferris’ wasn’t too concerned with the equality inefficiencies that exist in schools, but no doubt he wanted there to exist an option that the school system and provide a fair shake to all children. I have some suggestions. 1) Rank schools based on objective criteria that is public information to all families. The parents can choose where their kids go and the schools that underperform are shut down. Nothing motivates an institution to perform like the threat of closure. 2) Schools should be able to specialize in certain subjects. I hated art, science, and history in school. Why couldn’t I have gone to a school that specialized in math and economics; wouldn’t that prepare me better for my future than superfluous time wasting subjects? Yes, and so would other children who would have thrived at an art, music, of even a sports school. America is based on choice, let the people choose. Perhaps there is reasoning behind teaching a wide range of subjects to children, but to me it seems an inefficiency of the system. There are many problems with the school system and I’ve tried to offer some suggestions instead of simply criticizing the problem. The circumstances will get better over time or America’s youth will continue to ditch school. Maybe Ferris was on to something deeper when he decided to take that day off.

He ain't heavy, he's Kris.

One of my favorite things is when I notice something funny and have someone else notice the same thing at exactly the same time. That knowing glance from a friend that indicates they are on the same page as you is validating. Earlier today I was sitting in the foyer before class as this man walked by with his stomach hanging out of his shirt. At first I was caught off guard, but as I looked over to my friend sitting next to me I saw a sly grin spreading across his face and we both started laughing. No words were said, no synopsis of the random event was given, just a hearty chuckle. I couldn't have been more amused. Maybe it is the thought that someone understands or thinks like we do that causes us to feel a solid connection from moments like this. Being on the same page is not always so simple though and usually direct communication is necessary when trying to get on the same page as someone else. I like to use the example of being a missionary and finishing up teaching a principle. There are many ways to pass the discussion on to the companion, a subtle voice inflection, a testimony, or a quick glance. There are times though in any presentation when you have to be very direct. "Elder 'XYZ' will now teach us about faith."
You just have to say their name and what they will be doing. This can be frustrating for both parties. The way I fix this problem is through practice, but I've found that time and experience usually solves all problems eventually.

One weekend night recently I was preparing myself for a scheduled date.(I highlight scheduled because we both knew the time and I confirmed the date) I was really excited to go and had been looking forward to this date all week long. About twenty minutes before 'kickoff' I received a lengthy text explaining how it was not going to be possible to meet up that night due to unavoidable circumstances that had not be foreseen. (By the way any time cleaning is involved in an excuse the offended person should be able to collect some sort of severance, please never use cleaning in any form to get out of a date) We've all been stood up before and I understand it is a necessary part of the dating cycle, but it still leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Anyway, with my suddenly free night I decided to go see a cinema by myself. Pathetic huh? Actually no, you should be saying how resourceful I am at doing something at a moment's notice. Upon my arrival home that night from my solitary evening I texted my brother encouraging him to see the movie that I had just seen. In a few short minutes I received the same text from him, telling me had just got done seeing the exact same movie and that he shared my sentiments. I couldn't help but smile, his fiancee had been out doing something with her friends and he had come to the same conclusion as I had. Two brothers in separate cities going to the same movie alone at the same time. There is nothing like being on the same page as someone. There are two, maybe three people that I am on the same page with consistently, one of those people is my brother.

Kris and I have not always been on the same page, in fact we often butted heads about trivial things in our youth. This was never more apparent to me than when we traveled to the Far East together. Soon after Kris got home from his mission, we journeyed to Hong Kong together. The following situations illustrate how we were not really of the same mind set at all:
1. Crossing the street-We were not familiar with the opposite direction of traffic on our second day in the city. We were crossing a road in the Wan Chai district when on our left we saw cars coming rapidly towards us. I raced across the street and attempted to jump a four foot high railing. As I tried to clear the jump I caught my foot and fell onto the other side of the railing right on my back. The sidewalk was crowded with lunchtime goers and many stopped, looking bewildered at my folly. My brother came around the rail, which I had failed to see, instead of hopping it and laughed at my misfortune. I hadn't followed him to the easy route he had shown me and paid for it with asians enjoying my misfortune.
2. Ocean Park-This is one of the main attractions in Hong Kong. This place is an Asian version of Sea World and sits on the South Side of Hong Kong Island. As Kris and I left the park we hurried to a bus that was about to leave. Kris was lagging behind a bit and we arrived at the bus as it was about to leave. I had arrived a few seconds sooner and realized that I didn't have adequate change for the bus fair. Incensed that my brother was taking his sweet time I turned around and started quickly walking back to get change at the front office. Kris once again came lagging behind and as he reached me asked why we had come back. I told him that I needed change and he informed me that he had sufficient fare for both of us. I was irate for some reason and yelled,"why the (really bad expletive) didn't you say anything?" I then sat down by a fountain and put my head in my hands. This was about the fourth day of the trip and I think we were getting sick of each other. We weren't communicating well at all and our relationship really suffered. To this day I don't know why I was so uptight.
3. The Models-One day in Mong Kok, Kris and I were buying some counterfeit sweaters. I was looking at some bracelets and as these two girls walked by I said, "can I get a second opinion?" That led to Kris and I hanging out with two girls, one from Germany and the other from Uzbekistan, for a good portion of the day. We thought they were beautiful and indeed they were until one of them lit up a cigarette, then we just thought she was hotter. They invited us to a party that night at the Dragon Bar. I really did not want to go because I was so tired, but Kris was adamant about going. I've never seen him so determined to do something in all our lives. He tried in vain to get me to join him, but I refused. He ended up leaving around ten o'clock to meet the girls at the party. I got ready for bed and was just falling asleep when he came back into the room. I never learned how far he actually got, but I was glad that he came back home. That didn't stop me from laughing the rest of the trip about his determination in going to meet the girls though. Part of me wishes we would have gone to the party, but the story is better this way.

This trip was really fun and we had a lot of good times, but I wasn't as kind as I should have been to my brother. Instead of bringing us closer, I felt like we were so very different and there arose a small strain in our friendship. The problem was that I was not communicating with him at all, and took for granted that we would understand each other after not seeing each other for 3 and a half years. That was the time we spend without seeing each other due to our missions overlapping. Over the years we have grown a lot closer to each other and I now consider him my best friend. We talk almost every day and I find him texting me about something funny that I happen to be reading or listening to at that very moment. As he gets married in two weeks, I couldn't be prouder of my little brother. He's the man that I want to be and constantly humors me with his funny antecedents and one liners. I'm glad that we had this experience and feel that my brother and I once again understand one another.