Government Schools Failed Me

I am still perusing in my spare time the archives of Jeff Cooper's Commentaries (please beware the sketchy content on the rest of that website) and I found this entry in March 2002:

"Well, they finally got Jonas Savimbi. There was possibly the greatest unsung hero of the Cold War. Savimbi fought the Communists to a standstill in Angola for decades, with no help from us. He was not "African-American" (unsatisfactory term). He was, on the contrary, a first-string African, and he will go down historically with Chaka as one of the great heros of his people. I never had the honor of meeting him, but I got pretty close on two occasions, and I regret the loss."

I never heard of Jonas Savimbi before today, and a man whom I consider to have been well-educated wished to have met him, counting him a great hero.

Cooper also came to the conclusion that training was to fit one for a trade, whereas education is to make you better company for yourself.

I am reminded of the words of the song

"When I look back on all the crap I learned in High School / It's a wonder I can think at all. . ."

I am sometimes astonished at how poor my government-provided schooling was (and I went to "good" schools! ). The goals of the people who instituted "public schooling" in America have been met, to the detriment of the country.

Right now, to my great regret, the only time I can get any reading in is when I am alone in the *ahem* throne room. When my children are finally old enough to allow me time to resume my reading, I will have quite a backlog of things to learn about. I am looking forward to it. There is a great deal of catching up to do (having largely wasted the first 17 years of my life in government training camps).

I hope to be well-educated before I die. Along the way, I hope to also gather several degrees, including the engineering degree I am currently trying for.

Note that these two goals are largely unrelated.


Jonas Savimbi, Hero of Freedom