The “young folk” of Nazi Germany were prized and treasured. Disciplined as well, but then it was a much harder world back then. Much of the world was in the middle of the Great Depression, and Germany suffered the worst of all.
One loaf of bread cost a million marks in 1929.
If you want the next generation to survive, much less excel, in such a world they need to learn discipline, strength, honor, unity, family, country.
The Modern ADD Epidemic
The symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) are precisely the same as “mountain sickness” – the oxygen deprivation and carbon dioxide poisoning caused by the effects of high altitudes on the human body.
The symptoms begin with lack of affect, drowsiness, and lethargy – and go all the way up to psychosis, even death for prolonged exposure.
The Building Code requires that the air conditioning system change out the entire volume of air in a classroom full of kids with 100% fresh outside air every 15 minutes. If this is not done then – viola! – you have oxygen deprivation and carbon dioxide poisoning, in short order.
Bill Clinton’s $1 Trillion Plan
President Clinton wanted to spend $1 trillion fifteen years ago to retrofit schools around the country. Even that would have just gotten them current with the 1990 Building Code.
The money was never spent, and all those schools still aren’t even current with the 1990 Building Code. Air quality standards are even stricter now.
School Board Biz
School districts have been on a cost-cutting rage for 20 years now. They’ve virtually eliminated P.E. classes (the one chance during the school day for kids to get all fueled up with fresh air) to save money. Expensive biology, science, and chemistry classes are on the block, too – can’t have anybody figuring out the connection between ADD and fresh air.
Air conditioning is a huge expense in a school budget, and treating outside air is over half of that expense. Closing one outside air damper is all it takes to cut off the fresh air entirely – reducing the AC bill by half.
Other than a vague “stuffiness” in the room, there are no apparent signs of insufficient fresh air. That only comes years later when the incidence of ADD has gone from a total rarity to a commonplace condition escalating at epidemic proportions.
Conclusion
One can only ask if we’re putting school district funds to proper use. Should our priorities be:
- Teacher pay, benefits, and retirement
- Athletic competition with other schools – football, basketball, baseball, and track
- Breakfast and supper for needy students, even supervised after-school daycare
It’s bad enough to eliminate P.E. classes, when studies show that regular exercise improves student test scores more than anything else. Not to mention the 1/3rd of kids these days who are overweight and even obese.
The saddest part is that there are no legal requirements that force schools to provide enough fresh air to classrooms.
Where’s the Gestapo when you really need them?