schools, prisons, and soldiers

Sara Robinson is really good. I read four articles by her today, all of them interesting. (Yes, I was avoiding something, why do you ask?) I don't really know what a social futurist is or whether it's a type of academic training that makes any sense, but her writing on the FLDS is worthwhile, especially if you have any kind of personal interest in what happens when Mormons go nuts.

However. What you should actually read is the one about the GI Bill - her basic take is that without good incentives to join the military, it will rapidly decline in quality, so that no one with any better options will join. You end up with chaos and violence, no discipline, and officers being unable to hold it down - you know, kind of like the public schools in bad neighborhoods. Like prison, this kind of situation will breed gangs, some racist, some religious, some based on drug-running and other economic activities. Those soldiers get out and they bring it all back home, turning most of the country into something closely resembling the neighborhood where I teach.

While I love my students, this is not the world you want to live in.