Blessed are the peacemakers
In his column “Testing for War,” David Cook takes exception to a proposal to have the ASVAB test administered to students and proposes that peace studies would be more beneficial than exposure to military influences.
At one time schools did promote peace. Students recited an old passage “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”. But such forgiving was banned because it might promote religion. Well, it promoted an unstylish religion, not the climate change religion or similar cause of the day.
He infers the military is the antithesis of peacemaking. Fortunately our military, particularly the individual U.S. serviceman, is the greatest force for peace in the world. However politicians have used this force in poorly defined missions with no national interest.
If he means that schools should not focus on faddish causes but on fundamentals that prepare for the challenges of this century, then I agree. Let’s have curriculum that produce graduates who can read, write, understand math to know what deficit means and understand the constitution. Then we might elect politicians that use our military as peacekeepers when the absence of peace would be a threat to our values. From that same antiquated text: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”
DANIEL McINTIRE, Ooltewah