Systematic Control in School & A Look Back

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/wtf-wrong-america-public-schools-holding-disturbing-drills/
       I could only hope that these stories of systematic control are sensationalized and super exaggerated.  But then I though of my school experiences back when I was in the public school system.
       I was not a student that broke records in sports, made All-Star teams, preformed in All-State competitions,  or graduated at the very top of my class.  I was the type that did not think any of those things mattered.  I was the guy who did make it into all the top groups he tried out for; he did make top 15-10% of his class type of grades and was often asked to join military service or compete in more school sponsored competitions than he was was already a part of. But still never felt compelled (or was allowed to) do many of these activities.
       I was happy to give as much as I did and get the level of success that is did receive. But I did question a great amount of practices the school participated in:
       When police officers came to teach classes to elementary school children, why were they packing heat and wearing their bullet proof vests?  When asked they would claim it was because they could be called out to an emergency, but I'm sure that would look bad on criminal control of the populace if an officer was called away from teaching kids to stay off drugs to go on a call. Couldn't a more "on-duty" officer take care of that?
        I also questioned why the G.R.E.A.T. officer (Gang Resistance Education and Training at a school out in the country where there were always more red-necks and pick-up trucks than cars in the parking lots) would try to belittle and harass me  in front of the class when 2 years before I was my class's top student in D.A.R.E.; who went to that summer's D.A.R.E. Summer camp?  I wondered why he felt good about himself harassing an already quite, but smart-witted & well behaved student. Even the teach did not question his erroneous treatment of me in fear of losing his job.
        Why was there always a soldier or military recruiter in my school at all times (& sometimes in the classroom) trying to get us enlisted for a merchant-of-death-gig? Why did they think this working class demographic wanted to go into battle for those that had more than ţhe average student there could dream of accomplishing financially?  Why were they glorifying a middle classes pay scale as prosperity when they were asking us to potentially give our lives to a country  thirsty for war and blood shed. (I won't go into how I couldn't help feeling that the U.S. was heading for another war at the drop of a hat or bomb.) But it always made me question.  Always made me wonder what a world would be like as I grew older.
        Just 18 months after I left high school the US was pulled into a flag waving occupation of the Middle-East, few months after that I had a state trooper put a gun to my head for having a sticker on my car asking for peace (as I drove to visit my family for an Easter meal), and I saw the average college tuition triple forcing more and more underprivileged citizens into military service to be able to get a foothold on life after high school.  All this back in the Mid 90's through early 2000's.  N now we are a decade removed from that downward slide and it feels as if we will finally land in that mud-hole of a violent police state any moment.

Thoughts & Writing

       Notes for the taking.  I find it it always interesting when one gets to type and let their thoughts flow.  What a great place to type and let my thumbs speak for my mind.
        Some days I just miss writing.  I used to write for hours and hours on end, just letting anything and everything flow.  Usually I used a pen and paper and would fill entire volumes of journals.  It felt wonderful talking to myself (through a pen and paper) for hours on end and just letting myself study who I am and what made me tick.        
       There were days I had more time for that kind of thing than I do now. I was freer to just go out and take a pen and a notebook with me, drive my truck to a place that served coffee and just hang out for hours on end dressed in a suit but with nowhere important to go.  I'd just people watch, drink coffee, write, think, read and just take in a small amount of free time away from work and responsibility.
       Those exact days maybe gone, and have been removed for something with much greater meaning then self indulgence; but I would never trade those times or these.  They have just been different parts of a very busy life.  I thank you all for being a part of that life.
      

Wages & Traditions

       When did we change curency from the amount time involved to make purchases (like Biblical writings would describe) to the amount of money for each purchase?  It seems so much more poinent to speak of the time and labor involved in what it takes to scratch out a living than some abirtry number of commerce dictated by forces outside of our control.  We do have the choice to take jobs that are offered to us, or not to take them.  We can argue wages.  But in the end the range of wages for the common person aren't that extreme in their ranges.
         To claim that this product took 4 years of wages to gain ownership of means so much more than to say it cost $60,000 when one takes the time to think of what four years of labor really involves.  Do we do this because we live in a capitalist society? (Where dollars determine every move the individual makes.)
          Do those in other countries describe their purchasing piower in monetary numbers, or do they use the length of time they labored?  I'd love to find out.