Ed-Uh-Cay-Shun

You may remember my election motto: "Building a better future - and having fun doing it!" Today, we achieved a huge milestone.

First, as usual, some background information. The IT workers union deal turned out less unfortunate than I expected, as it left us with some extra money in the union subsidies fund. Of course, as my mom (hello mom!!) always says: You can spend your money, or wait for them to take it away from you. (I tell her: mom - now I am "them", but she won't listen)

So of course the hawking starts. "We need moooore police and more weapons!" they said. "There are some people who still are off worse than others, we need to increase social security and health care funds". "We could get the education system reform rolling early". Jessica also said something, but I can't remember (it didn't contain anything compulsory I guess).

From the media, you know I opted for the education system reform. Here is why:

Even if in four years you decide that I am a loathable leader, incompetent, not filling your purse fast enough, or cutting down to many trees, I want to leave you something. A long term investment that will show its positive results in maybe ten or fifteen years. It's not money, but bright minds.

Taken alone, a human being is a sparkling fountain of curiosity. Everything must be probed and poked, turned around or turned into service. As a group, however, many people seem to lose that spark. In the last decades, I have seen a great decline in what I call appreciation of intelligence. We marvel at athletic bodies, at the beautiful hip swing of a fleeting social butterfly, even knowledge is acceptable if it wins you a million rivets in a TV show. But intelligence, the process of taking things apart purely in your mind, and putting them together again, and winning understanding in that process, does not seem desirable anymore.

Why is that so? Many reasons can be found. Let me count a few.
A century ago, for many people education was the only way to get out of their miserable, barbarian living conditions, always at the brink of death by poverty. If they couldn't help themselves, they saved their last rivets to send their children to school, so at least they have a chance for a better life. Happily, we now have built a country where noone needs to be afraid of starving, noone needs to live in a slum that crushes every blossom of mental beauty under mindless violence and mindnumbing work.

We have also developed an appreciation of equality. It started a few centuries ago with a great idea: Same laws for everybody. Now that we are close, close enough, to this lofty goal, we are in the region of refinement: everybody should be treated the same, have the same chances, starting conditions, etc. This is a great ideal, no doubt.

But the truth is, we are not the same. A great mind once perceived that "Equality is the death of equity". Meaning: Everybody starts with different abilities, preferences and challenges. If we put people with these different starting conditions into the same game, they end up differently. Some people will have it easier to rise to the top, while others will have to spend all their life struggling so they don't sink to the very bottom. That's a law of nature, and unlike manmade laws, those of nature are immutable. We can't make a decree that all people are equal. In all fairness, we can, but that doesn't change a thing.

(Maybe one day we understand the laws of nature well enough so we can use them in our favor and give everybody the same starting conditions. However, do we really what this? I am not sure about my thoughts, and I don't know what would be best for you, my people.)

What does this have to do with Intelligence?
It's one of the last strongholds of inequality. If you want a muscular, adorable body, you just need to put in the willpower to train every day. If this doesn't work for you, there are pills that make this terribly easy. If you desire an appearance that makes people feel all warm and fuzzy and full of desire, there are pills, surgery and photoshop. If you want to know the first president of Zommer, there are books, TV shows, and the vast realms of the internet, all available for an incredibly small fee. But ah! intelligence. We don't know any concotion or operation that makes you suddenly smarter. We know a few things that help it, and many things that hurt it, but we don't control it. So parts of society see extremely intelligent people as abnormal, as freaks, and some of the bright minds respond by hiding it.

With the Education System Reform, we want to create a nourishing ground where intelligence, knowledge and understanding can grow freely, grow rich and grow strong. Intelligence is a gift much like a strong body: turning that gift into becoming a renowned athlete requires a lot of work, dedication, and sweat.

But what about the less gifted? If you aren't a genius, will you be cast into the abyss of powerty, much like a weak body did in medieval times?

No. Education will be for everybody. I want to raise the brightest minds of these lands, but I also want to give everybody the chance to learn what they need to take control over their life. Bright minds can picture the future, but we also need strong hands to build it. And you will need all your brains to keep up with our brightest! That is my promise.

Experience shows that education is the best weapon against poverty, against violence, for a healthier lifestyle. So the money we spent today was not only invested in education, but also in law and order, social and health care. You may not see the effects today, and all you will see tomorrow is our "brains" media campaign promoting appreciation of intelligence. But this is only a tiny part. The true work will unfold in the next month and over the years. You will see it firsthand if you have a child in a public school.