Boston Legal

My TiVo is clogged. I'm trying to watch some of the shows that I've been saving. Some of the television shows that I enjoy watching, I like to watch slowly to savor since I don't want them to end.

Boston Legal is one of my favorite shows. I just finished one episode, "No Brains Left Behind" 2007. I love the statistics sprinkled by James Spader playing Alan Shore the litigator with heart who constantly skates the edge of being held in comtempt of court.

Here are some alarming facts of the consequences of the Iraq War and how the money spent could have been spent to better use: 450 billion was spent on the Iraq War, 650 billion counting the invasion of Afghanistan, 2 trillion if you add all the indirect costs of war. This would have paid for free health insurance for every uninsured family--124 billion. It could have converted every single car to run on ethenol--68 billion. It could have given a primary education for every child on the planet--30 billion. It could have ended hunger in America--a mere 7 billion.

In this show two studies of National Geographic were revealed to determine the literacy of young Americans. They found that half couldn't locate NY on a US map. Even after Katrina, 1/3 couldn't find Louisiana. 29% couldn't find the Pacific Ocean, 58% didn't know where Japan is, 69% couldn't find England. Out of all the other countries tested, the U.S. came in 2nd to last, ahead of Mexico.

No Child Left Behind is tackled in this show: less than 40% of high school seniors can read proficiently. Mississippi on a national test showed that only 18% of the kids could read proficiently so they made a special Mississippi test so that 89% could read proficiently. I think this is done more often than people know. No one wants to tackle the hard challenges. Our mantra becomes cover up, change the figures, and claim victory. Is that what we really want in this country? We only suffer the consequences and mop up the mess later.

Who was the shining example in education? Marva Collins from Chicago who headed all her students, that no one wanted on the South side of Chicago, straight to college. Every child can win [as long as they are not brain damaged]. Every child deserves a chance. Every child deserves to have a future and have someone advocate for them to have a place to shine. Our kids are much smarter than we think. A baby in the first six months of life is capable of great learning and it is rare to see anyone teaching babies. How sad that we ignore this time when children are a sponge for all knowledge.