Is Our Children Learnin’?

I’ll start with the famous quote from our distinguished former president. After all, it highlights an important question. Remember folks, in this new world order, there’s no child left behind! Readin’, writin’ and ‘rithmatic, we’ve got it all covered. Now, people keep talking about this “empathy” thing; empathy for other “living things.” But does that score well on tests? No sir! See, we need to cut things like “empathy” and “respect” from the curriculum. Life skills, emotional competency, love of fellow creatures? These are all secondary to the product of test scores. And let’s face it, the budget doesn’t allow for “secondary” learning. And animals? Do we truly even NEED empathy towards animals? I mean, when all of the children in a 3rd grade class have witnessed a dog fight, that’s pretty much a lost cause.

Don’t believe me? Let’s look at the literature. Dogs are status symbols in communities. They’re objectified creatures that bestow social power on their owners through some sort of manly osmosis. Children don’t need to care about status symbols as living creatures. They just need to know how to use them to become properly gendered within society. Is that not enough to convince you that education on animal welfare is useless? Fine. Let’s look at the general public perception of pit bulls. People view them as nothing more than evil, vicious menaces to society. People don’t trust pits around their children. They don’t believe there’s any good in the breed. Now really, can some basic education prevent such a widespread public belief? You can’t force people to change their minds after the media gets through with them.

I’ve laid out all the facts. The answer should be pretty clear - There’s no point in educating children in animal welfare. Society teaches them two things: Animals are tools and objects to be used for human gain, and animals can easily be stereotyped and classified into simple categories. We should not education children in animal empathy. We should not show them the consequences of using animals as tools. After all, there is no way that teaching them simple facts they may have been unaware of will lead them to make better choices regarding humane actions. There’s absolutely no possibility that learning compassion towards animals will teach children compassion towards other human beings. Most of all, teaching children to care about the non-human animals in the world around them will never enable them to see the world from a broader and more enlightened perspective.

No, the choice is clear. Educating children about animal welfare is a waste of time. After all, test scores can be measured for progress. Kindness and compassion is immeasurable in its rewards.