Loca Oprah and Loco Leno recently hosted some brainy children on Winfrey’s Wonderland, pushing Jay’s latest book, and showing the public how amazing, adorable, etc. some kids are…as they simultaneously demonstrated their own Virtues vis-a-vis little ones. I simply want to rent out my five-year-old Marcel locally. Maybe counter their craziness.

He doesn’t do imitations of dinosaurs whilst listing taxonomic details for the Upper Cretaceous Period –as one under-ten tv dudie attempted to do while flattering OW (likening her to T.Rex in terms of popularity!)–, but he has quite a lot to offer youngsters his age…and others respecting the social sciences.

I’m thinking…maybe some school system might have a budget for his tour de force, if he tones down certain knowledge he’s gained. I really do think his tender age would have quite an impact on the geo-challenged, the socially unconscious. Given the fact that he knows something interesting about each country from Kazakhstan to Kiribati and beyond.

Cello, as I affectionately call him whenever I want to give him a chocolate made from Côte d’Ivoire cocoa, doesn’t do patriotic recitations of the Declaration of Independence from memory…or in any other way. Nay, he has his say each day with simple rundowns of conundrums in Africa…and other neglected territories. He knows capitals, but he has no interest in having anyone dote on by rote antics. Doesn’t go for the easy clap.

In addition to effortlessly lapping up the locations of all countries on earth, he’s into all the de rigueur geographic elements that everyone’s obliged to study…interesting/important info that few retain. More importantly, however, he has a sense of things like Liberia not really being a country, diamonds being dug out of Sierra Leone at an unconscionable cost, and the scam involved –for want of a better expression at the moment– of Hawaii being part of the U.S.

All of which brings those who will give him an ear into the realm of the History Not Taught in Our Schools…and related matters. (1) Potentially.

Remember, he’s not gonna be six till the seventh of February.

Quite a product, my Marcel. The trouble is…I don’t know what to charge. And I really don’t want to rend his heart and soul.

Footsienote:

(1) “Another important aspect of the problem that needs to be understood and addressed by the peace movement is the ongoing militarization of the educational system that is being driven by the military’s push to recruit. The ideal of democratic, civilian control is literally under assault as our schools are increasingly invaded by programs that teach military values, instead of critical thinking, to future generations of voters and government leaders. Programs like Jr. ROTC have taken over entire high schools in some cities and now have 500,000 students enrolled as “cadets” nationwide. Units of the Young Marines have spread into hundreds of middle schools, and there is a growing network of other military/school partnerships that propagandize students throughout the K-12 system.

Teaching military values in civilian schools is not just grooming a few children to become future soldiers. It is already affecting the general public’s increased acceptance of war as a valid response to the perception of attack. It is numbing the minds of civilians so that they do not ask even the most obvious questions when the government says we must invade another country. It is turning the country further to the right and making it difficult for people to see the direct link between such choices and the lack of healthcare, safe housing, rewarding jobs, and good educations for everyone here at home.”

The above two paragraphs are from Rick Jahnkow’s “In Need of a Proactive Peace Movement” (http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=1&ItemID=9521). Although I have many reservations about the article, I thought I should indulge readers who cry out for a little more straight talk than what I provide as a rule. Anyone who can’t see the link between military recruiting and what our celebrities do routinely in conjunction with our school systems deserves help. And on that note, my “Vexilloid Children” (http://oxtogrind.org/archive/105) might be a good supplementary read here.

Father of the Year, Richard Oxman, can be reached at rmoxman@yahoo.com. His recent writing is at www.oxtogrind.org. Marcel is willing to give a telephone performance to select callers…if anyone wants to play Mabel Dodge to his D.H. Lawrence.