Growing up in the ’80s, there was always the idea of the Russians and the Cold War looming. It was apart of my elementary career to be aware of “The Red Scare.”

One of my best friends Linnie and I used to play roles of Russian spies during recess and try to kidnap all of the girls for our tactical takeover.

Keeping all of this foolish child’s play in mind, I would be the first to admit that the USSR was a probably a legitimate threat to our country’s well-being.

Now fast forward to 2002. Our country is in the middle of this attack on terrorism.

We have our president going around saying that he wants Saddam Hussein’s head (which may be warranted). We keep on pushing for building more nuclear and military units.

The thing we should invest in more is education.

We have enough missiles, lasers and tanks to blow the world up a thousand times.

But, like a kid in a candy store, we still want more, more, more: even when we have children and young adults who are not getting a proper education.

It’s like the UNCF (United Negro College Fund) slogan says, “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” This slogan is indicative of the way society is run and the hegemony is upheld many times.

Let’s take, for the sake of argument, that one nuclear missile costs $20 million (including research, raw materials, labor, etc.).

Now, say we didn’t build that missile and decided to use the money to upgrade the standard of education in areas that need it, such as areas of New York.

Now taking this theory, think about if we decided not to fire just 20 missiles at our Middle Eastern foes and decided to put that money back into the wealth of our children. Just think about the improvement in the lives of the people receiving better education, their families, and even those around them.

Education gives someone hope to believe there is something more than what they see before them.

Education and the expansion of the mind is every individual’s given right.

The other side could say, “Well, we need to protect ourselves from outsiders to protect the American way of life.”

How can an individual who has never had the same opportunities in education as another be able to have a shot at the American way of life?

A person can die mentally well before they die physically.

Are we using more military force to protect American life or protect the hegemonic order?

Who has something to lose in this situation, the haves or the have-nots?

I am not saying every person should have a certain way of life. However, I feel every person should have the opportunity to have a good life by having fully enriched proper education. We may be losing a cure for cancer that lies inside the mind of a young person who has not had the proper education.

Honestly, I was educated, for the majority of time, in private schools.

One, because I am Catholic.

Two, because my mom didn’t trust the public school system I was living in at the time to educate me to be the fine, handsome columnist you read every Friday. (Just kidding.)

Now some people probably couldn’t really give a damn if defunct school systems received improvement (many politicians and others), considering their children go to school with some Spelling family member.

I, like everyone else, am a true believer that taxes suck, they are too high and I want to keep money in my pocket.

But, at the same merit, I have no problem in paying higher taxes as long as they are going to take care of the right things — education being one of them.

Some struggling schools are overcrowded, undermanned, sometimes dangerous, have old and inaccurate books and horrible facilities. Is that a place where a student would really care about learning and see the power within themselves?

There are plenty of people who have made it out of these conditions I have mentioned, and I applaud them wholeheartedly, but what are these few successful students to the majority who have fallen by the wayside?

I am not saying our country should just lay down all their defenses and we should just all be well-educated dead people.

But crime potentially would go down because of the skills people would be able to obtain from education.

There are always going to be criminals in our society but wouldn’t a person be deterred more from crime if they had something to lose?

I know we live in a capitalistic society, but wouldn’t it be nice if everyone started at the same spot in the race?

Darryl Frierson

is a senior in journalism

and mass communication from St. Loius, Mo.