If American schooling is inadequate now, just imagine how much

Hear now the words of Janet Napolitano, who in her wisdom declared: “If American schooling is inadequate now, just imagine how much more obsolete it will be when today’s kindergarten students graduate from high school in just 12 years.” These are not idle words, but a warning, sharp as the edge of a sword, that the fate of a nation rests upon how it tends the minds of its children. For in the span of twelve years, empires may rise and empires may fall, and if the youth are not prepared, they will step into a world that has outpaced them, leaving them unarmed in the battle of life.

The ancients understood that the education of the young was not mere knowledge, but the forging of the soul. Plato spoke of music and mathematics not as ornaments, but as the disciplines by which a citizen might grow wise and just. In Rome, the youth were trained in oratory and war, for the leaders knew that tomorrow’s Senate and tomorrow’s legions would be commanded by those who were now but boys. If a society neglects this sacred duty, it builds its future upon sand, and the tides of time will sweep it away.

When Napolitano speaks of inadequacy and obsolescence, she reveals a truth all too familiar to history. Consider the Ottoman Empire, once mighty, once feared across continents. For centuries it neglected the advancement of science and the renewal of its learning, while Europe, restless and ever-seeking, embraced new tools, new thoughts, new inventions. In time, the empire that had stretched across three continents found itself weakened, not by swords and cannons alone, but by ignorance, by the refusal to prepare its young for the world that was becoming. So too shall it be with any nation that closes its eyes to the changing demands of knowledge.

There is in her warning a vision of urgency: the world does not wait. Technology moves like a river in flood, reshaping valleys, cutting through mountains, and carrying with it those who dare to ride. A child who begins school today will one day inherit a world where machines think, where information races faster than lightning, where nations compete not with spears but with codes, algorithms, and innovation. If their schooling remains chained to the methods of the past, then by the time they reach maturity, they will step forth as warriors holding wooden shields against iron guns.

Yet despair not, for within this dire warning lies hope. To recognize inadequacy is the first act of wisdom; to call out obsolescence is the spark that may ignite renewal. Just as the Renaissance burst forth when Europe rediscovered the light of learning, so too can any nation rekindle its flame if it dares to reform, to innovate, to honor its children with an education worthy of their future. The words of Napolitano are not prophecy fixed in stone; they are a call to action, a trumpet sounding in the dawn, urging us to prepare before the hour is too late.

Let us therefore take the lesson clearly: the education of the young is the most sacred investment of a people. It must be living, not stagnant; ever-growing, not rigid; attuned to the present, yet bold enough to shape the future. Practical steps must follow lofty words: teachers must be equipped and honored, schools must be places of curiosity and creation, and children must be taught not merely to remember, but to think, to question, to build. Families, too, must nurture the fire of learning at home, and communities must see every child as their collective hope.

Thus, O listener, pass down this wisdom as a charge to your descendants: guard well the schooling of your children, for in their knowledge lies the strength of tomorrow. Do not permit inadequacy to harden into failure, nor allow obsolescence to steal the promise of youth. Teach them to read not only the books of today, but the unfolding book of tomorrow. And remember this eternal truth: the destiny of a people is written not in its armies nor in its riches, but in the minds and hearts of those who are yet to come.