Tag Archive for: Otto Warmbier

Frat Boy’s Visit to North Korea Speaks Volumes About Our Education System

Kids coming out of our public educational systems and some private schools are not being taught the bedrock truths of liberty versus the political systems based on control, like Socialism and Communism. Regrettably, parents haven’t instilled an appreciation of America and her foundational truths into a generation who soon will be leading this country, and therefore have left them ignorant decision makers.

The product of these failures is evident in the life of a young University of Virginia frat boy who decided to go to one of the most dangerous countries and allegedly misbehave without considering the ramifications. Assuming the parents picked up the tab, makes them equally responsible for encouraging naïve choices.

According to The Daily Mail, Otto Warmbier, 21 years old, allegedly stole a banner of a political slogan from the restricted, staff-holding area of the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, while touring during New Years with the Young Pioneers Tours based in China. Much to his astonishment, the North Korean government wasn’t laughing. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in a prison camp for the prank.

Maybe Otto wasn’t taught that all countries aren’t like America when it comes to human rights.The majority of kids these days are learning instead what is wrong with America, and how we should tolerate other cultures instead of being proud of who we are as a country.  In reality, aside from the obvious abortion issue, we actually value basic human rights.

No, what our kids learn in school and universities around the country is an affinity for all cultures except for our own, all other forms of economies except for capitalism. All other religions besides Christianity and Judaism are to be revered and emulated.

If you ask most high school and college age kids these days what they think about our country, you definitely don’t get a sense of pride in America or the appreciation for a capitalist society. Many kids have a leaning towards Bernie Sanders and his socialism.

They believe in giving to the “greater good” when in fact many don’t believe in a foundation of truth that is Biblically based, and couldn’t tell you what the greater good actually is, but these kids think it would be fine to give the majority of their paychecks to it so that everyone will be equal. It certainly sounds like Karl Marx in Reflections of a Young Man on The Choice of a Profession. In it he stated,

“History calls those men the greatest who have ennobled themselves by working for the common good.”

Our educational system has produced  a generation of young people who aren’t prepared for the real world. Teachers are inhibited from bringing up many issues and current events because it leads into “gray” areas that aren’t allowed to be discussed because of political correctness. As a result our students don’t understand the reality of what is occurring across the globe, not to mention in their own back yards.

Ohio governor, and Republican presidential candidate, John Kasich stated this in a letter about Otto,

“American citizens must be allowed to travel abroad without the risk of being arrested arbitrarily and then held hostage for the purposes of ransom, the forced reopening of diplomatic negotiations or acts designed to antagonize the United States,”

Tell me Kasich, why would any country, who isn’t our ally, be expected to treat an American citizen with respect and dignity? The North Koreans are known for their lack of human rights, and if one chooses to travel in their country and allegedly break the law, it increases their risk of being detained. I’d go further to say that our country has lost much respect throughout the world  in the last decade which makes foreign travel riskier in many countries.

North Korea doesn’t consider the individual and his God given freedom, but only the collective and their responsibility to the State. The DPRK is not America, but in time with those in leadership positions who think working for the greater good is the direction we should go, we just might become like the Communist State.

Our education may be failing to equip young people to face an increasingly hostile world, but parents can counter that by continuing or immediately beginning to teach them not only to embrace the freedom we still have as Americans, but that our liberty is worth fighting to preserve.

General Douglas MacArthur’s title of his speech to the people of Japan on May 3rd, 1948 certainly rings true today.

“No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom, unless he be vigilant in its preservation.”

If, and when, Otto Warmbrier ever returns home, he will probably agree.