TV is so under utilized!

It's in virtually every household and yet we fill its programming with so little. Hey, relax, I'm not slamming Ellen, or Dr. Phil or game shows. TV is an entertainment venue, so be entertained if you can live your life productively as well.

What needs a boost are the educational opportunities. Daily, main stream, programs that apply to high school, college, trade and arts, everything! The 'daily' and 'main stream' are the parts I see we're missing. We have specialty programs like Nova, Disney, college PBS, etc. And I love these programs. They inform as well as entertain.

But where are the structured, relevant, productive, useful programs? Ones that improve your everyday work life. Or your everyday emotional life?

And think of the contests we could have! Want a couple of million high school kids hitting the history books for a month? Hold a contest where the top 10 winners get to meet the President! And the President signs 'atta boy' certificates for all who complete the course.

Paper exercise!

Write down 10 'courses' you would like take if they were free. Yes, 10. Spend some time on this; make the courses meaningful to you. If you always wanted to learn Japanese, write it down. Want to learn how the brain works, write it down. Interested in how a city government runs, write it down.

1. You'll be taking them at night, 30 minutes to an hour, Monday through Friday.
2. Course information is available at your local library and/or post office or through the mail and Internet.
3. Your input helps determines what courses are created and viewed. Want a course in US Presidential history, send it in.
4. Keep your own damn notebook and articles. You are a grownup, take responsibility for these classes and track them yourself.
5. If you 'want' to learn, you will. If you only 'wish' to learn, you're wasting every one's time. (Sorry, soapbox just showed up and I had to say it ;-)
6. You take it from here, there's so much more we could do.