Packaged Goods

A few of Jenn's collogues were talking about the problem they see as apathy amongst their students. While every one of them have pretty valid points ranging from lack of parental involvement to over-saturation of news coverage when things like the bombings, the war, political wrangling, etc exist; I wonder if the apathy might have to do with the lack of choice our society has created.

How can you choose when your choice is Starbucks, Starbucks or Starbucks? Every town you walk into is a carbon copy of the town just up the road. Everything is designed for homogeneity. My brother-in-law is helping to open up a new Dodge dealership and they have to conform to the "Dodge design." A point of example is the 2008 Presidential election. People don’t really get to choose. The candidates are all the same with a different face. Sure Hillary is a woman, Barack, is black and Edwards grew up dirt poor but in the end it all boils down to who is the bigger GeeDub hater (not a lot of depth there). On the republican side, Rudy is a star and Fred is a star and Arnold is a star, but do any of them deserve a vote from the rest of the country?

When we tell kids that they have "a choice" but then give them identical products in slightly different packages to choose from; do we honestly think they will be dumb enough to get excited about their "choice?"