ACCORDING to Chinese astrology, 2008 will be a great year because it is the Year of the Rat, the animal which is first on the Chinese astrology kingdom. Not only that, 2008 is supposed to be a great year because the numbers 008 are all written facing up. But sadly though, January 2008 has been marred with calamities. There were the deaths of Brad Renfro and Heath Ledger. There is a writers’ strike in Hollywood, canceling the Golden Globes. The worldwide market is tumbling down and there is an imminent recession in the United States causing the Federal Reserve to make the longest interest rate cut in its history. There is also an imminent bird flu pandemic and one Australian futurist says that an Ice Age will sweep the globe 40 years from now. All that calls for drastic measures and we cannot definitely rely on astrology alone. We need education.

Whether you like it or not, values education is still education. Sleeping pills are supposed to make people sleep, not as depressants or stimulants. That is what Heath Ledger learned too late. It was a pity because he’s got family already, a very young daughter with actress Michelle Williams. Ledger’s death is not isolated. It has just been underscored because he is famous. However, thousands of young people in the United States and in the developed world today are hooked on drugs. And it’s not cocaine that they’re after anymore because it’s illegal. They’d rather prefer over-the-counter drugs like sleeping pills because they’re easier to obtain. That’s where values education comes in. Whether you are in the United States or Spain, if you’re high school curriculum puts emphasis on values education, it is more likely that the drug problem will subside. Colombia will soon definitely lose its market. And that is why I admire Barack Obama. In a recent appearance before the Tyra Banks Show, he said that he will give emphasis on values education going true to his slogan that his campaign is banking on change.

If Obama wins, he is surely taking off what the No Child Left Behind Act signed by President Bush in 2002 has missed. The No Child Left Behind Act was certainly noble. It made English mandatory in public high school curricula nationwide for our non-English speaking youngsters. And there are certainly lots of them – the French-speaking parts of New Orleans, the Hispanics all over the union and of course, and the children of immigrants from various continents. The No Child Left Behind Act also has a provision to forgive college student loans to those who can go to two tours of duty to Iraq and Afghanistan, to those who will be teaching in public schools and to those who will be employed in accredited charity institutions. That was really groundbreaking. Sadly, they have failed to account for values education. And it is certainly what we need in today’s world.