Freedom of Education

By ERIC WADE

Freedom of Education

            Education is important. It’s more important than war. It’s more important than expensive social programs, but it’s harder yearly to get help with higher education, while public schools across the state complain that there is not enough money.

            Without quality education, America hires from outside its borders to fill high paying jobs that we’re not qualified for. Poor education creates a class system with lifelong depends on government programs. For some trying to get out of the life they were born into, the military is the only option with its promise of a college education on the chance they make it through war.

            Military men fight bravely for freedom, but freedom is much more than occupation of foreign countries. Freedom is living free of government influence. Freedom is going to a job that pays enough to survive.  Freedom is not having to check a food stamp card to see how much food can afforded.

            America has passed an age of our father and grandfathers. We are past the time when it took blood, sweat and tears to build this nation to what it is. It is past the large factories pumping out products bring this country prosperity.

            Now America is a country of coders, processes, and data-entrepreneurs, but our country is showing up late to the global game. Being secure in industrialism, we thought it would never end, but it has, and the people succeeding are the smart one—the ones with skills no longer learned on the factory floor, but in the classrooms of our country.

            With our future so deeply rooted in education, we sure have a funny way of showing that we as a country want to be the best.

             Ask an elementary school teacher about our education system, in a district with decline student population, and they will tell you about the cuts—the cuts that rob the new youth of art, music and gym. They say that what’s important are the core education of Math, English and science.

            Core studies are important, but it’s the other studies that keep kids interested in school. In some cases, the other activities may be the only thing that keeps them in school. The lack of interest in education goes beyond grade school.

            It is harder to get a good paying job without college and student debt is sky rocketing. Tuition is increasing, and interest rates on student loans are double that of 2012.  Higher education is needed more now than ever. We compete in many global markets, and the only way America will survive is by investing in the education it’s citizens.

            Unfortunately, higher education is not an option for many—it cost too much—they suffer and America suffers too, leaving behind many talented people.

            Our country and our planet are fixed in a world where the mind is more important than the body or how much we produce. In our world, it is a necessity to have an educated mind to survive, but as a country, we are not putting enough into our own education to survive well in the future. We need to invest in education, not fight wars or spend money on expensive social systems.

Ingredients Matter at Elevation Burger

By ERIC WADE

          

           Ingredients matter, 100 percent grass-fed and 100 percent organic, are on the signs all over Elevation Burger, that’s the message the restaurant wants you to see, but none of these words describes the actual experience of the burger joint.

Double Beef Burger

            A restaurant with the word burger in it should have good burgers, And it’s probably fair to expect that at a restaurant named Elevation Burger, you might actually have a heightened dining experience. That is not the case.

            Elevation Burger’s grass-fed, organic, free-range beef patties are dry, spongy, thin and overcooked. There’s a fine line between cooked and overdone, and Elevation Burger’s cooks crossed that line minutes before they pulled the patties from the grill, leaving the taste behind.

            Ingredients matter. They must matter to Elevation Burger to the point that they want to keep the ingredients for themselves. On a Burger with cheddar cheese, bacon and the standard veggies, the burger came topped with a slice of cheese, one piece of bacon, two torn pieces of light colored lettuce—not the dark, flavorful lettuce—and a thin layer of mayo. You’d expect a $9 burger to be piled high with toppings to make up for the lack of beef.

Veggie burger of unknown type

            You can’t mess up a milkshake, but my tongue would disagree. The force it takes to get hand-dipped ice cream through a straw is enough to give tongue hickies and throat cramps. Maybe some milk in the milkshake would help. To top it off, the ingredients in the chocolate, strawberry, cheesecake shake didn’t seem so fresh when the strawberries came up through the straw as tiny frozen chunks. 

            The staff greeted with enthusiasm, and the sustainably constructed building is spotless. Something the Elevation Burger has going is the sustainable business model. The floor and tables appeared to be made from a bamboo laminate. The food was delivered in metal trays, and the place mat on the bottom of the tray boasts Evaluation Burger’s recycling effort.

            The fresh-cut French fries are delicious. The thin cut fries cooked in olive oil and dashed with sea salt have a unique and great taste.

Other veggie burger of unknown type

            With the quality meat that Elevation Burger claims to have, it keep the prices about the same as Five Guys and Fries.

            If you’re into veggie burgers, Elevation Burger offers two different types. One of the veggie burgers was packed full of flavorful vegetables, pressed into a patty with what looked like rice. The other veggie burger looked like a sawdust patty mixed with rice and tasted like wheat mixed with beef flavoring.

            The problem is that the food was delivered without indication of which burger was which, so it’s a mystery of which burger was the delicious burger and which was the sawdust patty.

            The premise of Elevation Burger is great. Restaurants need to think more about the environment and the conditions of where food comes from, but Elevation Burgers overall experience is poor. So, unless you’re more concerned about the environment then you’re taste buds this place needs to be avoided.

            It’s said that Five Guys and Fries have a good burger for around the same price.