Big ugly vicious plotbunny

[valarltd]

So I was reading Late Great American Republic and i was hit with a plotbunny.

This would let me write my post-apocalypse story without the need for 1) playing in Stephen King's Stand universe or 2) actually killing everyone.

The author of the piece has neglected a lot of survival strategies. He's chronicling a political event, after all. I realize that the average person isn't going to think "garden, homeschool, solar oven, bicycle, hunting season" when reading that.

But the line about "The literacy rate plummetted after the schools were closed" struck me as all wrong. Around here, homeschooling is a big movement. I can see parents who know homeschool families saying "Would you teach my kids too? I'll pay you in vegetables."

And he seems to neglect the lessons of history, in particular Rome. When city life is unsustainable, people will flock to the countryside. They will find someone to work for in exchange for protection. I can see America as he describes it becoming a totalitarian feudal state.

Stupid killer plotbunny from Hell.

Comments

[luminosity]

Having homeschooled my kids for a time, I agree with you. Survival depends on being able to handle abstract concepts, which is what reading is. I can totally see veggies for vocab.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

I can see a lot of parents, esp in our area, not doing it tho'. We have everything from dedicated homeschoolers to first-generation literate around here. My husband has parent teacher conference registers with "X"s because of illiteracy.

I think there would be a lot that teach at home, and a lot that disdain learning in favor of survival.