the world gap

i guess i should bend to the pressure and write about the world cup. while i am personally not a fan of soccer, this may just be the psychological effect of living with soccer nuts. but i do see how other people could like it.
what interests me about the world cup is how hard you have to work to be in it. soccer is one of those sports that you have to start training for at a very young age to be spectacularly good at. holland starts training the best players at their top notch facility at age seven. this type of thing is extremely disappointing to all the children of countries who abhor any elements of socialism, like the u.s., because in reality, to become really good at anything, you have to start training at a young age, and to start training at a young age, money needs to change hands. and in the u.s., the government doesn't pay for much.
this is the extreme inequality of talent in the united states. wealthier kids are exposed to more options and have parents who have the resources to help them explore these options. most of the prodigies of any talent started training at a young age. but if you're on welfare, you're not exactly worried about putting your kids in piano lessons.
even in an academic setting, this disparity shows. it's called the achievement gap. if you go to many events for high achieving students, you will notice that the majority are white and asian, even in racially and economically diverse places.
so how do we close these achievement gaps? obviously academics is the most important gap to close, but gaps in the creative arts should be closed as well. parents shouldn't be the only people trying to make improving the future easier for america's youth. our government should make an invest in our youth's future just like other countries. if we have to pay a bit more taxes, so be it. the extra money the coming generations will make due to improved education will more than make up the difference.
so support your local programs! lobby your government to spend money on educating kids and developing skill sets, not putting them in jail. really inspiring programs to let kids expand their horizons are being cut across the nation. to protect our future, maybe it's time to be a bit more socialist. you can get what you pay for and we're paying a lot for jails and war. where's the money for future leader's and innovators? it's time to close the gap between other countries and ourselves.