“And then they learn a lot of probably useless stuff,” the voice said. “They study languages. When I was a kid, they used to make you learn French. They called it the language of culture, which is still important to a lot of rich people. Their idea of culture is ordering fancy food in French restaurants. None of them ever got good enough to carry on a real conversation, and who actually needs to talk to French people anyway? That’s kind of tapered off. Now it’s Spanish. They’re taking over this country, so we may as well speak our new language.

“The plain truth is that if anybody in power had a brain, they wouldn’t force children to go sit indoors and be indoctrinated with the boatload of stupid and self-punishing propaganda that was made up by all the spinsters, female and male, who never learned to be strong, quick, or brave, and think those qualities don’t exist or don’t matter anymore.

“They’d be better off letting the kids run wild until the beginning of hunting season. Where we live, bobcat season opens on September 1 and lasts until the end of February. I don’t know if whoever is listening has been up close to a bobcat. Probably even if you were, you don’t know it. They’re very hard to find. But if you get one of those boys cornered and wounded, then you’ve got a reason to think. He’s not as big as a man, but the reason he doesn’t have to be bigger is because all he consists of is claws and teeth and a pair of pointy ears. A young person who is skilled enough to bag a bobcat is wasting his time in any grade below the tenth. And if you have one of those prodigies who is ready for postgraduate study, there’s also a bow-hunting season for bear. It starts a bit later, on September 23, and only lasts until November 30.

“If you want to teach a teenager that life doesn’t give you seven or eight do-overs and one-more-chances, have him go out to kill a bear with a bow and arrow. A bear is a big animal, and he’s not that hard to hit, especially when he gets up on his hind legs and waddles toward you. But he only does that when he’s too close to run away from. So he’s easy to hit, but hard to kill. You have to draw the bow back pretty far to get the power, and then keep your head and hit him in a vital spot. At that point, if he’s not dead, you are.”