Those With Bricks for Brains Want Another Brick in the Wall

Education Is the Key to a Better World

We don't need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

Yeah, I listened to this song by Pink Floyd. It was probably my favorite at the time when it first came out many moons ago. It was, perhaps, a message I failed to absorb. Oh, the turns we take in life, some of them planned some accidental. I spent much of this summer teaching, and I will have a full load teaching this Fall semester too. The end and the beginning of semesters are very demanding times, hence the sparse blogging here. But, last night I caught PBS Wide Angle’s “Back To School.” Very fascinating stuff but it also showed a very sad reality, whose connection to America’s security is not understood by the powers that be.

Well, I think we need leaders that are truly educated, and inquisitive of the world outside their own circle to begin with [people have different size circles of interest & concern]. But, nobody has died from ..education! That’s the retort an ignorant person may utter. However, the reality shows that the lack of education is a silent killer! Education opens up opportunities for the individual who in turn may enjoy a better & longer life. Kids that receive even an elementary education are less likely to die of AIDS—this dreadful disease that’s highly preventable but still grows by leaps & bounds because of ignorance, governments' incompetence and stupidity. Educating young girls is even more important, because they could grow into women & mothers who have smaller & healthier families. Elevating the position of the women in the world isn’t only the moral thing to do, but it’s utilitarian too! Unfortunately, 60% of children out of school today are girls, with higher numbers in the impoverished regions.

There are 100 million kids that should be in school but many won’t every see the inside of a classroom. In Africa [Africa is not a ..country like President Bush once said] more kids are out of school than there are students in the US. Afghanistan—a country we “liberated”—some 75% of girls will drop out of school before 5th grade! There is an undeniable correlation between the socio-economic position of women and a country’s political & economic progress. Unfortunately, most of humanity today doesn’t live in the 21st century! Much of it, still resides in the Dark Ages, or even farther in the past. Social discrimination, sex bias, superstition, are some of the reasons girls receive little if any education. But, the boys don’t fare much better in a poor country. These kids come from extreme poverty and their parents cannot afford to educate them—either they can’t pay the nominal fees for attending school or they need the kids for manual labor to support their families. So, incentives to the poorest families are needed too, along with resources to build schools and hire more teachers. [In many classrooms in the Third World today the teacher-student ratio is 1 to 70-90!]

Now, why should we bother? We’ve got the terrorists to worry about, right? Well, incredibly the money needed to improve world-wide education is not all that much. The estimates are between $5 and $10 billion a year. The UK has committed $1.5 billion a year towards this goal. The US, having an economy 6 times bigger, has only given a few hundred million. We can certainly do much better, and we should ask the other wealthy nations to do the same. We’re spending $2 billion a week in Iraq today, $300-400 billion already, with a total tag estimated at $1 trillion! This is to fight terrorists over there we’re being told. I believe the US could carry a lot more favor all over the world by being the leader in aid and in improving the human condition. The Marshall Plan, post WWII, helped western Europe & Japan and won many friends and brought about stable, non-aggressive democracies. The US won so much by giving & helping the victims of the 2005 Tsunami in Indonesia. American doctors are still helping the victims of last year’s earthquake in Pakistan where the Taliban was/still is present but the locals only know what they experience: the kindness, altruism, and humane treatment by a few conscientious Americans.

Gene Sperling sums it up well, “So, what I would say to people is that this is a small investment in a healthier, more peaceful world. If the United States leading the charge in universal education prevented even one small conflict somewhere in the next 20 years, it would more than repay what we've spent. It would be a good investment.”

Who’s listening though? Those who hadn’t had any interest in the outside world and hadn’t been outside our borders until they became president? Or, the ones who have a unsophisticated, sophomoric attitude of a bully who wants to butt heads? Or, the ones who have no sense of history (other than their own) and don’t understand the dynamics and the people of a country they invade? Or, how they use Newspeak to shove a policy of “No Child Left Behind” that results in many American children getting an inferior education?

Let's have a culture of life indeed. But, let's have a reasonable, educated & scientific approach to it. We liberals do value life and want to enhance it when it makes a difference, not when two cells meet! We want to bring children into a better world and give them the means & opportunities to realize their own full potential. What makes us humans different than the animals is that we have a mind. The human condition can be dramatically improved when the mind is fed too.

Why do we have this kind of politics today? It makes "sense" to have more ..bricks, if you consider the interests of those who hold power & wealth. Look at the dumbing down of our society. Look at the language our “leaders” use. It’s very simplistic (differs from simple), loaded with references meant to trigger the most crude emotions of fear and anger! And, if you look carefully, you’ll see who’s got a better rational argument in asking for your vote! But, in order to be a good ..bullsh*t detector, you must know stuff… be an engaged & active citizen! Heck, I am an adult, content with performing the tasks of a thinking mature person… so, please Mr. President, treat me like an adult, don’t speak down to me! Unless, of course, you’re not able to! I understand… Maybe, you’re looking for people with bricks for brains!

I like this Pink Floyd’s song. Yet, I don’t want to be another brick. It’s a choice, I’m glad I made it; I also appreciated the opportunities available to me! Education gave me broader horizons to explore & imagine, and to better understand the world around me! I’d like to return the favor.

"Education should have two objects: first, to give definite knowledge, reading and writing, language and mathematics, and so on; second, to create those mental habits which will enable people to acquire knowledge and form sound judgments for themselves." Bertrand Russell