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archives of january, 2004
the archives contain old posts from the home page.
on education
as a high school student in guyana, i thought
my future would play out this way: write c.x.c., go to america,
get a big degree, get a big job, get big money and live big
in america, now and then returning to guyana for vacations.
now, i realise that that plan was programmed into me by television,
parents and other american influences. the driving force in
that plan is money.
on the last day of september in 2000 i came to america as i
had done a few times before on parent-sponsored school vacations
(i even briefly attended a brooklyn public school around 1994).
this time was different because i was coming to attend college
and, according to the plan, wouldn't return to guyana until
i made it big. over the past three years that i've been here,
i visited guyana thrice.
since i arrived in 2000, i've had constant internet access.
an abundant source of free information, the internet exposed
me to so much truth. i was moved by how much i didn't know,
but really surprised at how little _everyone_ knew or chose
to ignore. in high school, i remember having characteristics
of a conscious revolutionary--like refusing to follow the majority
or buckle under peer pressure--but the wealth of information
that the internet offered allowed me to flourish.
going to college in america and being exposed to all this information
have changed the way i look at education. among the many other
paths that we are raised to follow, institutionalised education
is one of them.
for me, institutionalised education is any of the following:
-
systemised, unadapting, static education that
has been mass-produced for the masses.
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a pre-mapped schedule of teaching that ignores
the individual student's learning tendencies and thought processes.
-
schooling systems where the ability to memorise
facts is graded and praised over genuine understanding and
acceptance of information.
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a regular profit-seeking business disguised
as a fundamental and indispensable social institution.
from my experience, the worst of institutionalised education
is manifested after high school.
i believe that if one has enough self-discipline and desire,
one can educate oneself more thoroughly in much less time, at
a much lower cost, and with relevant knowledge that brings the
most worthwhile benefits.
the progressive rap duo dead-prez expressed their dissatisfaction
with education in america in their song "they schools".
the track sounds the alarm against schools that teach irrelevant
and misleading knowledge:
I tried to pay attention but
they classes wasn't interestin'
They seemed to only glorify the europeans
Claimin africans were only three-fifths a human being
…
School is like a 12 step brainwash camp
They make you think if you drop out you ain't got a chance
…
Cuz for real, a mind is a terrible thing to waste
And all y'all high-class niggas with y'all nose up
Cuz we droppin this shit on this joint, fuck y'all
We gon speak for ourselves
Knowhatimsayin? cuz see the schools ain't teachin us nothin
They ain't teachin us nothin but how to be slaves and hardworkers
For white people to build up they shit
Make they businesses successful while it's exploitin us
Knowhatimsayin? and they ain't teachin us nothin related to
Solvin our own problems, knowhatimsayin?
Aint teachin us how to get crack out the ghetto
They ain't teachin us how to stop the police from murdering
us
And brutalizing us, they ain't teachin us how to get our rent
paid
Knowhatimsayin? they ain't teachin our families how to interact
Better with each other, knowhatimsayin? they just teachin us
How to build they shit up, knowhatimsayin? that's why my niggas
Got a problem with this shit, that's why niggas be droppin out
that
Shit cuz it don't relate
public and private colleges in america are run like any other
corporate venture, with the primary goal to maximise customer,
student, spending. there's always this fee and that fee. no
opportunity is missed to require a fee: registration fee, graduation
fee. application fee, application processing fee, application
processing cancellation fee.
but in america's capitalist society, unnecessary consumption
is encouraged because it strengthens the economy. and in what
is supposed to be a democracy, the people have very little say.
the government can do whatever it likes, even if this contradicts
the will of the majority, because the government in collaboration
with the media can make a new majority that goes along with
any idea, the inevitability of which was already established
by the powers that be, whether that idea is to wage war against
iraq, to impose capital punishment upon saddam hussein, or to
require a $40 college application fee. euphemisms and blatant
lies grease the wheels: "operation: iraqi freedom",
"bringing saddam to justice" and "educational
enhancement revenue", respectively.
concerning war, opposers utilise a stirring quote of herman
goering at the nuremberg trials in 1946:
Of course the people don't
want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who
determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag
the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship,
or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice,
the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.
That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being
attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism,
and exposing the country to greater danger. It works the same
in every country.
| the
privatisation of, and the involvement of corporations in
the american school system turns the learning environment
into an arena for profit, often marked by the installation
of food and beverage vending machines, and corporate advertisements
in schools. this picture captures the intrusion of businesses
into schools. |
click to enlarge
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from a guyanese-revolutionary perspective, it's dishonourable
to pursue a degree abroad, essentially for money later on. i
believe that you don't need a degree to be aware of, and to
bring positive change to your society, and furthermore, as a
revolutionary on the frontlines--passionately referred to as
the revolutionary vanguard by che guevara--it is my responsibility
to set the example, to demonstrate that a college degree, or
any institutionalised education in fact, is not a requisite
to understand and develop your body, your mind, and your environment--locally,
nationally and globally. i must set the example that a foreign
college degree is not required for the education, organisation
and mobilisation of the guyanese people.
in place of institutionalised education, there must be self-learning.
there must be the sharing of knowledge between all guyanese
brothers and sisters. "each one teach one." guyanese
habits have to be changed so that things like alcohol, tobacco
and television are replaced with habits like extensive reading,
writing, and family and community discussions to learn, share
and strengthen knowledge.
self-education allows for knowledge that can be used to pay
the bills _and_ to fight for and protect mental freedom.
a culture of self-learning--supplementary to or even a substitution
for what schools do exist--must be developed that frees the
mind while equipping the mind to free the body.
the dialogue excerpt below from the film _good will hunting_
highlights two main advantages of independent study: cost effectiveness
and the development of original thinking. will, the main character
who is extremely intelligent and works as a janitor, gets into
an argument with a harvard student named clark:
CLARK:
No, no, no, no..no, there's no problem here. I was just hoping
you might give me some insight into the evolution of the market
economy of the Southern Colonies. My contention is that uh...prior
to the Revolutionary War, the economic modalities, especially
in the Southern Colonies, could most aptly be characterized
as agrarian precapital--
WILL:
Let me tell you somethin', all right? Of course that's your
contention.
CLARK:
Hang on a second.
WILL:
You're a first year grad student. You just got finished reading
some Marxian historian -- Pete Garrison, probably -- you gunna'
be convinced of that till next month when you get to James Lemon,
then you're gunna' be talkin' about how the economies of Virginia
and Pennsylvania were entrepreneurial and capitalist way back
in 1740. That's gunna' last until next year, you're gunna' be
in here regurgitatin' Gordon Wood. Talkin' about, you know,
the pre-Revolutionary Utopia and the capital forming effects
of military mobilization.
CLARK:
Well, as a matter of fact I won't because Wood drastically underestimates
the impact of social di--
WILL:
Wood drastically...Wood drastically underestimates the impact
of social distinctions predicated upon wealth, especially inherited
wealth. You got that from Vickers. Work in Essex County, page
98, right? Yeah, I read that, too. You gunna' plagiarize the
whole thing for us? Do you have any thoughts that...of your
own on this matter? Or do you-- is that your thing? You come
into a bar, you read some obscure passage, and then pretend
you, you pawn it off as your own..as your own idea just to impress
some girls..? Embarrass my friend? See, the sad thing about
a guy like you is in fifty years you're gunna start doing some
thinkin' on your own, and you're gunna' come up with the fact
that there are two certainties in life: one, don't do that,
and, two, you dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a fuckin'
education you coulda' got for a dollar fifty in late charges
at the public library.
CLARK:
Yeah, but I will have a degree. and you'll be serving my kids
fries at a drive-thru on our way to a skiing trip.
WILL:
Yeah, maybe. eh, but at least I won't be unoriginal.
in america, one can struggle for an education when at one point
or another the prospects for a successful career depends on
your skin colour and mind colour. the mind colour of someone
is the race that they knowingly emulate to receive some kind
of benefit. a person's mind colour is reflected in their ethos;
in attributes like their speech, physical appearance, material
wants, and their response to certain harsh truths.
institutionalised education is a system where you invest a
lot of your time and money, are processed for the average four
years, then get a piece of paper that says you should be paid
more that the non-collegian, even if the latter works harder,
even if the latter is really more intelligent, even if the latter
participates in activism for freedom, while you run the rat
race to own and control as much as possible while you're alive.
about two months ago, one of my professors explained how companies
hire a number of phd and master's, a larger number of bachelor's,
and an even larger number of associate degree holders. when
negotiating big job contracts, with the government for instance,
a company would produce documentation that highlights the big
degree holders that will be working on the project. really,
most of the work will be done by the smaller degree holders
whose labour has been calculated as cheaper. and american businesses,
from nike to mcdonalds, do love cheap labour. this shows, though,
that instead of representing one's knowledge and capacity to
produce, educational degrees can create a class system where
one's labour can be unfairly devalued.
i have considered that my quarrel with what i call institutionalised
education may be the result of me being a fast, impatient learner.
in defence, i would insist that most others learn slowly because
the educational systems in place since birth have moulded them
this way.
i love education, particularly the inexpensive and personalised
kind.
so this is partly why i will not pursue a degree
higher than the associate i've earned and will be receiving
this month; i will return to guyana to fight. i choose existing
_true_ freedoms and to fight for other freedoms in my motherland
over financial comfort overseas. i will return permanently,
a conscious, empowered 19-year-old devoted to the mental emancipation
of guyanese.
18
january 2004
citizen-funded homicidal liberation
attention all guyanese-americans, this is what
the united states government does with your tax dollars.
iraqis being "liberated". right click and choose 'save
target as' to download.
your tax dollars help gluttonous american teenagers live out
their video-game fantasies of shredding dirty arabs from high
above. and remember, if you're not a freedom-loving, red, white
and blue waving american, you are a terrorist. you're not an
innocent civilian, you're collateral damage.
looking at this video, i can't help but imagine what the u.s.
government and media really doesn't want us to see.
and more liberation:
related links:
22 january 2004
wake up guyana!
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