Education: a Blessing or Dictatorship

School systems have tried for years to give us the knowledge that will help us succeed in the real world. What is the “real world” our teachers and professor mention so much? How are we preparing ourselves to survive in a world that is narrowed down by Survival of the Fittest and should we? Personally, education is my escape to a better way of life. It’s a sense of security to succeed in the job industry. I have been told millions of times that nothing or nobody can take the knowledge gained away. Education is a blessing that may lead us to another world which most people don’t have access to know. Education can as well be a curse that exposes new scholars to a different world that was once a wonderful phenomenon. Education facilities can be compared to military training camps. Both offer a promising future, but in order to succeed, committing to sacrifice is very crucial. They are designed to train one’s mind to think and function in certain. As stated in Rivera’s article “….we go out and find the best talent we can find and then give them great opportunities to row” (25-26). Our government only educates its fellow people to a certain extent. Like in Military, those folks are being taught to be superior in combat. Neither facilities show how horrible or difficult it will be to put these trained skills into a working society. It’s a basic struggle to define where the mind fits among the nation. Deciding what is more important in life is difficult, since the more education someone has the better off they will form in the military world. Family and friends could be miles or days away questioning if education was the right step. In Matute’s article it states, “Hopefully, we like the decisions and are grateful that we made them, but in some cases, we regret the decision”(55). The preference of staying close to home and never truly reaching true potential or exploring what possibility are awaiting on an extensive quest. In Matute’s article it states, “I came….because I believed it was going to make a difference in my life” (55). Opportunities are everywhere but whether we choose to taken them or not can be a crucial mistake. “……Making a decision can sometimes lead to happiness and sadness…” (56). Illiteracy takes over many citizens that are brought up among poverty. For example, in the case of George Dawson, he “had been just too busy working to go to school” (40). In early times having a job was more important than having an education. This state of mind created a shield against reality and disappointment. It’s a blessing that over shadows a cruel world. Dawson stated, “I listened to the news and had to trust what I heard” (40). Being uneducated is a form of slavery. Nobody tries to help the uneducated but those few who are facing the same destiny. For example Douglass stated, “The plan which I adopted… was that of making friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street. As many of these as I could, I converted into teachers. ….I finally succeeded in learning to read. When I was sent on errands, I always took my book with me, and by going one part of my errand quickly, I found time to set a lesson before my return. I used also to carry bread with me enough for…. poor white children in our neighborhood” (1). Succeeding to be literate can be a curse depending on what economic or ethnic background. For those who have been under poverty it’s an eye opener. All our rights out in the world are being exposed with pounce of knowledge consumed by the mind. Regretting every moment a professor or teacher speaks about criteria. Douglass stated, “As I writhed under it, I would at times feel that yearning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing” (1). Being relieved into the truth can be a cruel awaking, to supposedly knowing the real reason why the world works out the way it does, finding the reason why opportunities don’t come often to those who work their life away. For example Douglass stated, “It opened my eyes to the horrible pit….In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity. I have often wished myself a beast. I preferred the condition of the meanest reptile to my own. Anything, no matter what, to get rid of thinking! It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me. There was no getting rid of it. It was pressed upon me by every object within sight or hearing, animate or inanimate” (1). However, being self motivated makes those illiterate few believe change will happen. Considering that for so long they have been without a clue, those rare few who do try to succeed in being literate give the government an outcome other than expected? Now why are their fewer students willing to learn if school is being publicly offered without a charge? The answer from almost every blank face in the classroom is boredom. Teachers are not as spectacular as thought out to be. Both the students and educators could care less if they were present in each other life. As Gatto recounts, “They said they wanted to be doing something real, not just sitting around. They said teachers didn't seem to know much about their subjects and clearly weren't interested in learning more. And the kids were right: their teachers were every bit as bored as they were” (1). Under these circumstances who would want to learn about things that happen in the past? Long lectures about nonsense don’t improve the learning facility that discourages students. So why continue to proceed with something that isn’t being accomplished? Would a reason be because most of the funding to have public schools opened comes from the government? The government could be encouraging the system to be more like boot camp where just the necessary or basics are being taught, forming new less educated consumers to buy all the gibberish producers have to offer them. It could also be for politics to manipulate the lower class into buying every spoken lie to gain what they need. It creates followers and looks down among those few who wanted to be leaders. For example Gatto states, “School trains children to be employees and consumers; teach your own to be leaders and adventurers. School trains children to obey reflexively; teach your own to think critically and independently (1). Therefore, why does the nation bother to have open facilities that educated citizen? Do we really need all those years and hours wasted into lesson being taught by someone who doesn’t have a degree in the field you want to have? It could be that since before time every breathing thing that was wiser survived the longest in a world of idiots. In addition, having that extra sense of knowledge would keep the dictators on top and while keeping the followers at the lowest. A better education doesn’t always have to be from books or school. It could also be gained from earlier experiences. Also, learning street smart from the elderly is a different form of knowledge. It doesn’t take years in a constructed facility away from the outside world to receive it. It doesn’t come with a document saying this person is educated. It gives experience to continue to understand how the world works. I have learned that a piece of paper doesn’t determine the education. The knowledge received comes from the cruelty of the world. It forms educated people to be aware of their surroundings. Instead of reading it, they can go find out what it means to actually live.