THE EDITOR: Misreading the heading can result in you thinking there is an error and what follows will be about the Ministry of Education. Instead, it is about the sphere of influence from cradle to the grave, or rather to retirement.
The best way to control weeds is not through continuous weeding but by poisoning the roots. To date the best way to control people is by educating them and restricting their movement.
The establishment of concentration camps is the age-old method of training the minds of people. This cardinal sin of herding children in corals, called schools (with classes), is a cramping of the natural instincts of children and killing the joy of their delight in movement.
It is in these mean bubbles we deprive children of their natural tendency to play and care and substitute them for pens, pencils and books and a promise that never materialises - a place in a prestigious secondary school.
The catch that some parents and children are unaware of is that the child's aptitude must rank high on the barometric scale. Many will suffer disappointment while a selected undeserving few will circumvent the entry level with hefty financial contributions.
The system claims that there is no prestige school, only those that have given themselves silk. Stress is high and competition fierce for the SEA-farers to hold their position in secondary schools.
The ill-treatment of our children is systematically administered by imprisoning them from the healing power of sunshine, the invigorating effects of fresh air, and the pacifying colours of nature.
The ripple effect is to put undue strain on the health system with its myriad of promises that are never fulfilled. No amount of human services can compensate for what we are discarding and trying to substitute.
All man-made education does is prepares a person for the world of work and not life in its entirety. Chasing the clock, scrambling for money, and amassing worldly possessions end at 60.
If the individual gets to 60, life is ushered to a new planet where health is a major issue. Man-made education did not forewarn nor prepared the uninitiated for this eventuality. If there was no early introduction and direction to this new phase, 'crapaud smoke we pipe."
Life after 60 is spent trying to recover those life assets we traded unconsciously for money. But what was done is gone forever.
As the society matures, observe the increasing trend and infirmity for which man-made education offers no preparation to combat. Only the greying years have been catered for, leaving the 'golden years" as a dream just beyond our grasp.
Immeasurable and unbearable pains, riding wheelchairs to imitate the movements we once had, and drinking factory-manufactured potions to prolong life are the welcoming standard.
The only way the world notices us is when our snail-paced movement brings the world to an almost halt and angrily awaits us getting out of the way.
If loving this man-made system is right, then I want to be wrong.
LENNOX FRANCIS
via e-mail
T
