This year, for Christmas, I got a book called 'How the world works', by Noam Chomsky. Now although- like everyone - I had heard about Chomsky and read a few interviews with him, I wasn't all that familiar with him. I mean I knew who he was, but I couldn't tell you a belief of his, if asked.
And so, for Christmas, my mom got me the very appropriately titled 'How the world works' and as soon as I unwrapped it, I got the message. See, we're not fanatics or anything. It wasn't like 'you must read this and treat it like the Bible' or anything like that. The book didn't come with the requirement that I read what Mr. Chomsky has to say and believe it wholeheartedly (shouldn't that be wholemindedly, by the way?).
No.
The message was far simpler and it was this:
Read up, kid.
And this is a feeling that hasn't left me since I first opened this book - that I'm not reading exactly how the world works, but I'm educating myself. I'm broadening my horizons and learning about new things.
As I said, it has a very well chosen title, as it covers such a wide range of subjects...It's almost like a political encyclopedia - WORLD 101.
Now, I must admit, it's not an easy book to read, especially since most of the things discussed in it happened waay before my time and in a far away country (the US, of course). So I can't say I've been breezing through it.
But I have read most of it, I'm almost at the end of the book. And the one thought that has kept me reading is I need this.
I am very aware that this book is beneficial to me and my education, even if it's just so I know NAFTA has nothing to do with sports. I know I'm broadening my general knowledge, at the very least, so I must read on.
Let's get one thing straight - I'm not saying that I don't like this book, or that I don't agree with Mr. Chomsky's ideas (on the contrary, I find most of them very sensible, logical beliefs). I'm just saying that's not really the point. You can't only read things you agree with, because then, you're narrowing your reading material a great deal.
So, it shouldn't matter if you agree with what you read. What should matter is that you keep learning, by reading as much as you can. In fact, the more varied your reading list, the better. You need to know all sides of a story before deciding which one seems true.
Education is (not) your right
We are often reassured we have the right to an education. And it' s one lie we love to believe. Sure, it's our right and the State's making sure we get it, because when has the state ever cheated us or denied us our rights?
As parents, it's particularly convenient to believe this - you just send your kids to us and we'll make sure theyknow everything they need to.
But it's never like that.
Never.
The state won't teach you everything you need to know to make it in this world, simply because it's not in the state's best interest to do so.
See, imagine we're two strangers, right? And I've got two apples - one beautiful and ripe and the other rotten. I'm going to want to give you the rotten apple, so that I can keep the nice, juicy one for myself. I'm not going to choose the bad apple for myself, 'cause that would be stupid. This is how the state thinks.
BUT you might get angry if you realize what I'm doing, so it would also be in my best interest to trick you into thinking you're getting a good apple too. So, I've got to work on my lies.
I said strangers, because obviously, we treat our loved ones differently - we certainly don't give them the bad apple. Instead, we (at least) share our good apple with them.
It's the same with knowledge.
The state doesn't want to share its apples. It's not going to tell you how the world works in school. No. It's going to pretend to tell you, through schools, while feeding you the information it wants you to get.
Don't assume someone else will educate you. Do it yourself. Read as much as you can, watch as much as you can and from each piece of news, take anything that you think is relevant. Build your own picture of the world.
Don't assume someone will do this for you out of goodwill. It's not a risk you should be willing to take.