Branded.

We are a Nation of Slaves.

As teenagers we spend most of our day time in a learning institution, school; as we have been doing since the age of 3-5, for most of us. It is within these four walls we presume that we will learn how to read, write, add numbers, etc. But we also know that the main agenda of school is to equip us with tools to survive the ‘real world’, because in a few years we will be 18 and ‘on our own.’ And theoretically we will have learned the basic skills for our adult life.

These structural systems of education were established to meet the demands of industrialism. The industrial revolution occurred late in the 18^th century. Now three centuries later, our schools are based on the same principles and core. The product? A nation of graduates trained to meet the needs of corporations. As more and more emphasis is given on higher levels and standards of education, inflation is created. Where before a Bachelor’s degree would suffice for a particular job, now only a Master’s degree is good enough. A value of a PhD degree is not awe inspiring anymore. People are spending longer and longer parts of their lives trying to learn more than the person next to them in order to come out on the top.

We, as students, are numbers on our report cards. We are below average, average, or above average. That is all we are. That is all our present lives are comprised of. And we judged by those exact numbers. You might have noticed that last year our marks were displayed in the front foyer, honour roll students only of course, ranked from highest to lowest. Our ‘potential’ was displayed to the public ([what happened to confidentiality of student information?]) relative to the potential of others. Yes, I might have been getting an 80% average, but lo and behold, that was the 34^th best mark. Hooray. Each year, at school we learn to prepare for the next year, we are constantly working towards our future and more specifically our future career. You are only seen as capable as your marks. If you do not comply to or be subservient to this system, you will fail. You will fail the system, but in essence you will fail at ‘life’. Why?, Because our success is measured by our capabilities to mindlessly absorb information and theories.

My personal struggle going through the education system, especially high school, is that it does not allow me to grow, it does not teach me or even allow for me to think for myself. The care freeness that we possess as children, not fearing the consequences of our mistakes allows us to make those mistakes without fear, which in turn allows us to try more things to step out of our safety zone, to try and exceed the limits. But what we demonstrate as a learning society is that there is no room for mistakes, they are condemned. There is no opportunity for me to learn how to be a better person, how to nurture my god -given skills or talents. It puts me in a very small box, in which there is no opportunity to make mistakes that are essential to our development. There is no opportunity to express or advance our thoughts or creativity. And although in a year and a half I will not be bound within this limiting system, I will not be able to flourish my expression because in the time that I would have spent here has trained me to think like the person next to me, to aim for the exact same thing. We all have one goal; accomplish a 90% average, or something along that. We study for tests only so we can achieve a good mark, and then we forget that memorized information, same goes for exams.

Our school is supposed to represent our ideals, our values, our individuality, but it seems as if the criteria for all that is preset and we are all pushed into this narrow path of what we are supposed to believe and value and there is not any room for way wards. I feel, and I do not think I am alone, that we are being told and almost being forced to be humanitarians, compassionate, giving. The values of the four humanitarians, that our school is supposed to represent, are being imposed upon us in a way that seems dictatorial. We aren’t even given enough freedom to decide where our compassion belongs. Also, it seems that everything is for show, for the face value, sort of like we are products that the school administration is trying to sell. Yet we do not relate with what is being said of us, like being this amazing, highly academic student body. Are we really(?) And I do not want to sound like the devil, but not all of us are passionate about fighting against HIV/AIDS. We all have different causes.

By next Friday, we are to choose our courses for next year. Being in Grade 11, this is an important decision, although not exactly a matter of life a death as the Guidance Department likes to portray it as. It is evident that there is a hierarchy that exists within the subjects. Top priority is given to Sciences and Math. Last is, as always, Arts. It is a common issue among students at Stephen Lewis as with other schools that if you are not embarking on a science related path, there are limited options when it comes to selecting courses. There really are not enough courses to satisfy the different departments of education.

What we learn at school is how to kill time. For most of us, we are not given the opportunity to express our potentials.The idea that every individual is different learns differently and thinks differently, is not new. But, in this society, we are expected to mould ourselves to be able to excel a single system. And by grade 12, that is exactly what we learn to do.

Conventionality, Slavery, Conformity, Thought crime is Death blackwhite.