3.3 Educational Love

Educational Love

Part One:  Children are the future

This is where it all begins.

Although educational institutions are considered one of the most important to the continued development of society, they are also one of the greatest contributors to the continued destruction of the human spirit and Our planet; this is where the belief in the world We can have begins.

Remember that Love is the creative power of thought, imagination, the ability to create a dream in Your mind.  It is the dream You have come here to know in the human experience; the most glorious dream You can conceive with the unlimited capacity of imagination.  This is why educational institutions are so destructive to the human spirit; they limit Our collective capacity to make change in the world; educational institutions give Us the thoughts that compose Our reality instead of allowing Us to create Our own.

I told You that You were born infinitely wise.  From the moment of Your conception You had all the wisdom necessary to create the incredible being that would emerge from Your mother’s womb.  You knew You were Love with unlimited capacity to know continued greatness in every moment.  You desired mobility and learned to crawl.  You desired to stand and learned to walk.  You desired communication and learned to talk.  If You were introduced to fifty languages You would have learned them all with perfect fluency.

I mentioned that since I came into this wisdom every experience in My life introduced Me to new reflections of the truth I write about.  I also wanted to see the world and had a particular fascination with Japan.  Soon I was there teaching English to Japanese children.  The first international school I had the pleasure of teaching at introduced Me to children three and four years old who already knew the entire periodic table of elements, spoke five languages, knew the proper names of every possible geometric shape I could imagine, could name every country on a map of the world and could match each country to its proper flag…  Just for starters.  These children could put American children three or four times their age to shame…  That’s the problem.

As amazing as it is, these schools are very expensive for parents, especially the good ones.  Consequently, these parents are very hard on their children, disappointed if they are not at the top of their class.  They are equally hard on the teachers, insisting that they pay good money and that they should be paying more attention to their child to make sure they keep up and stay ahead.  The more expensive the school, the more overbearing the parents become.  But of course, only one student can be at the top of the class.

These children start school at the age of one and learn everything normally taught by parents including toilet training.  Children are robbed of their childhood and taught to be independent as early as possible.  They are taught to compete with every other child to be the best, the smartest, the most creative.

The intention of these parents may be great, but the result can’t be anything less than destructive.  We are taking the infinite wisdom of children and using it to fill their heads with all the things We believe are important.  No doubt this will better prepare the child for the reality of the world We know but it isn’t going to make change.  These parents have accepted the world We know and are teaching their children to adopt it as well.  So long as We continue to accept the world We know now, We can never know change.  These poor brainwashed children have no opportunity to use their divine wisdom to create a better world; they can only perpetuate the same one We already know.

When will these children have time to play, to enjoy life and the carefree years of their youth?  They will not.  They will finish international school, go to elementary school, then secondary school, then college or university and then they will begin working and perhaps sixty years later, when they are retired and have time to actually think about what the purpose of all of this is, maybe then they will find truth.  Maybe then they can begin to enjoy the gift of life and experience the glory of the world they gave themselves, even if they must drag their tired, sixty-something year old body around to do it.

Education is the main reason the world is in the state that it’s in.  We know that the world around Us is full of problems, yet We teach Our children that this is the way to live.  Children are taught to adopt Our beliefs and accept Our world before they have a chance to create their Own.  We think We know all the answers, teach the same mistakes to Our children and We wonder why the world stays the same.  The child’s unlimited creative capacity is corrupted.

This is not the world You created.  This is not the world I created.  This is the world that Our parents and their parents created; the product of countless generations that existed before Us.  This is the world We are creating.  Believe that We came here to liberate this world, that We are smarter now.  Believe that We can do better and We will.  They say that children are the future.  Instead of telling children about the world they will know, how about asking them what kind of world they dream to know?  I bet their dream is better than Our reality.

Part Two:  Self Validation

The second great misfortune with respect to education is the sense of self worth that education offers the individual.  Your degree gives You a value in society.  What We choose to study prepares Us for Our place in the world where We will inevitably be divided by social class.  The brain surgeon is better than the doctor, the doctor is better than the nurse, the nurse is better than the nursing assistant, and on and on it goes.  We are told at an early age that if We don’t do well in school, if We are not smart, We will never be able to obtain a good job and it will be difficult to succeed in life.  Unfortunately, We accept this at a very early age, once again perpetuating the values and beliefs of generations preceding Us.

I was fortunate in that from an early age I had a strong desire to be free.  When I was very young I didn’t really understand the necessity in going to school but of course My parents made Me go.  I accepted this as part of life knowing that one day I would finish school and be free to enjoy life.

I was both fortunate and unfortunate at the same time.  I was fortunate because I didn’t have to work hard to make the grade, but I was unfortunate because I knew I was smart so I didn’t really care about the grade or how smart teachers thought I was.  I would constantly skip class, rarely did homework unless it was necessary for the grade and almost never studied.  Needless to say, this bothered some of My teachers.  One of My math teachers decided that every time I refused to do homework he would deduct one percent from My final grade to a maximum of ten percent (which was all he was allowed by school regulations).  By the end of the year I had lost six percent for homework (often I was able to get it done in class) and still had ninety-two percent going into the final exam.  The final exam was worth thirty percent of the final grade.  It was the very last exam I had to write to graduate and it was not one of the grade thirteen courses that would be considered for entry into university (if I were ever to decide I wanted to go).  Knowing there was no possible way I could fail and anxious to finally know I was done with school, I walked into the final exam, signed My name on the top and handed it in without answering a single question.  A week and a half later when the report card came in, I was stunned to see that My math teacher had not given Me a grade, but an ‘I’ for ‘incomplete’…  ‘I’ was furious and still one credit short from graduating which meant another five gruelling months of school.

I took the matter to My guidance counsellor who told Me there was nothing he could do, that the final decision was up to the teacher.  This demonstrates how school subjects Us to the judgement of others who may be looking for nothing more than to assert their power.  The teacher certainly knew I was capable; this was an act of spite.  Looking for the silver lining, I decided one more semester wouldn’t kill Me.  The school had thirteen grade thirteen English courses which was the only class I really enjoyed, so I took three more and figured I could use the best of them for university entry if I ever changed My mind about going.  But things didn’t get better.

One of the courses was English Creative Writing, a personal favourite.  The first assignment was to write a short story explaining a cliché.  I chose ‘like a fish out of water’.  As per usual, I left the assignment until the last possible day and began writing at two in the morning (or some ridiculous hour) but creativity always seemed to pour from Me at night.  I thought of an idea, a short story with three characters:  Angie the Angelfish, Sandy the Seahorse and Ollie the Octopus.  It was all about how Angie had grown bored with her life under the ocean and aspired to know what it was like to live on land.  The story flowed easily, was full of alliteration and rhymes.  I only worried that My teacher may not like that I was writing a children’s tale for a grade thirteen course.  A few days later the teacher was handing back the papers and I was the only student in class to not have one returned.  She said nothing to Me about it.  At the end of class, I approached her desk and asked if she lost My paper.  She told Me she wasn’t going to grade My paper because she believed it had been plagiarized.  I told her I had written it in the wee hours of the morning the night before it was due and asked what grounds she felt she had to assume it was not My own.  She told Me it was too good, that she would need to see more of My work before she could believe it was mine.

I do believe everything happens for a reason and as unfortunate as this event may seem, I was not in school to prove anything to anyone; I was there because it was what everyone was telling Me I should do.  Writing was really one of the only things I thoroughly enjoyed doing and I had no interest in attending university to become a writer (though it would have made My mother very happy, I’m sure), I was only interested in being free to experience life.  Once again I went down to My guidance counsellor’s office to protest the situation.  I told him that the teacher had no right to insult Me in such a way, that I should not need to validate Myself for writing something good (and I didn’t even think it was that good to be honest, it was ‘catchy’ maybe, but that’s all), that she should be charged for unjust accusations…  I don’t even know what else I said, but I was angry and ready to drop out.  He on the other hand, remained very calm.  He asked Me why I was in school, why her opinion of My work mattered to Me so much and if My plans for the future included university.  I told him I had no plans for university, that I didn’t really care about high school but My mother really wanted to see Me graduate and I just wanted to get the experience behind Me.  He very calmly opened a drawer of his desk, pulled out a thick folder of papers and handed them to Me.

“This is your entire academic history.  Take your time to look it over, then take it home and show it to your mom.  It’s a duplicate portfolio, yours to keep.  I think it is all the validation you need to know you will do anything you want to do in life and I’m sure your mom will think so too.”

I was stunned.  Here I was looking over what seemed like everything I had ever written for school, including all of those tests where you fill out the ovals but never get to see the results.  This was more validation of My ability than any high school diploma could ever grant Me.  Sure enough, My mom gave Me her blessing, I was offered My own self validation and I was finally done with school.

I am not trying to tell You that if You want to succeed in this world that You do not need a degree.  In fact, it is exactly the opposite.  To have any sense of self worth in the eyes of Our current world, You very much need a degree.  My first trip to Japan taught Me this.

Japan seemed like a great opportunity to experience a new culture and country.  I knew that English had only recently become the second national language and was told there were an abundance of teaching jobs available.  This proved to be true.  However, not having a degree meant I was not qualified to teach, nor was I qualified to have any other kind of life in Japan.  No degree meant no visa, period; I could only enter as a tourist.  However, I believed in My ability to teach so I began applying to schools and publishing My own ads for private lessons on the internet, always being completely honest about My credentials.  Soon I was teaching a couple of families and a business course that provided Me with just enough money to sustain Myself.  It also validated what I inwardly knew to be true.  All the people I taught professed I was the greatest English teacher they could have asked for and none of them wanted Me to leave.  I continued My quest for a visa with renewed faith in My ability and some references to confirm it.  There were a total of three schools that tried to sponsor My visa.  One in particular tried tirelessly for almost two weeks writing letters and placing phone calls to the Japanese Immigration office – it didn’t matter.  Without at least a bachelor degree, Immigration would not so much as entertain My application.

Although this may sound reasonable to ensure teachers are qualified to teach children, these schools already knew of My ability and a degree offers no such assurance.  One of My friends from high school who was not a great academic had chosen to go to community college and got herself a Bachelor of Arts degree in hair dressing.  This individual would have been able to qualify for a visa to teach in Japan but I know she would not have been any more qualified to teach English.  Similarly, if I were only five years younger, I would have qualified for a working holiday visa that would have allowed Me to teach or work virtually anywhere.  Japan wants to encourage youthful teachers; thirty-five was too old, and the second reason I was unqualified in the eyes of the Japanese government.

Part three:  Education is a corporation

The point I’m trying to make here is that We don’t need to be validated.  Not by a high school diploma, university degree or anything else.  You have the ability to succeed at anything You put Your mind to; degrees of any kind are asking You to prove it and this will cost money.  By practicing good study habits, anyone can master virtually any test, the only difference is the amount of time it will take the individual.  After the test is over, You will very quickly begin to dismiss most of the information unless You are using it regularly.  The very best way to learn is to get practical knowledge by working in the field.  We are so often forced to take many courses We have absolutely no interest in (and perhaps even no natural aptitude for), just so We can get a degree that allows Us to do a job We could easily be trained to do in a fraction of the time if studies only focused on the information necessary for the particular position.

The educational institutions know this.  They also know that not everyone can be at the top of their class, but even individuals who are not at the top of their class will be able to graduate from any course they choose if they apply themselves and want it badly enough.  They just want you to pay for it and they want You to be in school as long as possible.  The better the job, the more money You will have to pay for the courses that allow You to get the degree that ‘qualify’ You for the job.  The unnecessary courses You are required to take that have no relationship to the job You hope to do, only ensure that You spend more time in school, forcing You to pay more money for the courses, ensuring You will be committed to working several years to pay back Your bill for education.  By offering scholarships to only a select percentage of students, We are forced to compete with each other, believing We are better or worse than the person beside Us.  Those who don’t qualify for scholarships and want a ‘good’ job will have to get a loan to pay for the courses.  If they don’t qualify for the loan, they are immediately forced to struggle even harder to work while they attend school, making their difficult educational pursuit even more challenging.  All of this for the sake of landing a good job so We can be successful.

The students of wealthy families will always have the upper hand.  They can afford the expensive international children’s schools and the best universities.  Their children are able to take as much time as they want in school.  They never have to pay back any student loans and are always ensured a high paying job.  This further demonstrates the corruption of a monetary based educational system creating separation by wealth and social class.

It is not so much that education is the problem, but what We teach and how the educational institutions that exist now are the first stage in separating students by social distinction.  In order for Our world and society to function properly, We need all parts.  Our streets would be filthy if it were not for the sanitation department removing Our trash.  Grocery store shelves would be empty if it were not for the farmers.  We would have no infrastructure if it were not for construction workers.  But We are taught from an early age to believe these jobs are less significant, less important and that We are not as worthwhile to the community if We do not excel.  Money is the root of corruption in Our educational institutions and this is not truth.

The truth is We are all perfect.  Where one is weak, another is strong.  The differences between Us are what make Us the same.  It is to know that together We are perfect, We are all part of the same thing, one family, one being, the human being Love.