Here I Stand by Erica Goldson

Its been a while since I wrote something new but this time what you are about to read its not mine is from someone who realized whats wrong with our world and decided to speak up his mind to our actual educational system, Its not only in the US, is all over the world where the Educational System is designed to make you a modern slave, in a society where everything is based on money and the economic system is designed to make people just automated robots that work for living and don't dare questioning why their doing what their doing.

I'll leave you with this brave piece from someone who was drowned by the system but eventually opened her eyes to discover that we were born to be individuals with specific desires & unique goals in life.

Here I Stand

 There is a story of a young, but earnest Zen student who approached his teacher, and asked the Master, "If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take for me to find Zen? The Master thought about this, then replied, "Ten years." 
The student then said, "But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast - How long then?" Replied the Master, "Well, twenty years." "But, if I really, really work at it, how long then?" asked the student. "Thirty years," replied the Master. "But, I do not understand," said the disappointed student. "At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?" 
Replied the Master, "When you have one eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path."

        This is the dilemma I've faced within the American education system. We are so focused on a goal, whether it be passing a test, or graduating as first in the class. However, in this way, we do not really learn. We do whatever it takes to achieve our original objective.

        Some of you may be thinking, “Well, if you pass a test, or become valedictorian, didn't you learn something? Well, yes, you learned something, but not all that you could have. Perhaps, you only learned how to memorize names, places, and dates to later on forget in order to clear your mind for the next test. School is not all that it can be. Right now, it is a place for most people to determine that their goal is to get out as soon as possible.

        I am now accomplishing that goal. I am graduating. I should look at this as a positive experience, especially being at the top of my class. However, in retrospect, I cannot say that I am any more intelligent than my peers. I can attest that I am only the best at doing what I am told and working the system.

Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination. I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work. But I contest that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer – not a worker. A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition – a slave of the system set up before him. But now, I have successfully shown that I was the best slave. I did what I was told to the extreme. While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test-taker.

While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment. While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it. So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost? I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I'm scared.

        John Taylor Gatto, a retired school teacher and activist critical of compulsory schooling, asserts, “We could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness – curiosity, adventure, resilience, the capacity for surprising insight simply by being more flexible about time, texts, and tests, by introducing kids into truly competent adults, and by giving each student what autonomy he or she needs in order to take a risk every now and then. But we don't do that.” Between these cinderblock walls, we are all expected to be the same. We are trained to ace every standardized test, and those who deviate and see light through a different lens are worthless to the scheme of public education, and therefore viewed with contempt.

        H. L. Mencken wrote in The American Mercury for April 1924 that the aim of public education is not

to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence. ... Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim ... is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States. (Gatto)

        To illustrate this idea, doesn't it perturb you to learn about the notion of “critical thinking.” Is there really such a thing as “uncritically thinking?” To think is to process information in order to form an opinion. But if we are not critical when processing this information, are we really thinking? Or are we mindlessly accepting other opinions as truth?

This was happening to me, and if it wasn't for the rare occurrence of an avant-garde tenth grade English teacher, Donna Bryan, who allowed me to open my mind and ask questions before accepting textbook doctrine, I would have been doomed. I am now enlightened, but my mind still feels disabled. I must retrain myself and constantly remember how insane this ostensibly sane place really is.

        And now here I am in a world guided by fear, a world suppressing the uniqueness that lies inside each of us, a world where we can either acquiesce to the inhuman nonsense of corporatism and materialism or insist on change. We are not enlivened by an educational system that clandestinely sets us up for jobs that could be automated, for work that need not be done, for enslavement without fervency for meaningful achievement. We have no choices in life when money is our motivational force.

Our motivational force ought to be passion, but this is lost from the moment we step into a system that trains us, rather than inspires us.

        We are more than robotic bookshelves, conditioned to blurt out facts we were taught in school. We are all very special, every human on this planet is so special, so aren't we all deserving of something better, of using our minds for innovation, rather than memorization, for creativity, rather than futile activity, for rumination rather than stagnation? We are not here to get a degree, to then get a job, so we can consume industry-approved placation after placation. There is more and more still.

        The saddest part is that the majority of students don't have the opportunity to reflect as I did. The majority of students are put through the same brainwashing techniques in order to create a complacent labor force working in the interests of large corporations and secretive government, and worst of all; they are completely unaware of it. I will never be able to turn back these 18 years. I can't run away to another country with an education system meant to enlighten rather than condition. This part of my life is over, and I want to make sure that no other child will have his or her potential suppressed by powers meant to exploit and control. We are human beings. We are thinkers, dreamers, explorers, artists, writers, engineers. We are anything we want to be - but only if we have an educational system that supports us rather than holds us down. A tree can grow, but only if its roots are given a healthy foundation.

        For those of you out there that must continue to sit in desks and yield to the authoritarian ideologies of instructors, do not be disheartened. You still have the opportunity to stand up, ask questions, be critical, and create your own perspective. Demand a setting that will provide you with intellectual capabilities that allow you to expand your mind instead of directing it. Demand that you be interested in class. Demand that the excuse, “You have to learn this for the test” is not good enough for you. Educations is an excellent tool, if used properly, but focus more on learning rather than getting good grades.

        For those of you that work within the system that I am condemning, I do not mean to insult; I intend to motivate. You have the power to change the incompetence of this system. I know that you did not become a teacher or administrator to see your students bored. You cannot accept the authority of the governing bodies that tell you what to teach, how to teach it, and that you will be punished if you do not comply. Our potential is at stake.

        For those of you that are now leaving this establishment, I say, do not forget what went on in these classrooms. Do not abandon those that come after you. We are the new future and we are not going to let tradition stand. We will break down the walls of corruption to let a garden of knowledge grow throughout America. Once educated properly, we will have the power to do anything, and best of all, we will only use that power for good, for we will be cultivated and wise. We will not accept anything at face value. We will ask questions, and we will demand truth.

        So, here I stand. I am not standing here as valedictorian by myself. I was molded by my environment, by all of my peers who are sitting here watching me. I couldn't have accomplished this without all of you. It was all of you who truly made me the person I am today. It was all of you who were my competition, yet my backbone. In that way, we are all valedictorians.

        I am now supposed to say farewell to this institution, those who maintain it, and those who stand with me and behind me, but I hope this farewell is more of a “see you later” when we are all working together to rear a pedagogic movement. But first, let's go get those pieces of paper that tell us that we're smart enough to do so!

Erica Goldson
June 25, 2010

Real meaning of love on Valentine's Day

It’s been a while since a wrote anything in here, but last week it was Valentine’s Day and something happen to me while I was waiting for my Girlfriend at Agora Mall here in Dominican Republic, I’ve arrived first as usual and when I got tired of waiting I started to pay attention to the mood of the people around me,  most of them were showing a bright smile, walking with friends and texting that special person, but I also notice that some people looked sad almost depressed and then an idea came to me “maybe I should buy a box of chocolates and give them to people that look sad and tell Happy Valentine’s Day that could cheer them up” I was decided to do that but then I remembered how high the crime rates are in our country and people tend to mistrust everybody regardless of their intentions, so I decided to drop that idea and wait patiently for my GF.

After an hour of waiting she finally arrived carrying a big wrapped present, I was very excited and surprised by that when I opened, it was a tent to begin the training for our camping trips, since I thought I wouldn’t see her I gave her present the day before but I also bought her some artisan chocolates, then we had dinner together and decided to go to my house, that’s when it happen…

When we were leaving I noticed this guys at the front door of the mall, he seemed like a teenager about 17 years old but that’s not important what is really important is what he was doing… He was doing exactly what I was about to do two hours ago without hesitation he approached each and everyone on sight regardless their appearance or sex and told them “Happy Valentine’s Day, take a chocolate is free” all of that with a bright warm smile of his face, he didn’t seem to care about what people might think or their reaction he just do it ignoring his common sense and his our fears of being rejected…

That’s when I thought of this… we always think that love is something shared only with special people in our lives but why we don’t give some of that love to people that might really need it, why don’t we try to share our smile and happiness to the world ?

Maybe if we all think and do like that guy with the box of chocolates the world would certainly be a better place to live…

Fears

At some point in our life we all been afraid of something, but what are those fears? Some people are afraid of darkness, spiders, heights, and monsters under the bed or even trivial things as cats or dogs, in my case when I was five a small fluffy dog chased me and bite me so I was afraid of dogs till I turn 6, then the night terrors came in I was so afraid of the night that I couldn’t even sleep I even took therapy for that and after a long time that was part of the past.

But why do people have fears, fears are a way of self-preservation, fears are like natural secures that prevent you from doing stupid and dangerous things, but other fears comes from traumatically experiences that sometimes we didn’t even realize and hunt us for our entire life.

Right now my biggest and only fear is fail in life in by that I mean socially, personally and economically, at this point of my life I have it good I have a great job, great friends, wonderful girlfriend and I’m almost  finishing my degree in Business Administration, but lately I’ve been doubting many things…

What if this just a step? What will be of me in 20 years? What if this isn’t what I’m supposed to do with my life... but at the end it doesn't matter what questions I throw myself in... Life is and always will be an endless pit of unanswered questions with only one certain point... you're destined to be whatever you push yourself to be.

Thoughts of a teenage boy

Yesterday I was checking my old notebooks from school and I found one that I used to write my thoughts as a way to vent myself from the teenage violent & confusing winds, that brought me a lot of memories and I found this, something that I wrote back in 2002, at that time I was 12 years old with a mind full thoughts and armed with  pen & paper  to write them all, so this is what was going throught my mind that day...

What is life? Is it an answer to our existence...?

In our lives we must think of something that you cannot think possible and before we do that we realize the truth of what we do every day. In our minds we create the illusion of things that can help to improve us or try to believe in something that sometimes can’t be.

In occasions some mixed feelings give way to a set of emotions that we confuse with other things that makes us think nonsense, things that can make us think that life is a mystery in which man is the divine, when what we actually have to do with it at times when we feel that life comes up causing us many indecisions is to choose the way in which will form our existence.

Life

Sometimes we go trough certain situations that we didn’t ask for and barely know how to handle, its like existence itself put you some kind of trials for you to define yourself as a person, lately I was thinking about that and I’ve realize that if life was exactly the way we want to be, it wouldn’t be life it would be a dream.

Without its challenges this would be an endless time full of nonsense and repetition with only one sure expectation Death, as I see it those little things that sometimes happen before we even realize those things are the ones that define your life as real, when you go ahead and star planing your life like it was some kind of road trip sooner or later you’ll realize that those very plans you made are far from what you are today, in life you just need to set some goals and follow those goals along the path that’s called life.

Propaganda vs Reallity

Is incredible how foolish people are, Joseph Kony the lider of the LRA has been doing that for almost 25 years or maybe more and just now out of nowhere people started to find out about his crimes, open your eyes there’s some interest behind and Kony is being used as an excuse to invade Uganda.

People should start to be interested in what's happening in this god dam world and stop being manipulated by the media the fact that KONY propaganda was brought to light right now is just because the US Government has some interest in Uganda...

That's the same shit that happened with Saddam Hussein, & Muamar Gadafi , US propaganda brought to light all the crimes and make them look like killers I'm not saying they were saints but if Iraq and Libya weren’t so oil wealth they wouldn't even bother about what that fuck could be happening in those god forgotten countries, but since there’s been a crisis with oil in the world they trying to control all the oil sources using them as an excuse to invade Iraq and to manipulate people into overthrowing the Libya Government.

I’m not defending the crimes Saddam Hussein, & Muamar Gadafi, but if they were doing all kinds of crimes against the people from their countries, why don't they stop him right away? that’s because they we cooperating with the US system which is actually very simple you’re with us or against us and you have to choices you say yes to everything we want to do in your country and give us all the resources we could ever need or you’ll be blow the fuck out of this world.

That’s what happened when they stop cooperating and started to fight against the system, all those things they’ve done under the scope of the whole world were used against them to satisfy the needs of the system, first they invade Iraq under the suspicion that they were developing weapons of mass destruction by the time the war ended the number of WMD found was cero, and with Libya when Gadafi tried to withdraw foreign military bases and some oil companies were nationalized he became a treat to US interest, after years of economic measures against Libya the regime was finish by 2011, mostly by the involvement of the CIA providing weapons and aid to the Libya Rebel forces.

And now with all the media focused on Joseph Kony they’re doing the same only that these time they’re invading for natural resources, they’re doing it just to amass military power in the west, having more presence and control over the countries with certain economic or natural resources.

For those of you who don’t might know this back in 2010, an oil rig was found near Lake Albert in Uganda, so in this country with such hard political problems, all you have to do is expose those political problems like the LRA children army and get support from people and convince them to start a war just to have an excuse to invade Uganda, but there's always been violent warlords in Africa so the question is the same why now ? and the answer remains the same... the need to control most valuable natural resource OIL.

I do not mean not to support the Kony Movement, he should pay for what he done to all those children in Uganda, I’m just saying that before you make a decision you should know the reasons why that decision is being made….

Turn off the TV, get away from the computer, don’t believe everything you see on the newspapers all of that is designed to prevent people from thinking

New Year Resolutions

This year will be the first one I’m doing New Year Resolutions, I’ve always thought that most people only said this stuff but never actually do something, but in my case I won’t be doing any far from ordinary.

This year im going to take some time to appreciate the simple things of life, things like we usually ignore due to our daily routine, last year my life was full of routines waking up, bathing, eating, working, studying so you get to a point where you get tired of doing the same things over and over.

That’s why this new year ima take some time to step away from the routine and try new things, (I'm not saying that ill stop bathing, eating, working or studying I'm just saying I wont be doing the same things every day like I'm some kind of robot), I’ll try to make everyday different from the one before, although I'm not really sure about what new things but ill think of something, meanwhile ill change my attitude to be ready for when those new things arrive.

This is a new year full of dreams, goals, and promises.