Education, or the lack thereof, is in the news these days. “Why the Department of Education’s Gender Mission Creep Matters,” recently published by The Burkean, contains this gem: “…forcing on children such knowledge [i.e., assorted wonky Wokeness regarding sexuality] which should be left to parents or the wisdom of the tribe or clan to inculcate.” It is well worth considering how we may facilitate the devolution that is being implicitly advocated here. I will address this issue in the first part of this essay. In the second part, I will convey some advice with respect to the subject of writing.
Part 1 – The Wisdom of the Tribe
Government-funded education is problematic for reasons too numerous to cover in this short essay. Suffice it to say, that a strong argument can be made for what I will call the bare-bones essentials. What is the most important subject for those at the primary level of education? Reading of course. Literate students can teach themselves other subjects, if they so wish to learn them. Hence, the focus should be on decoding the written word, vocabulary building, and eventually on the higher order skills related to the process of reading (e.g., inference, critical thinking, genres).
Now the question arises as to who should call the shots. Difficult question, indeed, or maybe not. Consider sortition, which seems to be a fitting synonym for the “wisdom of the tribe.” Sortition is random selection. In this case, the curriculum would be decided by those randomly selected from the tribe. They would serve for a period of time and be financially compensated for their service. The selection process would ipso facto eliminate the influence of lobbyists, ideologues, and zealots, replacing same with a fairly accurate representation of the local community.
Part 2 – A Valediction Forbidding Yawning
After the passive skill of reading has been taught, it is natural to move on to the active skill of writing. With few exceptions, written output today is subpar at best and the bar is constantly being lowered. The following guidelines might prove instrumental in revising this trend.
- Verbosity is an affront to your readers. Choose every word with due consideration to its utility and denotative and connotative meanings.
- Do not pander to the herd. Sincerity is a quality both discernible to and esteemed by the kind of reader you want to attract.
- To be a good writer, you must be an avid reader. Someone once asked me what I like to read. My answer was as follows: “Any book The New York Times refuses to review.”
- Do not talk down to your reader. The title of this short piece is an allusion to a 17th-century poem. Some readers may not get it. If they are curious, they will do a little research and soon they will.
- Assuming your readers are adults, do not infantilize them by posting trigger warnings for the sake of the snowflakes. “We interrupt this opera to inform you that Medea will be slaying her sons. For those of you who might find this rather common occurrence (consider how often mothers send their sons off to war) disturbing, we encourage you to take refuge in the lobby, where lollypops and milk and cookies will be provided gratis. You may return to your seats when you feel safe to do so, unless you require more cookies, for which there will be a nominal charge.”
- Regarding content: Think outside the box. If regurgitation is your thing, a promising career as a Hollywood screenwriter awaits you.
- Persevere.
“Jack Napes” is the pen name of an Irish satirist based in Tokyo. His work has been published by MEON Journal and other publications worth reading. Check out his short novel, Travels with the Tribe: Killing Gravity in Woke Times, available from Kobo as a digital download. He can be reached at travelswiththetribe-mail@yahoo.co.jp or on X Jack Napes @jacknapestribe.
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