The Western Gate

Seems odd to write favourite and yet I get spell checked every time I wrote that as it wants me to change to the American version favorite, never saw that in English lesson at school did we.

Ah yes, school, where we are taught only to repeat parrot fashion, where exams are there to see if you can regurgitate whatever was instilled into your formative head.
I remember towards the end of school life a teacher stood up and said “ many here today will celebrate the end of school life, but I can tell you, throughout your life you’ll wish you were back here.” I never, I thought school was a complete waste of time.

We learn history from the perspective of whoever won whatever war, from rulers who crushed uprisings, and are never taught how lust for power and patriarchy went hand in hand to create this shit-storm of a planet we’ve inherited.
We learn geography? Where of course the whole planet is divided up into who owns what. When Africa was divided up, someone decided it was taking to long to negotiate with tribes over what lands and landmarks denoted their country, so they just got out a ruler and as the crow flies divided it up. You won’t get taught that at school.
English? I honestly can’t remember what that was about, adjectives and pronouns and whatnots, don’t think we were ever taught how to express, how to creatively spill the contents of minds onto the page.
We did of course have art and we also had creative arts (drama) these were lessons that people who didn’t actually want to think much chose, so it would be a riot of disorderly conduct and general mayhem, hail the comprehensive system at Dagenham.
Maths… all I ever used maths for was to play darts and work out gambling odds, it didI must admit tie my head up in knots which only unravelled once I’d grasped the fundamentals of math’…. Yes, that’s how the Americans say it.

What I would have liked to learn at school, was social politics, how and why class structure came about, how and why the world and its wife resorted to wanting to each accumulate wealth as a means of life’s expression, I’d want to know about mavericks, creative anarchists, oddballs, punks, underground writers. I’d want us to learn how to influence the world, to create change, to vlog,blog , create music …and not on a xylophone, trumpet or sodding half tuned piano, create film, how to budget, how to challenge utility companies, how to protest and complain, how to run for government, how to overthrow the toffs from Eton, how to respect, love, care and grow. How to change the world from one instilled on monetary value to one of nurturing the communities we live such that our goal is to laugh and enjoy.
This won’t happen, there’s no parrot fashion in this syllabus, it’s all about new expression and thought process, there’s no mental installation of the thought police creating your perspective, there’s no moulding, cloning or subjective design. It won’t happen because at school they teach you to be morons, they don’t want you to have freedom of thought. Despite all the nods to diversity and correctness, nothing’s changed the agenda is still to shut up and learn.