Students of the World, Fight Back!
Joe Moncarz, 2015
Students, you’ve been screwed. If you want any chance of living in a decent world and if you want your children to be able to go fishing and catch something that isn’t radioactive and isn’t a jellyfish, then pay close attention:
School is not education. As you’ve probably already suspected, it’s mind-numbing, soul-destroying, dehumanizing enslavement, and brainwashing that is destroying the life on the planet.
Consider this as proof: More than half of the world lives in poverty. Wealth inequality is greater than at any point in human history. Stress, mental illness, depression, suicide and drug abuse are skyrocketing. Toxic industrial pollution pervades every corner of the planet. Newborn babies are already full of toxins. Thousands of nuclear warheads lay waiting to destroy the planet and hundreds of nuclear reactors are quietly radiating all of us. We are currently in the process of a mass extinction event: Between 150 and 200 species go extinct every day. And human-induced climate change now threatens to end the ability for humans to even exist on Earth.
So here we are, with a world speedily turning to shit. And what are schools doing about any of this?
What are schools doing to challenge the power structures that entrench inequality? What are they doing to stop the destruction of nature? What are they doing to stop war? What are they doing to reduce the effects of Climate Change? What are they doing to promote cooperation and sharing? What are they doing to make the world a better place?
Of course, you know perfectly well what the answer is. You’re there every day, bored out of your WiFi-absorbing skulls. Schools do jack-shit.
And not only do schools not address solving any of the world’s problems – they make sure that those problems keep getting worse.
Schools perpetuate all the world’s crap. They make sure that nothing ever gets better.
They do it by teaching you the same fucked-up way of thinking that is precisely to blame for fucking up the world. They do it by focusing on “getting a good job”, which is their way of saying, "The world is just fine the way it is, so let's destroy it." They make you focus on yourself, on selfishness and on money. In other words, they exist specifically not to change anything.
And like a good factory, schools process you. They sort out those students going to university and those not, those who will become managers, politicians, and CEOs, and those who will become blue collar workers, waiters, and cashiers. Schools exist to uphold and feed the status quo. They keep the rich rich and the poor poor. Put simply, schools make sure that the world stays shitty.
So wake up. Their “getting a good job” mantra is a super-large mountain of radioactive bullshit. What they don’t tell you is that as technology spreads, it replaces workers, forcing people into ever-more menial jobs.
What they don’t tell you is that your government will never do anything besides talk, because their true purpose is to do what the elite want. What they don't tell you is that your government will never do anything effective about climate change, or ecological destruction, or pollution, or poverty, or inequality. Never. That's never been the purpose of governments, ever.
What they don’t tell you is that as climate change gets worse, that food will be harder to grow, driving up the price of food. And what happens when food prices increase? Unemployment. Crime. Instability. War.
What they don’t tell you is that the same technology which you love, enables the richest .01% to further concentrate and strengthen their power and to continue gobbling up and destroying more of the planet, as the rest of the world gets poorer and more oppressed. So how likely is it that you will get a “good job”?
What they don’t tell you is that university is another scam, a way to lock you into debt which in turn locks you into a life slaving away in the system. What they don’t tell you is that even with a university degree, you are unlikely to find a “good job”! What they don’t tell you is that right now, the majority of university degree-holders are not able to work in the field they studied, and in many “advanced” countries, university graduates can’t even find ANY job!
What they don't tell you is that there is no job anywhere which will help make the world a better place. What they don't tell you is that just about every job available to you will only make things worse.
They don’t tell you a lot of things.
If you didn’t realize it already, then deep down you know that the institution of school is poison.
Why is Climate Change not taught every day in every school? Why are schools not teaching how to live sustainably? Why do schools not model democracy? Why are schools silent on ending inequality? On ending poverty? On ending war? In other words, on ending capitalism!
Because it threatens “business as usual”. It threatens those in power who don’t give a shit whether all life on the planet disappears or whether billions of people live in misery. All they care about is profit.
Stop mindlessly defending schools. Stop treating them like some sacred, untouchable god. School must be questioned. Stop and think deeply about what you’re defending.
Because if school’s utter failure wasn’t bad enough, consider that the ever-increasing social and ecological injustices we are witnessing are intimately connected with what is actually the primary, most vile and only real lesson that compulsory schools will ever teach you: FORCE.
So long as schools are compulsory, they will never be healthy. So long as you’re forced to go to school, schools will remain pathological. So long as you’re forced to wear uniforms, forced to go from class to class, forced to sit still and remain quiet, forced to ask to go take a shit, forced to learn subjects that mean nothing to you, forced to learn subjects you’ll never need in life, forced to remain disconnected from nature and forced to sacrifice most of your youth, then the only thing you’ll ever learn is that force and control are the acceptable ways of conducting relationships in this world.
Once we recognize that force teaches force, only then we can begin to see that the force taught in school is the same force that breeds mental illness, inequality, war, slavery, rape, ecological destruction and the destruction of all cultures not similarly based on force.
For hundreds of thousands of years, humans educated their children by giving them freedom: freedom to play, freedom to observe, and freedom to experiment. Children are naturally curious and naturally want to be positive members of their communities. Children watched and learned from the adults around them – just as they still do today.
Adults don’t need to force you to do anything. The problem is not with you, it’s with them. You didn’t fuck up this world – they did. So long as adults engage in dysfunctional, pathological and unsustainable lifestyles and habits, then you will learn the same. If adults lived healthy lives then that’s what you would learn. If adults lived lives of compassion then you would learn compassion. If adults lived lives of simplicity then you would learn humility. If adults lived lives in harmony with nature and then you would learn not to destroy. If adults lived lives of egalitarian decision-making then you would learn democracy.
Compulsory schooling must end.
Since teachers and parents are not facing this painful reality then you must free yourselves. Make them face reality. Don’t let them condemn you to a socially and ecologically-fucked future.
We must all help to end this fucked way of life by ending compulsory schooling. And since the government and most adult won’t see how wrong compulsory schooling is, then you must rise up and rebel!
Walk out! Refuse to waste your lives on irrelevant nonsense! Take action for a better world! Use your youthful energy and creativity to solve the world’s problems, instead of wasting your life in school!
Or better yet, OCCUPY your school!
Adults have failed in their responsibilities to you, so YOU must take over the responsibility of taking care of the world.
Don’t let them enslave your minds! How absurd that grades, marks and test scores are far more important than working to end war and inequality and working to fight climate change!
Refuse to go to class. It's a big fucking lie that you need school to learn. You don't need school for anything. Humans evolved to learn. It's biological. Seek out and discover what is useful, healthy and meaningful. Seek out the skills, traditions, and wisdom that will be necessary in a fossil-fuel-free, sustainable world.
Fight back, because you have the power. You outnumber them, you’ve got more energy than them, you’re more creative than them, and you’ve got more soul and spirit in you.
Don’t let them fuck your future.
Time is running out. There is very little time left to make the changes necessary. Seize your freedom so that you can help lead the world to a healthy, livable future.
Students of the world, fight back!
School is not education. As you’ve probably already suspected, it’s mind-numbing, soul-destroying, dehumanizing enslavement, and brainwashing that is destroying the life on the planet.
Consider this as proof: More than half of the world lives in poverty. Wealth inequality is greater than at any point in human history. Stress, mental illness, depression, suicide and drug abuse are skyrocketing. Toxic industrial pollution pervades every corner of the planet. Newborn babies are already full of toxins. Thousands of nuclear warheads lay waiting to destroy the planet and hundreds of nuclear reactors are quietly radiating all of us. We are currently in the process of a mass extinction event: Between 150 and 200 species go extinct every day. And human-induced climate change now threatens to end the ability for humans to even exist on Earth.
So here we are, with a world speedily turning to shit. And what are schools doing about any of this?
What are schools doing to challenge the power structures that entrench inequality? What are they doing to stop the destruction of nature? What are they doing to stop war? What are they doing to reduce the effects of Climate Change? What are they doing to promote cooperation and sharing? What are they doing to make the world a better place?
Of course, you know perfectly well what the answer is. You’re there every day, bored out of your WiFi-absorbing skulls. Schools do jack-shit.
And not only do schools not address solving any of the world’s problems – they make sure that those problems keep getting worse.
Schools perpetuate all the world’s crap. They make sure that nothing ever gets better.
They do it by teaching you the same fucked-up way of thinking that is precisely to blame for fucking up the world. They do it by focusing on “getting a good job”, which is their way of saying, "The world is just fine the way it is, so let's destroy it." They make you focus on yourself, on selfishness and on money. In other words, they exist specifically not to change anything.
And like a good factory, schools process you. They sort out those students going to university and those not, those who will become managers, politicians, and CEOs, and those who will become blue collar workers, waiters, and cashiers. Schools exist to uphold and feed the status quo. They keep the rich rich and the poor poor. Put simply, schools make sure that the world stays shitty.
So wake up. Their “getting a good job” mantra is a super-large mountain of radioactive bullshit. What they don’t tell you is that as technology spreads, it replaces workers, forcing people into ever-more menial jobs.
What they don’t tell you is that your government will never do anything besides talk, because their true purpose is to do what the elite want. What they don't tell you is that your government will never do anything effective about climate change, or ecological destruction, or pollution, or poverty, or inequality. Never. That's never been the purpose of governments, ever.
What they don’t tell you is that as climate change gets worse, that food will be harder to grow, driving up the price of food. And what happens when food prices increase? Unemployment. Crime. Instability. War.
What they don’t tell you is that the same technology which you love, enables the richest .01% to further concentrate and strengthen their power and to continue gobbling up and destroying more of the planet, as the rest of the world gets poorer and more oppressed. So how likely is it that you will get a “good job”?
What they don’t tell you is that university is another scam, a way to lock you into debt which in turn locks you into a life slaving away in the system. What they don’t tell you is that even with a university degree, you are unlikely to find a “good job”! What they don’t tell you is that right now, the majority of university degree-holders are not able to work in the field they studied, and in many “advanced” countries, university graduates can’t even find ANY job!
What they don't tell you is that there is no job anywhere which will help make the world a better place. What they don't tell you is that just about every job available to you will only make things worse.
They don’t tell you a lot of things.
If you didn’t realize it already, then deep down you know that the institution of school is poison.
Why is Climate Change not taught every day in every school? Why are schools not teaching how to live sustainably? Why do schools not model democracy? Why are schools silent on ending inequality? On ending poverty? On ending war? In other words, on ending capitalism!
Because it threatens “business as usual”. It threatens those in power who don’t give a shit whether all life on the planet disappears or whether billions of people live in misery. All they care about is profit.
Stop mindlessly defending schools. Stop treating them like some sacred, untouchable god. School must be questioned. Stop and think deeply about what you’re defending.
Because if school’s utter failure wasn’t bad enough, consider that the ever-increasing social and ecological injustices we are witnessing are intimately connected with what is actually the primary, most vile and only real lesson that compulsory schools will ever teach you: FORCE.
So long as schools are compulsory, they will never be healthy. So long as you’re forced to go to school, schools will remain pathological. So long as you’re forced to wear uniforms, forced to go from class to class, forced to sit still and remain quiet, forced to ask to go take a shit, forced to learn subjects that mean nothing to you, forced to learn subjects you’ll never need in life, forced to remain disconnected from nature and forced to sacrifice most of your youth, then the only thing you’ll ever learn is that force and control are the acceptable ways of conducting relationships in this world.
Once we recognize that force teaches force, only then we can begin to see that the force taught in school is the same force that breeds mental illness, inequality, war, slavery, rape, ecological destruction and the destruction of all cultures not similarly based on force.
For hundreds of thousands of years, humans educated their children by giving them freedom: freedom to play, freedom to observe, and freedom to experiment. Children are naturally curious and naturally want to be positive members of their communities. Children watched and learned from the adults around them – just as they still do today.
Adults don’t need to force you to do anything. The problem is not with you, it’s with them. You didn’t fuck up this world – they did. So long as adults engage in dysfunctional, pathological and unsustainable lifestyles and habits, then you will learn the same. If adults lived healthy lives then that’s what you would learn. If adults lived lives of compassion then you would learn compassion. If adults lived lives of simplicity then you would learn humility. If adults lived lives in harmony with nature and then you would learn not to destroy. If adults lived lives of egalitarian decision-making then you would learn democracy.
Compulsory schooling must end.
Since teachers and parents are not facing this painful reality then you must free yourselves. Make them face reality. Don’t let them condemn you to a socially and ecologically-fucked future.
We must all help to end this fucked way of life by ending compulsory schooling. And since the government and most adult won’t see how wrong compulsory schooling is, then you must rise up and rebel!
Walk out! Refuse to waste your lives on irrelevant nonsense! Take action for a better world! Use your youthful energy and creativity to solve the world’s problems, instead of wasting your life in school!
Or better yet, OCCUPY your school!
Adults have failed in their responsibilities to you, so YOU must take over the responsibility of taking care of the world.
Don’t let them enslave your minds! How absurd that grades, marks and test scores are far more important than working to end war and inequality and working to fight climate change!
Refuse to go to class. It's a big fucking lie that you need school to learn. You don't need school for anything. Humans evolved to learn. It's biological. Seek out and discover what is useful, healthy and meaningful. Seek out the skills, traditions, and wisdom that will be necessary in a fossil-fuel-free, sustainable world.
Fight back, because you have the power. You outnumber them, you’ve got more energy than them, you’re more creative than them, and you’ve got more soul and spirit in you.
Don’t let them fuck your future.
Time is running out. There is very little time left to make the changes necessary. Seize your freedom so that you can help lead the world to a healthy, livable future.
Students of the world, fight back!