WE BELIEVE IN EDUCATION
Teachers despised and disrespected, attacked by students in scrapped schools. Complete reversal of the hierarchy of authority. Total lack of interest in learning. Terrorist attacks on schools. Little case of governments. Doctors and postdocs working as bankers, or giving private English lessons to ensure their livelihood. Ignorance and mysticism wanting to surrogate in an arrogant way the light of scientific knowledge. Flat earth. Hollow Earth. In full space age. Creationism instead of Evolutionism. Lack of critical sense and mass imbecilization. University institutions dismiss the teachers as experienced and qualified, giving priority to money rather than the quality of teaching, production and transmission of knowledge, which should be their primary goals. Every day we know more, but we teach ourselves less and less. It is higher education being commodified and vulgarized.
This depressing scenario becomes even more sad when we realize that the key word for virtually every problem on this planet is education. It is the tool that will remove the cloak of troglodyte and human stupidity, giving way to an environmentally preserved world, managed by enlightened rational intelligences. It is from her, not from religions, that commitment, ecological awareness, ethics, justice and fraternity are born, as well as the supreme respect for all life forms. Through education we will abdicate childish and dextrical concepts, such as territorial pride and financial concerns.
In a 13.8-billion-year-old Universe, possibly just one of eternal infinity, with more than a trillion observable galaxies, each consisting of countless stars, surrounded by zillions of planets, what is our importance? None. Where we came from? From nowhere. We are only here because of a fortuitous Earth collision with an asteroid 65 million years ago, an event that blindly and randomly changed the course of our planet’s biological evolution. Where are we going? Any place. What is the meaning of life? None. However, good or bad, we can still investigate and understand something about nature and the Universe; discover their mechanisms and unravel some of their most intimate secrets. We can give meaning to life, and give meaning to our lives! And this is simply wonderful! Much more than any ancient legends – naive – about the divine origins of the world.
In addition, however contradictory it may seem, we even have some relevance within the cosmic context. After all, as Enrico Fermi asked a long time ago, where are the ET’s ?! Just go out on a Saturday night, and go through pubs, bars and restaurants to convince yourself that there are no large-scale extraterrestrial beings scattered along Via Lactea. If there were, the famous Star Wars, Episode IV, A New Hope, bar scene would be a common place across the four corners of the Earth. Our Galaxy is more than 10 billion years old … We are alone, or almost so. We will not have anyone’s help. Therefore, the incessant and passionate quest for knowledge represents our only concrete hope of improving our chances of survival.
Learning is good. It’s good. It is fascinating. Learn and discover, always. At all ages, everywhere, at any time, in every way, every day, always more and more. Learn to learn, and learn to live better. Learn to survive, and learn to evolve. Learn to respect. Learn to recognize our eternal humility and ignorance. Learn to be dazzled! It is up to each of us to wield the banner of education without shame. Fight for an education without prejudice, free, lucid, critical, comprehensive, and quality. It is incredible that we are able to decipher, at least in part, how the world works. Let’s not waste this chance! Join us. We believe in education.