Education Enlarges Us

By Author: Malcolm James Pugh
Total Articles: 13
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Our education enlarges us.

In days of old, when life was bold,
And schools owned fields and land,
We played serene, acted out our dreams,
With nothing dangerous being banned,
Now we roll in late, grossly overweight,
If we even deign to show our faces,
And the clipboard man with his cardboard plan,
Puts us through our non sunburned paces,
Now it appears all these stark fears,
And dread of falling and disaster,
Sold off our fields, while they but kneeled,
To a politically correct Grand Master,
So though obese, we are at peace,
Though consuming rubbish we can smile,
Though weighed down we seldom frown
Because were much safer by a mile.

What price competition, breeding attrition,
What use excellence when some must lose,
Theres no Einstein and no Frankenstein
Theres just fat drones from which to choose,
Successive generations of a nation,
Robbed of the will to be fit and bright,
Brainwashed by day, to their teachers way,
Mentally chained to the TV all night,
We were naughty and lived past forty,
...
... nd still have our health and mind,
For we were schooled to different rules,
That seemed cruel but were kind,

Its not obscene to have a dream,
Not appalling to aspire to winning,
In the past someone came last,
But the victor was not sinning,
And whatever face won the race,
Whatever hand held academic prizes,
The losers were slim, and used the gym,
Were not mothball wrapped oversizes,
Everyone gained from competitive games,
From trying to be part of an elite,
You raised your sights, you saw the light,
Started thinking on your own feet.

Now mediocrity is the place to be,
No failure and no success,
No one grows and no one knows,
And no one could care less,
Where there was intellect, read neglect,
Where there was exercise read sloth,
Where there was ingenuity read apathy,
Assuming you read or write or both,
What price a system that has missed them,
Painting failure as success as it is turning,
Where once education was our salvation
Now we just have dumbed down learning,

Whilst exercise brightened our eyes,
And tuition filtered through our heads,
Where discipline and rules gave us tools,
And stirred us from all our beds,
Their eyes are leaden with whats fed them,
By the programmes and adverts 24/7,
That lead them obese to an early feast,
And a slow hell instead of heaven.

You cant subscribe to its safe inside,
Without losing out on the adventure,
You cant restrict all lifes conflicts,
Cant create things out of censure,
You cant repeal what people feel,
Cant tell them that you know best
Cant cast aside all exercise,
Cant dispel the need for tests,
For they will divine, given time,
And their innate common sense,
You cant form quality from equality,
Or lead whilst sitting on the fence.

Its so plain to see, to you and me,
Education left to artifice and device,
Will not turn out scribes and lions,
It will merely churn out mice.

About the Author Ex Civil Engineer and Systems Programmer. Ex Grammar School. 52 this July.