Do as you please

It’s a shame that it’s only a movie.

Bartleby Gaines has been rejected from all the colleges he has sent admission requests to. To avoid the wrath of this parents he invents SHIT (the South Harmon Institute of Technology), a non-existent college for which he sets up a real internet address. The pretence turns into reality, and he finds himself managing a numerous group of teenagers that have been rejected from the traditional institutes.

As always, the moment in which the truth surfaces arrives. The false college, which has been fixed up for the occasion in an old restructured mental home, is discovered by the Head Teacher of the real Harmon College and Bartleby Gaines is brought before the American College Commission.

Does this school deserve to be called a school?

Let me tell you beforehand what will happen after this article is posted. A large number of teachers that follow “Traning With Movies”, will write to me to tell me that they do not approve of my comments regarding school and teachers. It has already happened in the past with regard to the following pieces:

Followers that accused me of describing politicians as monsters
Others took insult to my remark on the those who pretend that they are blind
Someone even asked that the newsletter be cancelled accusing me of having used the Cinema as an instrument to blame banks

To those who are not able to go further than their own thoughts and ideas, I wish you peace and happiness, because you need it. I sincerely do not expect people to take my word to the letter, or that they invent meanings to my words which are useful to their purposes.

Therefore, if you do not like what I am about to write about on “school” and teaching, it does not mean to say that we have to go to war over it, it means that we can share opinions. They call it bi-thinking: keeping two ideas in mind which are exactly opposite to one another but considering both valid.

In other terms, “mental flexibility”.

Something that does not exist in schools. Aahh! I’ve said it! I’ve let it out!
I have inserted the whole speech made by Bartleby because I believe that it could make way to school improvements, a new way of looking at learning and teaching.

We are not talking about “educational reforms”; which every year are put under fire by students and teachers. Those are reforms that have a sole objective: to cut funds so that they will go into someone else’s pockets. They are catch-penny political maneuvers.

Here we are talking about “a new spirit of teaching” which sees the student (follower or trainee) at the center of learning. I realize that what we are talking about is a “Copernican revolution” and that I am being blasphemous for many (above all for the education oligarchy that controls more seats than school desks), but believe me, many problems in society today are symbolic of a conformist school and a culture that is unable to innovate and renovate; men become teenagers and then men, the men generations.

The 4 flaws of the education system (from primary school to post-graduate level):

– A school that prepares you to be a “good employee” in a world that fires people.

– A school that does not teach you to believe in yourselves, when the only thing that counts in life is self-esteem.
– A school that does not teach you how to manage money, when outside the walls of the school you do not live on “books”.

– A school that does not teach you how to manage your time, when your days are made up of hours and priorities.

Therefore, those that understand the limits of our system and have money to invest, shelter their children from ignorance. Unfortunately, the others continue to learn Latin, literature and to say poems off by heart. Or how to do complicated analytical calculations knowing that they will use a calculator later in life. This means that the rich will become even more educated and rich, and the poor will remain ignorant and poor.

Now, before I am totally misunderstood, I would like to make the following things clear:

– Not all teachers are strict

– Not all destroy the self-esteem of their students

– Not all are orthodox

– Not all materials are useless

– School is not the only problem of this millennium.

I ask for you to be mentally flexible again, please.

Despite this, Bartleby Gaines’ speech is a source of inspiration for who as a teacher would like to break free from conformist grayness, and help their students to bring out their creativity and passion.

Group learning only occurs when the people decide to learn and for this we do not necessarily need a person called a “teacher” to teach us unless we are a person who wishes to learn from others. It could be a “coach” or a “co-ordinator”.

We do not need books (flexibility: maybe yes maybe no)

We do not need timetables (flexibility: maybe yes)

You can learn at any time and in any place. Here are the words of Bartleby Gaines:

“Nah, I’m not gonna answer your question, ’cause you guys have already made up your minds. I’m an expert in rejection, and I can see it on your faces. And it’s too bad that you judge us by the way we look, and not by who we are. Just because you want us to be more like them, when the truth is, we’re not like them, and I am damn proud of that fact! Harmon College, and their 100 years of tradition, but tradition of what? Of hazing kids, and humiliating anyone who’s a little bit different? Or putting so much pressure on kids that they become these stress freaks and caffeine addicts? (…).Why? Why can’t we both exist? Huh? You can have your grades, and your rules, and your structure and your ivory towers, and then we’ll do things our way. Why do we have to conform to what you want? (…)You know what? You’re a criminal, because you rob these kids of their creativity and their passion, that’s the real crime! What about you parents? Did the system really work out for you? Did it teach you to follow your heart, or play it safe, roll over? What about you guys? Did you always want to be school administrators? Dr. Alexander, was that your dream? Or maybe no, maybe you wanted to be a poet. Maybe you wanted to be a magician, or an artist. Maybe you just wanted to travel the world. Look, I lied to you, I lied to all of you and I’m sorry, Dad, especially you. But out of that desperation, something happened that was so amazing. It was full of possibilities, and isn’t that what you ultimately want for us as parents? I mean… it’s that. It’s possibilities. Well, we came here today to get your approval and something just occurred to me. I don’t give a shit. Who cares about your approval?! We don’t need your approval to tell us that what we did was real. Because there are so few truths in this world, that when you see one, you know it, and I know that it’s a truth that real learning took place at South Harmon. Whether you like it or not, it did. Because you don’t need teachers or classrooms or fancy highbrow traditions or money to really learn, you just need people with a desire to better themselves, and we got that by the shitload at South Harmon! So you can go ahead. Sign your forms. Reject us, and shoot us down, do whatever you gotta do. It doesn’t really matter at this point, because we’ll never stop learning and well never stop growing and we’ll never forget the ideals that were instilled in us at our place! Because we’re S.H.I.T. Heads now, and we’ll be S.H.I.T. Heads forever, and nothing you can say or do or stamp can take that away from us, so go!”

Now I will leave you to your own thoughts and comments.

Let us hope that for the future generations, we will have a different type of school, schools that credit differences instead of punishing them, that appreciate creativity instead of interpreting it as a threat.

I would like to thank all those teachers and trainers, who have a massive responsibility, trying to complete their missions in the best possible way, teaching our children to face tomorrow’s world.

To you, teacher, aware of the power you have.

A great big thank you!

“… and in case I don’t see ya…

good afternoon, good evening and good night!”…

(The Truman Show)

Virginio