THE CADRE, TUES., FEB. 5, 1974 Page 2 V l '

’itorial’ What epiice adulthood?

At one time, children were permitted to stay away from school until about the age of six, at which time they were placed in grade one to begin a long, involuntary, trek through our school sy- stem.

Now, however, due to dimi— nishing time allotted to parental care, the child is placed in either a day-care center, nursery school or kindergarten. This is seen by our society to be pro— gressive and innovative &, presumably conducive to "advanced" capacity when

regular schooling commences.

No doubt it is, when you conSider that it is the shaping of a conformist me— ntality that is sought, which necessitates "gett— ing to them early."

What is completely disre- garded in this proceSS is that the child is taken out of his natural milieu which consists of the si— ghts, sounds, faces, pro— blems, joys, etc., of the family and neighbours. It is this enviornment in wh- ich he best aquires the tools, attitudes, beliefs, etc., which most contri- bute to his personality, because it is in this en— viornment of his daily life where his needs are expre- ssed or repressed: where he relates meaningfully in the natural flow of events of which he is a real par- ticipant. 7 What actually happens, however, is quite the re- verse. Rather than let the child explore and discover the world for himself, our social authorities (the educators (sic) take him out of the natural context and place him in a con— trolled enviornment called a "school" where the tea— cher (society's licensed brainworker) can have full access to all his poten—

Dear Editor,

On behalf of the co-ordin- sting team for the Newman Conference held here at UPEI on Jan. 18, 19 & 20th, we

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tiality so as to channell these same potentials in the direction most suitable for society's needs. Rather, than learn about life and living where it actually occurs, they take his life, potential and artificially create a sociably accept— able individual —— who eve- ntually becomes aleniated from real life. a At least 99% of all stu- dents and (especially) fac-

ulty, are living (?) examp- les of an aleniating schoo- ling process. All the same, the Education department here at UPEI is turning out teachers whose training eq- uips them only for perpet— uating the existing dilemma. Mind you, they claim to be innovative and efficient: however, their innovation and efficiency does not by any means, seek to change the system itself; rather, to make it better!

All of us, without excep— tion, have cried for, or at least,wished for, a differ- ent state of affairs.

Mistakenly, but predict— ably, we always look to our authorities to initiate any desired change. But this must fail simply because these authorities have also come through the same sch- ooling process -— indeed, their "success" is evidence that they have been more efficiently conditioned th— an the rest of us -- and, as a result, any change th- ey can see is through the eyes of the system which is £9; the system. They, (like most of us) cannot conceive of human advancement because the dehumanization process which is part of the schoo— ling process, does not re—' cognize humans as humans. The system can only see it- self; and men are only a part of that system. According to the system,

would like to express our ‘appreciation and gratitude to you and your staff for alloting space in the Cadre for us to make the necess- ary announcements, etc., wh- ich assisted in making the conference the success it was. Again, thank you.

Sincerely, Rachel Roy -- George Mitchell Co-chairmen_for‘hewman_Conference

.‘v‘w‘o 31'7")"

there are not problems, (ex- cept about how it can op- erate more efficiently for itself) —~ certainly not human problems. It cannot afford to recognize humans as humans or, human pro— blems as human problems because such a recognition would undermine the System's being. Therefore, in order to sustain itself, it must continue to resist recog— nition of man as man.

But the system does not exist unto itself (albiet it fggggiggg unto itself), it can only exist as such through the medium of man. The secret of the system 15 that which sustains it —— men: but they have to be a certain kind of men -- they are aleniated men: men who have been aleniated by the- system which is a necess- ary condition for aquiring the appropriate "personell" to sustain the system.

In order for the present system to continue, it must create sub—humans from potentially whole humans. The system efficiently con— tinues -- it has no lack of sustainers -— You!!

Your parents were "proces— sed" and you, if you have the courage of reflection, will perceive that you, too, are being "processed".

If you are one with suff— icient courage, you can cr- itically reflect upon your own "processing". By cri— tical reflection you can test its validity by asking whether or not such a pro- cess is conducive to true human advancement: you may ask who establishes certain criteria for a host of norms, lows, more's, etc., that- you are called upon to acc— ept. You might ask; “Well why is his idea more.val— uable than my own? He is another living person such as I who thinks, but why is his thought qualitative- ly superior to my own? Tho— ught is still thought. No matter how much he may have read or studied that by no 'means indicates his sol— ution to a particular pro— blem is one bit better than mine. Does a Ph. D. necess- arily live better than I? If so, then why are there just as many alcoholics, divorces, etc., among them as there is among the rest of us —- if not more?"

In the realm of life there are no degrees, and no ot- her realm is important.

The only valid educational system (and "system" is not

a good word, I might add) issreality itself! Turn to reality, seek communication with her, obey her, and you

>'fiswillLbecomeiaupersonrx'