Sunday morning and here I am lying in bed…pondering the failure of education.

The word education derives from the Latin to bring forth, draw out of, which surely implies that there is something within each of us…an inherent knowing, wisdom, power…that is there to be brought to light and made available as the primary agent by which we navigate and build our lives and contribute to the world that we are a part of. 

By this definition there is hardly a person on the planet who is truly educated. Quite the opposite in fact! We are actually un-educated…conditioned to believe that the power lies outside of ourselves and force fed a standard survival kit of knowledge that merely qualifies us to be directed. It’s no secret that the schooling system we have today is the legacy of training workers for the industrial revolution.

This is not to have a go at teachers and professors who are mostly, I take it, doing a good job of conveying the knowledge sets they are charged with conveying. Education is not their responsibility. It is society’s responsibility. 

It is up to society to decide whether we want a mass of dis-empowered members suited to a hierarchical age and directive modes of organization. Or whether we are ready for a creative age and more cohesive modes of organization, in which the inherent wisdom and power of every individual is engaged in whatever they are involved in.

And who is this society I speak of?? Well that would be us…you and me. It’s our decision. It’s up to us to decide whether we will take responsibility for our own education and bring forth the power and the knowing – indeed, the genius – that lies within.

And it’s up to us whether we will enable our brothers and sisters in this same power, support them in realizing that they have it in themselves too. 

As I write this I feel a thrill because I know that this decision has been made by enough of us. Revolution is in the air. But it is not the old revolution of replacing one hierarchy with another. 

It is the evolution of true education. The change brought about by a colossal osmosis as exponentially more and more people realize that the power, the authority, the genius is inside us, there to be brought forth and applied to directing our lives and all that we undertake and contribute to the world that we are a part of.

Well may we now say, give me education or give me death. Viva la evolution!

William Whitecloud