A Redundant: Sound of Settling

I know it is quite a comedy if I were to echo Ben Gibbard, "If you have an impulse, let it out". I mean, after all the preaching - where you're not supposed to be impulsive, you have to digest and analyze entities, before you do anything stupid. Act maturely, and all that conundrum.

Discussions of educational institutions took place. These healthy conversations reminded me of my personal mental connotations on 'Educational Institutions'.

Sure, we take things for granted from where we are now. Teenagers grow into young adults, and pursue their tertiary studies. The norm (at least for most of us), attend classes, participate (in frequent remorse manner) in activities and such. Then we jump back into our lives - whatever your definitions of 'living' might be. To many, academic life may be a supplementary definition to life, to some it may be a complementary entity, and to few it is life.

For some awkward reason, I have always felt that at this particular phase of life, we are to develop and generate. Well, in the sense where participating in reformations and revolutions is part of the norm. Being a radical sort of gesture. But of course, that's not entirely it.

I mean, what is the definition of "being radical" (in Malaysia) anyway? We are the society of polarized and unsymmetrical diversified views.

So what, embrace relativism and subjectivity? Then, we would've given birth to moral anarchists.

The thing is, my implication about the roles of a Tertiary Education Institution contradicts the ideology of Primary and Secondary schools where ideally, students are to be manufactured products of orderliness.

Think uh schools that constantly mandate students on obedience - physically (e.g. uniforms, hair, sleeves, socks, etc.) and behaviorally. The very idea to instill somewhat 'extreme' orderliness to these students sickens me. I mean, uh, whatever happened to individual's autonomy?

Educational Fascists? How can fascism imposed to kids be educational? I mean, how can not exercising one's beautifully diversified nature be educational? How on earth, is perfect order embracing life?

Maybe, they are "just" associates to Mussolini or something.

But I suppose, the idea of this fascism has not done much to us kids. We are living our diversified lives accordingly, anyway. And that dear reader, is another (problematic) issue.

Ke arah authoritarian salah, ke arah Utopia salah. Macam mana!

Written on September 14, 2009 by yours truly on Facebook Notes.