Nooj

Between my shadow and my soul

Bitchingess or Smilingment

This is the first winter in oh so many that I do not have the dementor of first semester exams sucking up my life force. I love the fact that I work at a university and can see the students’ brains rattling in their heads like little rats in a poorly funded psych experiment.

And this makes me realize how flucking much I have to be thankful for. For my entire university career I was like a Sandton kugel without her gps, not sure of which courses would take me where and where exactly I wanted to end up anyway. I think a lot of students are like that. I blame our sick schooling system. Ok, nooj breathe and then you can explain this without sounding like you need a large injection of lithium. I’m thankful that the stupidest spur of the synapse decisions I have made have brought me to a place where I smile often.

School is, like hospitals and prisons, one of the things that would be unrecognizable in noojville. Till this day, I get a shiver running down my spine when I enter a school. All the structure and teachers knowing everything you’re doing and all the scholars looking the same like freakoid robots in their identical uniforms. We all have Hogwarts stories of confounding teachers and nostalgic moments of pranks and fun but I think our whole schooling system needs a revamp if we’re serious about school being a transition into adulthood.

I think kids should graduate from school when they’re 14, be apprenticed into some kind of a career, learn what the world and money and inflation and maybe even having purpose is about. Then, once they have acquired skills and have a bit of a grip that life is not all about fashion and hormones and Hollywood they can choose what they want to study tertiararilly. Yes this sounds controversial even to an insane idealist who still dares to think long after so many of her thoughts have been pulverized by circumstance.

I think I’ll take a walk now and spy on some kids studying. That gives my world perspective:)

4 shared ideas:

Waseem June 4, 2008 at 10:37 AM  

Someone told me an interesting story on Saturday, about how we all learn differently, and this one famous person didnt do well in normal school but went to dancing school and became a choreographer. The point being we all learn differently and 'classic' education isnt as useful as it used to be, if it ever was.

The problem about your solution is how are you going to know at 14 what career to follow? Im 25 and I don't even know. Ever parodying :), I like that.

I love the quote btw, that bit 'the one to whom Allah does not provide light – there is no light for him anywhere.' sends a chill down my spine. I hope I am never that unfortunate

Nooj June 4, 2008 at 1:41 PM  

well my idea was that even if they choose something that they really don't like at 14, the point is to get some experience out of life that is not only focused on book learning. it could be called an experiential learning life phase and i think it will prepare kids to make that big choice at 18 much better.

i really like how Allah SWT uses the imagery to explain stuff to us in that verse. Although it looks morbid and scary, it actually gives me hope. The part about Allah being closer than superficial mirages. And i contrast the layers of darkness upon darkness with my fav verse: light upon light...

bb_aisha June 6, 2008 at 10:37 AM  

i like school & uniforms. i like tradion but i also like non-conformity.

i think we shouldn't go into university straight after school-it should be compulsory not to.
we should get life experience, and intern in fields we think we'd like to get into.
And exchange programmes should be arranged where we go to other countries & volunteer.

light upon light is also one of my fav verses & dawud wharnsby's song is one of my favs.

Nooj June 6, 2008 at 1:46 PM  

yeah i'd think long and hard before sending my kid to a school without uniforms