My little nephew loves "The Lord of the Rings". Wherever he visits, it is one of the first things he asks for. And both of his aunts and uncles know, it is a good thing to have on hand. He becomes totally absorbed in the drama and then gallops outside on his pretend horse with his sword through his belt or a quiver of arrows on his back. He fences shadows in the trees and assails enemies from the treetops.
Good and evil are so clear. Warrior heroes ride out to do battle - righting wrongs and injustices, protecting the innocent and weak. No wonder this is so popular in a time when our own leaders have become so morally hazy and grey. Where are our heroes today? Who are the villains? Who will ride forth to do battle for us?
The series "Law and Order" in all its incarnations, has been extremely successful on television networks around the world. Once again, the story is simple and clear. A crime is committed. Police investigate, prosecutors try the case and judges pass sentence. Instant gratification.
Similarly the forensic scientists of CSI Miami or New York may have the smallest speck of dust or hair to work with, but they will find the persons responsible for any crime committed and they will ensure that justice is done.
This formula is obviously very satisfying to a justice-starved public - not only in South Africa - where violent crime and corruption have been rife - but also in the US where reality has shown that it can take years to convict criminals.
We think that with the progress of science and technology, we have become "civilized". Yet in medieval times there was a "knightly code" which implied a sense of honour in battle. Warring knights might engage in battle on one field, while on another peasants laboured to bring in their harvests. Modern times, with modern weaponry and technology seem to have only meant an increase in numbers of civilian casualties.
So our heroes may not be on the field of battle. They do not seem to be in government. Where else do people look for inspiration? Sportsmen and women have become heroes and heroines to some. And unfortunately to many, celebrity and heroism have become synonymous. The silver screen has magically turned actors and actresses from ordinary people into Spiderman, Batman, X-Men and even warriors from Middle Earth - elvish, human or hobbit.
The viewing public does not want to let these magical, mythical heroes slip back into their ordinary lives. The "red carpet" has become more of a magic carpet, transforming the dull and bland into the beautiful and super-human. No wonder members of government are trying to capture some of that magical status for themselves and turn parliament into a red carpet show. They are trying to project some of that heroic glamour.
But the original meaning of the word "glamour" was to cast a spell. The celebrities and leaders in government are not real heroes. Where are our heroes of today?
We find them in the simplest and sometimes strangest of places. A black man working in a supermarket giving an elderly white man a lift home - on his back. Policemen and women who - instead of taking bribes or forcing motorists off the streets - are collecting food for victims of a fire. Men and women who work in emergency services - angels to those caught up in tragedies, whose names might never be mentioned.
These are today's heroes. They wage war with "random acts of kindness". They are disguised in the ordinary clothing of the cashier, street sweeper or the man who stops to help you fix a flat tyre on the highway and is never seen again. They are our ordinary heroes and even children - who pretend to gallop wild horses and fight off orcs and goblins - will recognise them as such, one day.
Many may find themselves thinking why is it that people are committing violent crimes against each other? Why the innocent are suffering and why teenagers - some barely more than children - commit such violent acts against one another for a cellphone, a wallet or money? These youngsters have chosen to follow a path of violence and in so doing, they bring more violence upon themselves - a life spent broken in prison.
"The Cross and the Switchblade" by David Wilkerson is the extraordinary true story of a pastor who found himself moved beyond measure when he read a report in Life magazine about the trial of seven teenage gangsters in New York who had brutally attacked and murdered a 15-year old polio victim, Michael Farmer.
This shocking story did not happen just yesterday - it was in 1958. After the Second World War, when the world seemed to have had its fill of horrors.
What did David feel when he read that story? Horror? Anger? God filled him with a profound pity for fallen humanity.
When the street gang members went on trial, David tried to visit them in jail. His photo was taken being detained by court officers and published on the front page of many newspapers. He resigned from his position as church pastor to minister fulltime to inner city youth.
Nicky Cruz, a gang leader of the Mau Maus in New York was one of the youngsters who benefited from Wilkerson's ministry. Later, he wrote the book "Run Baby Run" - that explained the violence of his youth and life until he met David and was confronted by the love of God.
David told Nicky that God loved him. Nicky slapped David and threatened to kill him. David admitted that Nicky could cut him into a thousand pieces - but every piece would still cry that God loved him.
That afternoon the preacher showed up at the Mau Mau's headquarters to repeat his message, and was slapped again. David just smiled, and then prayed for Nicky. Later, at the mission arena, Nicky felt guilty and started to pray. He asked God for forgiveness.
The following day Nicky and gang members who converted went to the police and turned in all of their bricks, guns and knives. Nicky began to study the Bible and became a preacher in his old neighbourhood.
This story is encouraging when we live in violent times that there is hope for teens who have only known violence and despair. There is hope that they will come to know the love of God and find salvation, love and a new life that does not depend on violence. There is hope that they will choose the cross, instead of the switchblade.
"School is a twelve-year jail sentence where bad habits are the only curriculum truly learned. I teach school and win awards doing it. I should know". (John Taylor Gatto).
Which is worse? Saying that the "system" has failed pupils? Or that teachers have failed them? Or that they themselves have failed?
Some members of the press are having a field day over the words "failure" and "results". What does this actually mean?
Many successful businessmen and women were not successful in school. A matric certificate is no guarantee of success in life. It seems that crucial aspects like character, principles, honour, decency, cheerfulness, patience, diligence etc have been totally overlooked in the result witch hunt.
There seems to be a complete over-emphasis on value of marks and pieces of paper as opposed to value of human beings, their opinions, feelings and spirit.
Judgement and condemnation of teenagers is a sure way to brand them with the mark of failure. Encouragement, perseverance and hope are paths to success.
John Taylor Gatto, former New York City and New York State Teacher of the Year wrote the book "Dumbing Us Down: the Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling". He spent 26 years as a teacher and quit because he said he could no longer participate in a system that destroys lives by destroying minds.
Very simply, he made a list of "The 20 Qualities of an Educated Person." In compiling this list, Gatto reviewed answers to questionnaires given to a number of corporate personnel managers and college admission officers. According to these two groups, an educated person would demonstrate:
1. A broadly knowledgeable mind
2. Self confidence
3. A life purpose
4. A touch of class
5. Good leadership skills
6. The ability to work with a team
7. Patience
8. Good public speaking skills
9. Good writing skills
10. Resourcefulness
11. A desire for responsibility
12. Honesty
13. A public spirit
14. The ability to work well alone
15. An eye for details
16. The ability to focus at will
17. Perseverance
18. The ability to handle pressure
19. Curiosity
20. An attractive personal style
These do not have much to do with marks. They focus on character.
In his speech, “The Seven-Lesson Schoolteacher,” Gatto describes seven lessons that he says are taught in all public schools by all teachers in America, whether they know it or not.
He wrote: "The first lesson I teach is confusion. Everything I teach is out of context. I teach the un-relating of everything. I teach dis-connections…."
"The second lesson I teach is class position….The children are numbered so that if any get away they can be returned to the right class….You come to know your place.
"The third lesson I teach is indifference….When the bell rings I insist they drop whatever it is we have been doing and proceed quickly to the next work station. They must turn on and off like a light switch.
"The fourth lesson I teach is emotional dependency. By stars and red checks, smiles and frowns, prizes, honors, and disgraces, I teach kids to surrender their will to the predestinated chain of command.
"The fifth lesson I teach is intellectual dependency...[Only], the teacher can determine what my kids must study, or rather, only the people who pay me can make those decisions, which I then enforce.
"The sixth lesson I teach is provisional self-esteem….The lesson of report cards, and tests is that children should not trust themselves or their parents but should instead rely on the evaluation of certified officials. People need to be told what they are worth.
"The seventh lesson I teach is that one can’t hide. I teach students they are always watched, that each is under constant surveillance by myself and my colleagues...The meaning of constant surveillance and denial of privacy is that no one can be trusted, that privacy is not legitimate.
Gatto states that current US education systems teach children: "how to be a good "Egyptian and remain in your place in the pyramid…Look again at the seven lessons of schoolteaching...all of these lessons are prime training for permanent underclasses, people deprived forever of finding the center of their own special genius.
So what is the answer? According to Gatto: "Some form of free-market system in public schooling is the likeliest place to look for answers, a free market where family schools and small entrepreneurial schools and religious schools and crafts schools and farm schools exist in profusion to compete with government education. I’m trying to describe a free market in schooling exactly like the one the country had until the Civil War, one in which students volunteer for the kind of education that suits them, even if that means self-education; it didn’t hurt Benjamin Franklin that I can see".
Children are blessed when they have freedom to choose where they will fit in and where they will bloom. This freedom of choice should be supported and reinforced so that no child is branded a failure.
Psalm 8
The moon and the stars set in their places by thee
What is man that thou shoulds’t remember him
Mortal man that thou shoulds’t care for him?
Yet thou has made him little less than a god
Crowning him with glory and honour.
Thou makest him master over all thy creatures
Thou has put everything under his feet all sheep and oxen, all the wild beasts, the birds in the air and the fish in the sea
And all that moves along the paths of the ocean
O Lord, our sovereign,
How glorious is thy name in all the earth!”
