Education is everything, by Elizabeth Kay

The Hungry Steppe. The vegetation, such as it is, consists mainly of herbs.
Not very nutritious, but a delightful perfume!

In these troubling times, with AI blurring the boundaries between the fake and the true, we need to think how we educate the young about the lies that threaten our very existence, both environmentally and politically. My father was Polish, and my mother was English. But it was my father who emphasised education, as do parents in most Eastern European countries as they have long memories and consequently good reason to keep abreast of global issues. He enthusiastically subscribed me to the children’s magazine Knowledge. There were beautifully illustrated articles on everything from ancient history to entomology, and I really looked forward to it popping through the letterbox each week. But then, we didn’t have a television, and the internet was way in the future. Facts were facts, and we didn’t question them. The first time I started to have doubts about the school syllabus was when my father’s account of European history differed rather noticeably from the accepted account. The USSR was the USSR, and our ally against Germany in a war which was too recent for history lessons – where were these countries my father mentioned? White Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan (otherwise known as the Hungry Steppe) Palestine? These days, I really appreciate the alternative facts I was told – from someone I trusted, who had seen it all first hand and often at gunpoint.

And had the paintings to prove it, executed on the hoof on bits of tent canvas, plywood, anything. Several of them are in the Imperial War Museum. I now value all the travelling I have done more than ever, from my initial experience of Iron Curtain Poland in the nineteen-sixties to the memories of my guide in Cambodia, who spent his childhood hiding in the jungle. “From the Khmer Rouge?” I suggested. “No,” he said, “from the Americans. My parents were Khmer Rouge. They believed every word of the propaganda, and thought they were working for a better world.”

          Today it is more important than ever to believe the evidence of your own eyes, even when it goes against popular opinion. But with test papers using multiple choice, teachers having insufficient time to share their own enthusiasms, based on personal experiences of fossil hunting/bird watching/archaeological digs, it’s the education of the young which is falling short. They are not being taught to think, just to rehash what someone else has thought. They learn about the world by what they find online, and how do they know what they read is the truth? How many parents  – those who can afford holidays abroad – go beyond sun, sea, and sand, and a hotel that is identical to all the rest? Maybe philosophy should be a compulsory subject, although finding a a way to present it that is fresh and new and relevant is a challenge. Sophie’s World, by Jostein Gaarder (1991) had a good stab at it, although I see there is now a computer game based on it. What do teenagers do on gap years? Some of them look for unique experiences of different cultures and environments, but a lot of them go in for getting drunk, bungee jumping and selfies in dangerous locations. Writers, especially children’s writers, have a duty to educate instead of pandering to the interests of the influencers or the yuk-disgusting school of kid-lit. But getting the financial directors of big publishing houses to see it that way may be another matter. It’s ker-ching that counts.

          I read with dismay about literacy levels in so-called civilised countries, the ignorance about basic geography, the reliance on the internet for information, and recall the enthusiasm of children in third world countries, fifty to a classroom, with few facilities, sharing books, desperate for knowledge. 

No behaviour issues there. No electronic distractions. We have gone seriously wrong, and unless we manage to change the emphases of living in this once beautiful world we are in for trouble. Trying to get the rulers currently in charge to see anything beyond their own bank accounts, popularity ratings and global dominance seems an impossible task.

The education of women is key to major change. The Steve Sinnott Foundation has a lot of very sensible things to say about this: 

There is no more effective tool for sustainable development than girls’ education

Girls’ schooling is a tool for reducing poverty in their communities, and has economic benefits. According to the World Bank, each year of secondary education enables girls to increase their adult earnings by up to 25%. Education empowers girls and increases their ability to make decisions. An educated woman is much more likely to engage in civic and community activities, and to know and defend her rights.

Getting girls into school will have social, demographic and intergenerational consequences. Educated girls become adult women with better family planning results. Educated women help to improve maternal and child health. Prenatal care increases with the level of education.

 It's extremely depressing to see the resurgence of the closing of girls' schools in some areas of the world. Every time we think we're moving forward somewhere else seems to take a step back. The massive increase in the golbal population is surely a factor.