Hidden Education

[corvid_conquest]

The mark that makes authorities of men,
The hubris signed as proof of wasted time,
Elitist paper notarized and kept
From masses starved of shelter, food, and dreams.

Impoverished at birth, and still at death.
As snobs are lauded wise while bound in debt;
"They're ignorant" they say, "against the better
Judgements of their own self-interest."

The wretched rural slave that spurs contempt,
While overseers scoff from high in towers —
The idiocy derision drives apart
Who would be friends united as would brothers
Against the idle lords that whip them both —
That blind them both in shackled servitude.

Comments

[corvid_conquest]

Nope. The key is found in the last lines. Sorry, it has to be read carefully. However, I also don't feel like blatantly giving it away. But, for clarity, the academics are also exploited.

[lhexan]

Even so, you refer to an academic degree as "hubris signed as proof of wasted time." That borders on being anti-intellectual.

[corvid_conquest]

My views on college and academia are complex, and difficult to pin down briefly. It's possible my language came off too strong.

College was never really accessible to me. I was too impoverished, and my parents (mother and step-father) abused me so that keeping my grades up was difficult (no scholarships). Almost every skill I learned had to be learned via autodidactic methods, including the poetry you read from me.

It does irritate me to see how much importance employers/academics place on college credentials, when it is already so insanely inaccessible to people like me.

However, if it were made more accessible, it wouldn't bother me as much. Some work well under that type of structure, but I suppose not me. I guess a kind of democratization of education is in order? Currently, academia seems too reliant on authority.

There's a lot more I probably could add, but I'll stop at that.

[lhexan]

That is an eminently sensible reply, but it's at odds with what the poem expresses.

There are only two reliable ways out of rural poverty, namely education and the military. Each has a host of problems, though.

However, if it were made more accessible, it wouldn't bother me as much. Some work well under that type of structure, but I suppose not me. I guess a kind of democratization of education is in order? Currently, academia seems too reliant on authority.

It's more accessible than it was fifteen years ago. For example, my university (UNT) has an "Office of Disability Access" which can give various perks, such as extra time on exams. The disabilities that it accommodates include autism.

[corvid_conquest]

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Fifteen years ago, I was in the midst of high school. I should ammend my poem to seem less sharp and bitter.