Tabula Rasa

 

Academia regards with disbelief the raw 

unfinished quality of those who have graduated 

the primary education system to now appear 

in their hallowed halls of learning opportunities

lamenting their recruits' inability to read and

to write, the very basics of communicating 

and exploring the world of thought and that

of creativity. Criticizing a systemic lack of

teaching rigour to invest students with the

basics of knowledge leading to graduates

using their intelligence to full advantage for

without those mastered topics emerges a new

generation incapable of doing justice to their

potential and that of the society they inhabit.

But wait: perhaps it is not the education system 

per se at fault here but parents failing to invest 

in their offspring the sense of curiosity and

adventure to be had in exploration of the printed

word, to indulge in the experiences and the

fantasies of those whose literate skills are

justly celebrated, expanding by virtue of their

written narrative humanity's vision and appeal

to spread the wings of their intelligence and

soar. Children whose parents see no personal

value in reading raise offspring unfamiliar

with books who spurn the need to read, a sad

deficit that professional teachers cannot breach.

The end result: students develop into mature

versions of themselves; dullards in the family.