by IRENE FOWLER, Contributor

Education propels the world forward, towards the iridescent light of the possible, practical and perfected

– Irene Fowler

Whatever your preferred flavour of life is – sweet, savoury, spicy or somethin’ else, welcome to the melting pot. I am on West African time, so ‘servez-vous.’

Even though we are helpless to change things on a macro scale, we can in our own small ways, align with love and the positive. As we contribute our quota, we are building towards a critical mass which can force change/s for good.

Unesco affirms the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclamation that education is a fundamental human right for everyone which includes higher education; the opportunity should be accessible to all based on individual capacity, and be progressively free.

There is no doubt that across the board, nations allocate more revenue towards military expenditure, than other domestic sectors. This is insupportable and indefensible. Modern history has demonstrated that there are no winnable wars, These ill-advised, inhumane, adventures result only in immeasurable loss and devastation on all fronts. Furthermore, the grossly over-resourced, irrational, wasteful ‘defense’  pet programs, come at the expense of education spending. In no universe Is this fair, nor practical, in the short or long term for the betterment or sustainability of humanity, or our planet.

My poem says it all.

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Education Unanchored

Education builds nations, no parallel, proven or equal tool
to advance, foster mankind, and the whole of creation
Higher learning deserved to be cost-free, by all with ability and appreciation
A bottom-up, ballooning, elevating, empowering revolution
Out of reach, elusive, pricey tuition, merely, masterclasses in societal regression
Innate human resources, paired with purposed, acquired knowledge, ensuring perfect skills and progression
To save, honour and value humanity, thereby, manage our precarious, planetary existence
Investing in education, surely, a no-brainer, so why not stop the stone age resistance?

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Universal education, a global linchpin, too critical, to be restricted or withheld
Natural smarts, ingenuity, debased and buried, whilst i.q’s decline, left to slowly rot
In angry, despairing, ground down, minds and bodies at odds with self; sadly not melded
Mass mental poverty, anguish and frustration: Is this the grand scheme and plot?
Festering, untempered minds, harvested nefariously by sociopaths, lacking an iota of human care
Fodder, for the crocodile-infested, muddy waters of unjust systems, served up, in a darkening world
Easily played marionettes in malevolent, unwinnable racial, religious and political warfare
Their God-given vision of a fruitful and worthy life, reduced to a non-stop death-courting, dervish whirl.

****

The undermined and under-served, left to drift, like unanchored, flotsam and jetsam
Their plight, a mockery of heady, dizzying anthems, glorifying folk and country. It’s sheer bedlam!
As fascistic leaders pour trillions into war budgets, they callously crow and bark —
No government handouts! Pull yourself up by the bootstraps!
Whilst billionaire bros, Bezos and Branson, in their vain space race, glory in joy rides for a lark
On earth, the hapless unshod, run around dead-end trails, doing endless laps
Gates of higher education, shut tight, opening only to the chink, clank and ping of cold, hard coin
Allowing the monied and creditworthy, to pass through their ivory towers; others deemed just dross
Student loans, an albatross, for which would-be scholars, must gird their loins
To shoulder and carry, through varied vistas and for many moons; like a weighted, cruel, iron cross.

© 2021 by Irene Fowler

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Global College of Advanced Studies Dublin, Ireland 

GCAS is a co-operatively run college. It is the first degree-granting college owned by faculty, graduates and investors on blockchain and cryptocurrency. It presently operates 7 centres around the world.

GCAS Mission Statement: “To provide the highest quality education and research opportunities in the world, debt-free.”

The college is associated with several luminaries in academia and also hosts seminars by authoritative socio-political voices, of conscience and reason, such as Noam Chomsky, Richard Wolff and Chris Hedges.

I was requested by Creston Davis PhD, GCAS Founder and Chancellor, to do a brief write-up on the institute which appeared in their September newsletter.

GCAS Newsletter – September 2021

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