Read. Iqra.

Ev-ery-one should have the right to education. Education should not be a privilege. The fact that education is a privilege and not a right is extremely scary - because it really shows the manifestation of power coming from the top-down. To even educate ourselves can be a huge struggle, even in the world's richest country.

Education should be a right. It doesn't matter what kind of education - home-school, public school, private school, oral history, written history - whatever. Education is the most empowering tool a person can have. To not have that tool, that right, is extremely disempowering and we can see what the results are all around us - people going off to fight someone else's war, people falling into crime, drug addiction, people getting arrested and locked behind bars. Or people being enslaved to the middle class and having to work as servants, cooks, drivers, dealers, hustlers, sex workers, and all the rest of it. If people had the right to education...all of that would be a different story.

And that's probably why they don't have access to education. To a good, solid, education.

And for those who have degrees and what-not - its not enough. We all have to continue to educate ourselves. I really understand now, how much there is that I don't know about and don't understand. And the only way to learn is to continue to educate myself. I have my diploma from the University of Michigan sitting in a drawer in my room at my parents' house. Perhaps one day I'll get a frame for it and hang it. But really, how much was that diploma worth? How much does it actually mean to me? Going to college empowered me and taught me that I need to continue learning. And going to college is a rare privilege that few in this world have. So I respect my time at Michigan and I'm grateful for it. But it doesn't put me above anyone else, nor should anyone think so.

As someone who became less and less attuned to classroom-based learning as I got older, perhaps that's why I have my diploma sitting under a bunch of folders in a drawer. Maybe that's why I'm excited more than ever about educating myself, after my formal education has ended. Maybe this means that, the university system isn't for everyone. So I think that a right to education should encompass many different kinds of education, and not shove the academic system in someone's face. Now: I enjoy reading books, outside of class. I like going to lectures, outside of class. I like doing group discussions, outside of class. In university? I hardly ever did my readings, was late to class if I even showed up, and if I did half the time I couldn't focus, took awful notes, and I didn't want to engage in group discussions because I was never prepared and I was always annoyed at being one of the few people of colour in the room, and often the only one.

Anyway...I enjoy educating myself now.