Overcoming cultural and economic barriers to education in Oz

Education in the Land of Oz

The difficulties presented in this scenario are that Oz is an impoverished nation that has been colonized by more developed nations that are exploiting its natural resources. Oz has 90% illiteracy and the concentration of the nation's wealth is the hands of a small portion of elites, who are educated. Oz needs desperately to become an industrialized nation so as to utilize what resources it has left for its own national interests and for the good of its own communities rather than allow outside powers to continue to use them for their own good. If this does not happen, Oz will never develop as a country and its poor will forever be doomed to a life of vagrancy. Moreover, the only unifying language is the language of the outsiders (English) while the natives are war-torn and divided between two languages (good- and bad-witch). Overcoming the language barrier is virtually impossible because these two sides clash all the time and there is no agreement between them that can be effected in order to produce a unified workforce. The situation is all the more desperate because the last Education Minister was found dead, decapitated in a ditch. The threat of violence is high in Oz; the problem of homelessness is substantial; and there are limited funds for education: money can either be used to develop a primary school or secondary education -- but not both and both are what are needed (Spring, 2004, p. 101).

The issues presented are problematic because they are cultural, economic, social and political. There is no mention of spiritual or religious issues, but these should also be addressed because they no doubt play a part in the cultural problems at the heart of Oz. If unity can be effected through a cultural solution in which charity, responsibility, selflessness and helpful attitudes towards one another are fostered and cherished, a cultural replenishing could resort in a goal-oriented, objective-driven nation-wide rejuvenation of spirits. This rejuvenation may very well lead to groups erecting primary schools independently of the state that nonetheless provide the kind of education desired by the state, and which could be beneficial to the state in terms of allowing the state to spend its monies solely on secondary education aimed at providing the knowledge needed to create an industrialized society. Thus, the issues that underlie this society are not just economic and linguistic, but also cultural and perhaps even spiritual. It is the latter two that should be first addressed and harnessed so as to move the society as a whole towards a brighter, discernible, and more organized and systematic future.

The relationship between education and the communities is quite clear. 90% illiteracy translates into a massive problem in terms of building up the nation. The communities are basically controlled by a handful of elites who are educated and wealthy and who allow the majority of the nation to wallow in poverty and ignorance. This is shameful on the part of the elites, who should do more to assist their fellow countrymen. If they open schools to assist the poor to become educated so that they can operate the kinds of industrialized machinery that the nation would need to invest in and implement in order to take control of its destiny, the elites would be honored as heroes rather than despised as villains. It is important for all to understand that everyone has a duty to each other, to his brother and to his sister, and that the relationship between education and communities is like the relationship between brick and mortar: the latter hold the former together, and the former and what provide for shelter to exist.