CULTURE OF MEDIOCRACY: Some thoughts about education, conformity, and mediocrity

	Watch TV
	enjoy ice cream
	drink beer 'n coffee
	as the planet decays

	Remember "Be like the rest"
	is a credo that works out best

	Minimize risk
	'n live in computerized bliss

	Make your own home comfy 
	'n ignore disarray

	Focus solely on
	your tiny sphere 
	Do What Authorities Ask
	& Learn to Fear.

	Your role is simply ta work -
	not question things that appear

	In a world with billions ah tiny worker-bees 
	there's little tolerance
	for deviancy.


Melissa squinted at the poem, her nose wrinkling as if catching a whiff of something sour. 
She flicked the corner of the paper with a manicured fingernail. "Whudz dis?" she asked, 
her voice soaking with skepticism.

Satoru didn't look up from from the doorframe where he stood, his shadow long 
across the floor. He let out a dry, short breath that might have been a laugh. "Isn't 
it obvious?" he asked tonelessly. "It’s a basic educational agenda."

"Ya kun't be serious!" Melissa shot back, spinning around to face him. She gripped the 
back of her chair, her knuckles turning white. "You’re believe schools are designed to 
turn us into... mannequins?"

"Why not?" Satoru finally met her gaze, his eyes cold and analytical. He pushed off the 
wall and took a slow step toward the table. "Mass stupidity makes folks easier to manage. 
A thinking population is a restless one. A dull one is predictable."

Quickly Melissa shook her head, her earrings jingling with the movement. "Yeah, bud 
how kuld humans ever konsent ta stupidity? We have wills. We have brains. You can't 
just tell someone to be a drone and expect them to say 'thank you.'"

Tim, who had been sitting in the corner in silence, leaned forward into the light. The 
glow of the overhead ceiling lights the sharp angles of his face. "Who said consent wuz 
necessary?" he asked softly. The room went quiet, the hum of the air conditioner suddenly 
feeling very loud.

Liao tapped a rhythm on the table with a pencil, his expression grim. "Tim is right," 
Liao added, staring at the poem's final lines. "With skillful manipulation, you kun 
'dumb down' a populace without most folks even noticing. You don't ask for permission; 
you just change the environment until the 'worker-bee' mentality is the only way to survive."

Melissa looked from one face to the other, the defiance in her posture slowly collapsing 
into a tremor of realization. She looked back down at the poem—specifically the words 
Learn to Fear. "Dang," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "Are we really that easy 
to program?"


=====================================================================================
from _Crassroom Voices - Poetry, Art, & Dialogs about Education_ by T Newfields
SHORT SUMMARY: Some thoughts about education, conformity, and mediocrity.
LONG SUMMARY: A conversation, poem, and digital image about mass education and social compliance.
KEYWORDS: social conformity, education for mediocracy, social isolation, mediocrity,
	social engineering, educational critiques, apathy, systemic manipulation, subservience, 
	consumerism, cognitive conditioning, societal decay, autonomy
Author: T Newfields [Nitta Hirou / Huáng Yuèwǔ] (b. 1955)
Begun: 2006 in Tokyo, Japan / Finished: 2026 in Shizuoka, Japan
Creative Commons License: Attribution. {{CC-BY-4.0}} Granted

Disclosure: This piece was partially generated using AI tools for styling and ideation; 
            human editing was then applied.

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TRANSLATIONS

  Deutsch   https://www.tnewfields.info/de/kultur.htm
  Español   https://www.tnewfields.info/es/cultura.htm
  Français  https://www.tnewfields.info/fr/culture.htm
  Nihongo   https://www.tnewfields.info/jp/bonjin.htm
  Zhōngwén  https://www.tnewfields.info/zh/pingyong.htm