Education can be many things

I have been thinking about the nature of education and always having been familiar with the noble aspects of this tenet of human society, I have not thought much about the negatives which it can manifest as.

Sir Francis Bacon is often attributed with having said “Knowledge is Power”. Regardless of who first said this, what is obvious is that it has become common currency as a phrase. There are various ways in which this can be interpreted but one I like, which is not so commonly encounterd is “Knowledge is only powerful when it is shared” (thank you Francis Benton).

This makes me think that education only gains it's potency when it is inclusive. To me, education is knowledge shared and it's carriage is enjoyment. The delight of having someone understand what you are saying is something which intimately social and enriches our environment. This inclusivity is key to empowering the knowledge which can make positive social change.

Whatever way I chalk up education in it's inclusive form, it yields equilateral benefits. It is when knowledge becomes an exclusive enterprise that it loses much of it's power and majesty. Education in it's highest form does not set people up to fail but constantly revisits it's last known communal point and endeavours to extend its horizon.

In these term education is when someone who knows something shares an expression of that knowledge with someone who is new to it. If the person who has the knowledge rejects the other person because they do not know what knowledge they hold, it is an exclusive enterprise and more akin to a mutual appreciation society devoid of fertile ground.

It is less about enriching the world (both inner and outer) through discourse and more about self affirmation through status comparison. Not allowing people to recount and adapt is not facilitating learning it is prescribing a colloquial elitism. Imagine if Albert Einstein's work had been forever rejected on the basis of a spelling or grammar error which is particular to a school of thought !

Many vocational teachers and academics have expressed to me that they learn that 'there is no stupid question, only stupid answers' and that 'if I truly know my subject then I can find a way to express it which will allow anyone to understand what I know.' This sharing is what has inspired in me an aspiration of the beauty of things which I previously thought dull, mundane, ugly or just rubbish.

Here is to the individual who made that vital and bright spark in our lives opening out 'a universe in a grain of sand' without motive beyond sharing the awe which makes their day to day life an ever extending pleasure.

Here is to the friend who taught me of the history and heritage in each brick or carefully hewn stone, signed by it's author in craftsmanship. Here is to those who have taken the time to enlighten me through entertaining chat over a coffee, beer or bite to eat, making me realise how much painstaking attention to detail has gone into the pointing of a building or the turn of a phrase.

Here is to the person who has recognised in others a passion and brought them into a fold to mentor them because they saw in another human themselves – someone who similarly did not have the knowledge once upon a time.

This is enlightenment and the betterment of all which is quite beyond the Malthusian spectre of resources. This is the path to the shared solution of such a logistical hill which we all address.

Here is to climbing that hill through constructive and not destructive means. Knowledge is a limitless resource and our existential crisis' are quite enough to bind us together. I also think that pleasures can bind us together too. Here is to you all who care to share and think !

Ragged Rebrand....

Announcement: We are now changing our face to Ragged ! After much thinking and deliberating and working out the cost/benefits we have decided to change the collective name from that of 'Ragged University' to 'Ragged'...

....Ragged-online, Ragged Talks, Ragged Publishing, Ragged Music; you get the picture. The story is worth telling as we are learning much as we go along on this journey...

...It, of course, must begin with the inspiration of the Ragged Schools and the collective efforts of philanthropists and entrepreneurs to transform the social landscape of Britain. These peoples felt, tried and succeeded in bringing about equilateral positive social change whilst improving the economy.

Thus the inspiration for the Ragged University project. We made our application to become an official charity and four and a half months later we receive a response saying we must refrain from using the word 'university' in our title pending processing of our application. Here is the crux of the letter:

To use this word for the purpose of carrying on business requires the prior approval of the Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills. The requirements are set out in section 1194 of the Companies Act 2006 and in The Company, Limited Liability Partnership and Business names (Sensitive Words and Expressions) Regulations 2009 (SI2009/2615)....

...This word can only be used in a name by a body that satisfies the Department's separate criteria for university title; these relate to student numbers, good governance and taught Degree Awarding Powers. If the venture satisfies the criteria, BIS will be happy to support its use of the word in its name....

...I appreciate that the activities as described on your website may be charitable and that there is no attempt to misuse the word university....

This is of course important legislation and the the principle of legislation should be respected. There are various ways of looking at it but primarily the legislation we fall under is there to protect the public against misuse of words which carry certain weight and credentials. The idea of being able to buy a degree, for instance, is as corrupt as being able to buy a gold medal or the outcome of a football match.

So I called them up and spoke to a very nice John Sclater who apologised for the trouble and said that they felt that it was a “laudible project” but nevertheless we must fill the criteria if we want o use the word 'university' in our title.

To this I informed him that we offer no accreditation, we have no student body and told him that our good governance is guided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as laid out in our policy (which I forwarded to him). It seems that this is a bit of an unusual situation we are in and dont exactly fit the boxes that have been laid out for us, thus a debate has started about the credible and correct use of the word in this context.

Much as the nice Mr Sclater and his department have been very helpful in guiding us through this process, I looked at the calendar and started to weigh things up as the letters of support started to roll in backing our application. My spidy-senses started to tingle...

I thought about all the time and energy which could and would go into winning the application and thought about what else could be done with the untold hours and efforts which must be summoned just to use the word in our name. After tussling with this I thought the opportunity cost was potentially draining to the project. What is is in a name I asked ? And what is our name ? The answer seemed very clear to me – Ragged !

We are about being dynamic and want to avoid drifting off into a quagmire of law, potential argumentation and semantic philosophy. I made the motion to rebrand as Ragged which does not exclude the fact that we can emphasize to people the soul of the idea - “Everybody is a Ragged University”

This is what it is all about – the project is not about bureaurcracy, legislation, semantics, or spending our collective efforts doing anything which is not progressive or productive for the community. The interpretation of words in context with the law can be very mutable, so let us move on and roll over the permafrost of indecision making decisive pragmatic moves to get Madras teaching into social spaces and realise each others projects.

The Ragged project lives, it does not dither.... so, our announcement is this – We are the Ragged project and we coordinate Ragged Talks, we are Ragged-online and realise peoples work through Ragged Publishing. We have Ragged Music forming and Ragged Film rolling.

Year two – here we come – Yeeeeeehaaaaa !!!!!