Malik Greatly Disapproves. Again.

[loyalrebel]

[It's been a while since Malik's spoken up on the network but this is something drastic to him and it needs addressing.]

It has been recently brought to my attention that the education system of modern times is sorely lacking in a number of regards.

I was told that beyond the basics of reading and mathematics anything else was not important and was not even taught, and this desperately needs to be rectified.

We may be learning magic and other such things from our overlays, but there are areas that are horrifically left by the wayside in this arms race we have entered in to.

I may not know much about history as it is from most of your perspectives but there has to be educators among us or at least those who will be willing to step up and help the children among us not return home uneducated louts who respond to the idea of mathematics or reading with "why should I care?" or "it is too difficult".

[He's not sorry Phillip. This is probably your fault kid.]

Comments

[backwordscompatible]

I never said anything about not wanting to learn. I just don't want to go back to school.

[There was a difference, to her.]

[neverfeltthatway]

Oh.

[He takes a moment to try and re-evaluate her initial statement.]

...So you want to learn, but not in a very structured environment?

[backwordscompatible]

Exactly.

[She sort of glossed over the very structured environment description, but that sounded kind of like her old private school back in Manhattan.]

Having to sit and listen to somebody prattle on about things that are so boring is not my idea of how to spend my days. If I'm going to learn more, it might as well be something I'm interested in. Something I can actually use.

[neverfeltthatway]

...I don't think Malik was suggesting making it mandatory. Especially since there's really no way to enforce that anyway. I think he was just suggesting that we get more organized about teaching, so that those who want to learn have the opportunity.

[backwordscompatible]

I don't know. He did seem pretty serious about the whole idea.

[neverfeltthatway]

I think it's probably only the really young kids he might try to push into learning more of the basics.

...Is being more organized about teaching a bad thing?

[backwordscompatible]

How young are we talking here?

I mean, I know there's the baby and all, but I'm pretty sure even he wouldn't think of starting education that early. And there's me and Robin...are there that many younger than us?

[neverfeltthatway]

You'd probably have to ask him - but in my world, we're considered adults at 15, and I get the impression it's not very different where Malik comes from.

As far as younger Travelers... Jaina, Phillip, Pod, and Maria are all younger than you, I think. I'm not entirely certain how old Robin is. And then I think there's a new D'Angeline kid around, but I'm not sure what his name is. [Since he ran away as soon as he saw Armin.]

[backwordscompatible]

He's about half a year younger than me. Give or take.

[They're a literal May-December romance. Go figure.]

That's right. I forgot Jaina was younger. And the others...well, I know Phillip yeah, and if it's the same Maria I'm thinking of, then I know her too. The others, I don't know if I know them or not.

Wow. There are more of us than I thought.

[neverfeltthatway]

Yeah, we've been getting more and more of them. For a long time, Sansa and I were the youngest.

Anybody our age, I figure we can make our own decisions as far as education goes. But for the Travelers who are only nine or ten years old... well, I can understand the concern.

[backwordscompatible]

Yeah, that's right. She's about your age, isn't she?

[They've only talked maybe two or three times, and those were never enough for her to accurately gauge the other girl's age.]

So long as he doesn't saddle the poor kids with a ton of extra homework, I guess it couldn't hurt. Something to pass the time in between world-hopping.

[neverfeltthatway]

She's about a year younger. Or at least, she was. She went home when she vanished last time, but I'm not entirely sure how much time she spent there.

I don't think that's very likely. Or at least, I doubt it'll be the kind of homework you're thinking of.

[backwordscompatible]

I'm thinking of the kind that makes my wrists hurt just thinking about it.

Honestly, even when it came to my magic training, that was always the worst part. I'd rather be casting the spells than practicing writing them down.

[thornsofmalkav]

Right's about Maria's age, I think? He has this weird thing where he gets to be a teenager on Jaunts, but he's actually, like, ten.

[neverfeltthatway]

Oh. Like... Ganymede Syndrome? Or something else?

[thornsofmalkav]

Something else, I think. He and his little friends used to be Zed's mortal enemies on their world and they fought him by being transformed older... and something to do with trains.

[neverfeltthatway]

...I see. [He does not see.]

[thornsofmalkav]

Their world is really fucking weird, Armin. Weirder than giant naked people.