Education as an Idol

Haitians worship education. More specifically, the kind that involves classes, books, note taking, preferably with testing and diplomas of course. Imagine the importance of owning a house to the average American family and one may begin to understand the importance of education here.

Sadly, we commit the same sins: we buy more of it than we need; we pay more for it than it is worth; and often, it has a poor rate of return.

For example, a young man, between 23 and 30, had a job as accounting clerk. But then he was told of a chance to enroll in a Bible school program for free. The allure of yet another diploma or certificate was too strong to resist. He quit his job and enrolled in the program. Shortly afterwards, he had to leave the program, but he had already given up his job and has been without one ever since.

Stories like these are not unique or even rare: we Haitians believe in education more than anything else, except real property maybe.  Here, a country with a 60-70% unemployment rate, people walk away from jobs in the name of education. Here, families go without food, using their money instead to pay tuition and uniforms and books, in the name of education. Here, a father leaves his wife and their small children--with her encouragement and blessing--to go abroad for years, in the name of education. Here, parents turn their 15-year-old daughter over to 40-year-old men, in the name of education. (The 40-year old pays for the daughter’s schooling, and she in turns pays with her body--and her life.)

This is insanity. And the problem is compounded each time a national politician or an international figure mindlessly repeats simplistic slogans: “education is the foundation of society”; “education is the foundation of life.”  Maybe. But what if education meant more than school and diplomas? What if honest work really counted? What if actual skills or real experiences mattered more? What if nuclear families were foundational? What about honest common sense?

Such considerations are ignored.  In matters of education, sacrifices are not just accepted: they are promoted.

Forget voodoo: in Haiti, education is our god, our idol, our drug. And the results are just as destructive.