Factory refiners turn their attention
acid testing the gold
How pure; how valuable?
Most malleable and ductile of the metals
a procession of children moves along
to be processed by workers that search
for the few; the gifted and talented
prices go up with scarcity
Ill defined – a broad spectrum
99th percentile of IQ,
require tests with higher ceilings
crafting the bell curve,
a golden ratio
Mix potential with achievement
now the battery of tests changes
these will act like keys
to the socio-economic hierarchy
society as quality control beating down
the girls and minorities
so they won’t make it through,
the golden rule
The students are molded into bars
‘Gold Standard’ and branded with a seal
complete with certificates,
inert, reliable, exchangeable, interchangeable, and secure
the brightest from the system are displayed
baubles for the world to ogle and exploit
If the children are bored
teach them inquartation and parting
so they may become refiners and certifiers
if they are emotionally unequipped
take them to the markets
so they may be deified and learn how being
valuable and useful is more important than love
if they are damaged simply polish them up
if they are contaminated remove them from the floor
along with all the other pyrite
Teach them to internalize
a version of the fascist state
an over active ego driven by reason,
the golden mean
Prevent self-actualization, the embrace of specificity
keep away liberation, multiplicity, or human expression
(the factory demands quality controlled assurances)
Indoctrination is a process of reducing raw ore
to its purer, more precious form
Chromapoetica 
(from the author – anyone using WordPress know how I can remove my accidental ‘like’ from this post. The touch pad on my laptop keeps malfunctioning (how embarrassing)! Although getting an automated e-mail that says I like it is even worse. Thanks, any help is appreciated.
Oh c’mon, cheer for your poem, it’s worth joining in the Like chorus … Kidding aside, this is a fine assay on the ends of formal education and the all the unlearning we have to do to go back to being the genuine product. In the world’s eyes, value is apparent and skin-deep; in God’s (or the poem’s, or Love’s, or whatever deity or gnosis rocks your toesies, every child is perfect exactly the way they are. How to undo the fraud? Child by child, poem by poem, love by love. I don’t think this is your finest work, but its point is important.- B
Thanks Brendan, I saw your warning on your dVerse offering so I’ll have to see how brave I can be and if I can face your bad girls.
you touch a sensitive topic here and i much like how you touch it..it’s the same over here…knowledge is so important and things go towards elite universities and elites everything…but then – they lose so much on the way..excellent social critical write…also love the title
Thanks Claudia, our system now has become even more dehumanizing with its focus on teaching to standardized tests. Young people today (I left public school 20 years ago, graduating at 16) don’t often have the benefits of the arts, music, critical thinking, or even writing. Yet for all our emphasis on the basics our youth aren’t succeeding. I know high school teachers that tell me that their graduating students can’t even read.
I love this from start to finish.
Thank you for your kind compliment, I look forward to reading your work.
scary reality isnt it…what are we mass producing and creating in our gold standard and in our relegating of talent to where the state dictates…cogs in the machine…
Your comment brings to mind the documentary I saw on North Korea, A State of Mind, where the young people spend all their free time practicing for the Pyongyang mass games.
Very interesting and apt line about displaying the brightest children as baubles. I can very much relate to that and have seen it all too often.
Quite chilling this.
May they all break free and walk in the love that is always reigning and raining.
Thanks Jannie for your call to liberty, it begins in the mind which is why this is a particularly damaging system. It also ignores the emotional needs of young people so I appreciate that you mention love.
An exceptionally clear and clean manifesto of all that is wrong with our artificial and corrupt society that cannibalizes all its best and stamps them into badges symbols baubles tools and what have you. I also like the word dancing, list forming, all the intricacies and the bits of jargon that make this horrific assembly line so real. ( I “liked” it also so you would be just one among many faces in the friendly crowd. ;_) )
Thanks Joy, especially for helping me blend in! I’ve been running around the blogosphere this last week accidentally liking all kinds of things! I’m glad you appreciate the detail, those things take time to incorporate as I don’t know anything (well, now I know a little) about metal refining. The initial incarnation of this poem was from my perspective but I felt it would work better if it worked around a central metaphor and took the ‘I’ out of it. Again, I always enjoy seeing your friendly face here.
Hey Anna,
I hope you recieved my tweet message – I have had a hell of a day – i wont bore you with the details but a collaboration would be great to try – email me a version – we can have a bash
I love this poem – you have gripped hold of something which truly interests me and drives me crazy.
With your usaul flair you have explored the nooks and crannys and exposed some truths.
Your word choice is fine and cutts to the quick whilst illuminating the shadows.
Indoctrination is a process of reducing raw ore
to its purer, more precious form
This ending is Key and leaves a permanat mark.
Over here we have a certain amount of this of course but i have once argued that the English system is meritocratic ( though not perfect) in a paper – It wasnt a popular posistion but i felt i argued the case well.
Great to be at the bar and reading such interesting poetry
Thanks Anna
Arron
Thanks Arron, I can’t wait to read your poem which will inevitably make mine look tame and docile :). Also, I’m sorry to hear about your day.
What I wouldn’t do to see meritocracy functioning anywhere. Cognitive psychologists have identified that groups choose leaders based on completely useless information like height and who speaks first. Couple that with social psychology studies on obedience, compliance, and social loafing and a picture of why things are in such a terrible state emerges.
Yes, yes, yes – you hit so many nails on heads with this summation.
A system driven by wealthy males with egos the size of the moon – and we wonder why we have so many problems.
The meritocratic argument i present is theoretically taut – but then there is the practice….
Of course here, all is dominated by the class system but opportunity is abundent in schools if you have the support at home – unfortunately this is not always the case.
My day yesterday included being acosted by a young man whom took exception to my protestation of his nearly mowing me down on his pavement mounted bicycle – at speed.
My reaction was restrained and Very NEW ME (lol) but the whole affair left a bad taste.
Not to mention an excess of adrenaline.
He had no respect – for me – for the law – common courtsey or perhaps himself ? He said “No one tells me what to do” and added some macho vulgarity for affect -alot to read into that one sentence.
Im venting! lol
I shall hit my email this evening BST and will hit you up
I’m glad you’re ok and your response is a triumph in itself. Hopefully my poem will provide some much needed comic relief when it arrives. I’d love to read your argument on meritocratic education systems. I do think you have a better system in the UK, certainly if History Boys is to be believed!
Just another wheel in motion following such a golden standard, scary really, but you touched upon it wonderfully.
Thanks Pat, I enjoyed my visit to your lair too. Though I don’t think I can convincingly refer to my blog as a lair :).
Good questions Anna… all those golden rules, means and ratios… not sure any system has it right…
Interesting read….
Thanks, I look forward to reading your work at the pub.
This poem is just brilliant, just simply brilliant, I just re-read it, and read it out to my Beloved, and he totally agreed, he just said ‘Wow that’s brilliant’..so two ‘brilliants’ glistening for your words, hung from the lips of self-reconstituted ‘baubles’, free seeking self-actualisation, and open to all that is expansive in others & this world, and happily finding it in your words, whilst reading on a little temperate isle over the huge expanse of water..
I’m so happy this resonated with you and your Beloved. As a recovering (or as you so aptly put it self-reconstituted) ‘bauble’ who was taken to market I’m glad to know it rang true across the ‘huge expanse of water’. Here’s to more self-actualization and expansion!
Being an adult tutor I’m amongst those whose job it is to pick up the pieces of those that the mainstream education system fails. One size fits all does not work in education and for many the real learning comes after they leave compulsory education. A fine piece with lots to think about here. I think you could probably trim it a little, sometimes paring a piece down to its essence can make it far more powerful.
Thanks Carys, I’ve been super busy and pulled this from last year’s work. I should have brushed it up but ran out of time. Your suggestion is very helpful.
Interesting comparison…
Thank you, I look forward to reading your work at the pub.
I agree with every word. Brilliant write.
Thanks, and it’s always wonderful to have you stop by!
Another blow against the Machine! Personally, I’d rather remain straw than be spun into fool’s gold. Teach the children to ask “too many” questions instead!
Love it, I still ask too many questions!
I taught children in schools private and public for a dozen years a lifetime ago. I nearly killed myself trying to address the needs of all. Within the system, each child’s uniqueness cannot be addressed and adored. You illustrate this truth perfectly.
Yes, I’ve seen the terrible toll on teachers up close and personal. My stepmother taught for 35 years and they just kept demanding more. Right before she retired she had almost 40 students in her classes!
Scary and chilling world today…nice write.
Too true.
wow, very powerful, so much truth in these words. love the closing lines, bringing it all home with perfect clarity.
Thank you, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Wow, I love reading somebody with something to say. Not a big fan of the machine or system either, more of a trust issue. Great write. Impressive again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://henryclemmons.wordpress.com/2011/08/15/i-just-dream/#comments
Thanks Henry, I’m glad you’re finding work you enjoy and it is engaging. I look forward to reading your contribution to the mic.
Great metaphor well turned out. The education system is in such a sad state. Thank you for writing this.
Thank you for reading and commenting; I look forward to reading your poem.
Blessed are the teachers that dig their heels in and make my child as an individual little soul more important than their test results at the risk of funding.
Amen. This is especially true after the uncovering of the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal.
This is one of the best piece of writing I have ever read. It is straight going to my FB wall.
I am amazed how beautifully u have unleashed the education system.
Fantastic read !!
Thank you, I’m happy you found it worthy of praise and attention. I value your visits and feedback!
Wow… this is right on the mark.
We’ve become so technologically advanced now in some ways yet, it has
stripped us of our real life genuine knowledge of how to love and care and
all that seems to matter anymore is how we make the money for those who have
the money. Money = power. Power eventually, corrupts.
Fabulous prose. So sad, because it is so true.
Yes, why do they fashion gold into bars when they could make it into art? The system reinforces kyriarchy in its myriad manifestations. As I mentioned to Natasha: “Why should we use all our creative power? Because there is nothing that makes people so generous, joyful, lively, bold and compassionate, so indifferent to fighting and the accumulation of objects and money.” – Brenda Ueland Thank you for your visit and insightful comment.
there really is something horrifying in the mechanical dehumanization you invoke here so well. scary.
Yes, I recently read an article about how the US has been emulating the Chinese system (even more dehumanizing). The Chinese have abandoned it because it doesn’t work. There are some people arguing that our ability to be creative and innovate will be the only thing to save our economy but the education system will take 10-20 years to consider the idea and reform.
I think you have perfectly captured the currently world education scenario.. nobody seems to care about knowledge and values per-se… all that seems to matter is the quantifiable output… quality is usually sidelined (sadly)…
A very poignant read, Anna… intense and direct in its form.. ME LIKES!!
I’m sorry that it is so widespread. Quantity over quality has intense disadvantages when dealing with human beings. I’m laughing about your mention of intense and direct, something I’ve heard many times over :). Thanks for visiting!
Anna, I have to say the commentary is almost as brilliant as the write! Is it not fantastic to have found a living, breathing, THINKING community that lends weight and substance to our ideals! I have often debated homeschooling my daughter, I had a terrible time with the “system”…for me the trouble was boredom. I see the same thing happening with my daughter. In 1st grade, when she was having trouble on the playground with a group of peers, I made the mistake of sending her with her Harry Potter book, and told her to let the drama pass and enjoy her book during her break. The principal didn’t agree. The book was taken from her, she was told that she was to be playing, and I had to go to get her book back. (after school hours) else it would have remained in the principals office till the end of the school year. Where is the logic there? She’s a very tough, unique little soul, but she was traumatized! Look…now I’m ranting, not even sure what my point may have been…but I’ve seen baubles that loose their shine pretty quick if they are not maintained! And I’ve seen diamonds appear in the oddest of places…normally once they are done with the system!
It is lovely to find such an engaged and engaging community where we can share ideas and ideals. Thank you again for your part in making that possible for all of us. It is a monumentally complex problem with no easy answers. Add in the challenges of budget cuts, overcrowded classrooms, bad administration, crumbling infrastructure, bullying, special education, parent involvement (or lack thereof), teacher burnout, training, poverty, and on and on it’s miraculous that it functions as well as it does.
I live in a country where kids are tiered at a very early age, put through test to determine where they will go. Sure they say, it’s all fair in the end, but they are kinda bringing about a kind of unhealthy mentality that kids in ‘better’ classes have a future and those that don’t make it to these “upper classes” will probably end up in lower end blue collar jobs. In the end it builds a society that has less respect for certain jobs, and people judged by paper qualifications instead of character and experience.
I like how this poem is written and the metaphors used. The refinery of gold — is how it is, because the system is initially created with good intentions — to find the best and to bring them out, make them the best they can be. However there is no sure test for finding the talented and gifted, because it’s so varied — trying to find a standard test is futile, it becomes unfair when applied to all when those who do not ‘pass’ the test are considered ‘rejected’. Also the system seems to have become exploitative, as the focus turns into finding subjects that can be used rather than for the good of the subjects.
The image of students being molded into gold bars with stamp and seal, is hard and cold. The process suggest a tough life for these selected candidates and what comes out is something lacks uniqueness although it is now regarded as precious. This seems rather ironic to me. There is something horrible about that, they’ve turned into products to be used, a commodity.
In an ideal world, everyone should be allowed to explore and find their own talent and interest, and passion. It does seem that society is far too impatient to give people time to do so.
Thanks for your poem, provokes a lot of thought as usual. 🙂
Yes, the separation can lead to terrible consequences for children at all ‘levels’. In some places this leads to an increased suicide rate for the children who don’t feel they have a future or are placed in science when they love literature. The process completely ignores the emotional needs of the child. The irony is that IQ tests were designed to help identify children who need special educational assistance, not to understand the other end of the spectrum of intelligence. You hit the nail on the head with the paradox that these highly valued children loose so much being molded for societal exchange. The worst crime of the system though is the stratification of society and as you so well said, ‘people judged by paper qualifications instead of character and experience’. This is a system that, in the US, continues to reinforce classism, sexism, and racism. Thank you immensely for your thoughtful response, great to speak with you as always. I look forward to visiting your blog.
This is unsettling… but only because it is tragically all too true. Shivers. The question for me, as someone just entering the teaching profession, is how to break this dreadful cycle and let these kids learn to live. Awesome poem.
Clearly you already have several important things going for you: awareness; bravery, you’re aware and still willing to engage; empathy; and you’re a poet! I’ve often said that art is a battle against the things we cannot directly engage, if you can help them find a voice then they’ll make it out thriving. I spent years running a nonprofit organization so I know what it is to face seemingly insurmountable odds but walking into something with your eyes wide open, heart aflame, and a determined mind makes many things possible. The only way forward is through.
Wonderful metaphor on such a bleak topic. This is a very smart and thought-provoking piece. Here’s hoping for a golden age.
Thank you for the kind compliments, I’ll second that hope!
A brilliantly written and finely imagined poem. The extended factory metaphor perfectly highlights the categories and classifications we construct to mold, form, select or reject our brainwashed children. Many lines here will form part of my poetic memory. Thank you, James.
I appreciate your reading, thoughtful and encouraging comments, and your fine poem this week.
“We don”t need no education/we don’t need no thought control/ no dark sarcasm in the classroom….” OH man!! You have me reaching for my Pink Floyd record now. Beautiful poem Anna. It’s hard to believe we all went through that.
Ha, yeah I graduated at 16 but long after I got my college degree I had nightmares where I was forced to go back to high school! Thanks for the visit and comment.
Apt indictment of our education system. I think if I had kids I’d (almost) consider home-schooling. The metaphor was very well played.
We decided in our early 20s not to have children for ethical reasons related to overpopulation. There are some benefits. Thank you very much for your visit!
You described very well one of the reasons why we had both of children in private schools. Good poem.
When public school became mandatory, the ideals of manufacturing and increasing production were extremely popular economically and politically. Those themes got woven into our system. Recent teacher education programs do promote personalization and differentiation within the classroom, but it takes time and is difficult to accomplish when teacher effectiveness is determined by students’ test scores. I wanted to teach high school at one point, so I have many teacher friends and a fair amount of education training.
We agree that the system doesn’t work as well as it should, but one of the best ways to change it is to teach new teachers better and work on the problem from the inside.
Personally, I also strongly believe that public schools include much indoctrination, and that aspect of it is part of what pushed me out.
Also, I went through the talented and gifted program in my public school, and it always amazed me how many people who weren’t intellectually gifted (meaning they got good grades) but gifted in other ways (music, especially) got absolutely no encouragement until maybe high school. There’s not perfect way to determine giftedness; there’s not even a very good definition, educationally.
‘When public school became mandatory, the ideals of manufacturing and increasing production were extremely popular economically and politically. Those themes got woven into our system.’ This is an excellent point as is teacher training (though they bear too much of the burden in general). The GT program is highly flawed and you are very right about there not even being a good definition! Thank you for your erudite insight.