Public School: Civilization or Barbarism?

In public school, as was common, everyone knew where to sit. It was there that we felt like people, with a teacher who took time and energy from their life, from their family, more or less loved, to teach us.

The facilities were outdated; raindrops would fall in the rooms on the grayest days.

But a young person lacks nothing when they have some friends nearby and knowledge, in contrast to the cold harshness of the mixture of concrete and suburban darkness.

In Portuguese, we knew poets like Mário de Sá-Carneiro, a tormented young man who committed suicide in Paris, tired of living in uncertainty and poverty. The drama of writers, after all, spans decades and centuries, with deep roots in the Portuguese soul. I remember, at fifteen, imagining Mário de Sá-Carneiro wandering through the City of Lights at the beginning of the 20th century, lost between the bohemian life of a haunted poet and the verses forming in his head.

It was at that moment that we spread our wings towards poetry, musicality, the timeless beauty of other centuries, yet it touched us as if it had been written the day before. Well-spoken words are immortal, defying the marks of time.

Looking back, I wish I had made better use of my time. However, I hear stories of teenagers and young adults who go years without a teacher in various subjects.

We cannot leave our young people deprived of knowledge. We must have the maturity to realize that we need poetry, wisdom, and thought. We must elevate minds beyond daily superficiality. We cannot criticize social media and, at the same time, fail to find a solution for education.

With utter cynicism, nobody seems to care. They prefer to produce petty posters rather than attack minorities or criticize modern behaviors and etiquette. "Things were better in the old days," the age-old cliché.

We glorified illiteracy and the structural misery of the Estado Novo era. Now, we passively witness the return of darkness, the darkness of the lord of Santa Comba Dão. Today, education is a luxury, as it once was, when only certain people from certain classes could aspire to study and improve.

Are we really a Portuguese Republic, or just another political marketing cliché?

Many will say it doesn't matter. After all, nothing matters anymore. However, after these times, may other times come. When the future arrives, everyone will say how democratic and liberating they always were. But it is in the darkness that we need to raise the light.

We need to examine our consciences and not let public education fail. Not for ideological reasons, nor to solidify a political trench, but because it is essential for those living in obscurity to have a glimmer of light.

To be able to learn about the verses of Mário de Sá-Carneiro. To learn about movements such as Futurism and Expressionism.

By abandoning public education, we are allowing civilization to end at the gates of Lisbon. Yes, that's what it's all about: civilization or barbarism.