By Tim Middleton
They say “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend” —Marilyn Monroe certainly sung that in the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and many would suggest she should know! If it is indeed true, it might explain why everyone wants to get their hands on diamonds. Some, though, would debate the truth of that: the Ginger Ninja once retorted that, “Who ever said that diamonds are a girl’s best friend, never owned a dog.” Be that as it may, the idea that diamonds are a girl’s best friend must certainly be good news for all the girls in Zimbabwe where the diamond fields are rich with promise.
Of course, Zimbabwe is not simply blessed with a rich bounty of diamonds but it is also a country that is rich in many other natural resources, most especially gold, platinum, coal, nickel, chrome, black granite, copper, silver, and asbestos. All are in much demand. Many of us may not realise to what extent we are sitting, standing, walking, working on immense wealth potential. Our investment in them is understandable and necessary. The fact is that we do not see the majority of these resources, they being underground, sometimes deep down below, but they are there, for sure.
It is an obvious statement, therefore, to say that there is no point having such resources and riches lying in the ground; we have to get them out. All this is done, in very simplistic terms, firstly through exploration followed by excavation, then explosion and ultimately by extraction. The whole process involves drilling, boring, blasting, crushing, smelting, refining, all to come out with a product richly sought after for many reasons. It is a costly process and a lengthy process but the rewards are great. When we invest in such we are looking for value, for growth, for a return, for interest, for more. The interest we gain from our investment is potentially massive.
Just as with our natural resources, we may not realise to what extent we are sitting, standing, walking, working on immense potential in our education system. We have to explore what resources lie within each child and then begin to excavate from them in their raw form before drilling into their minds to provide dynamite to break through the hardness of their lack of knowledge or prejudice with the ultimate goal of refining, purifying and perfecting the final outlay, which ultimately will bring much value and pleasure to all around them.
Education is to become interesting – such investment in education is to become interest-ment. Education needs to be boring in the sense that it must provide room for mental dynamite to be inserted and applied, which will bring greater interest and understanding in our children. We must bring it all to the surface.
The analogy can go further. Education is bringing out of the ground incredible potential; opening up not the earth but the heart, yet going to the ends of the earth, removing challenging obstacles to bring about new life, hope, wealth — which, if we think about it, is a powerful reflection of the Easter story that we also celebrate at this time. Through education, through mining the rich vein of potential in our children, we will enable them to rise up and reach out and change their world. From darkness to light, from despair to hope, from death to life, that is what we are mining.
School is boring, but not because it is lacking in interest — in fact, the interest gained from investing in it is vast! On the surface school seems to provide so little interest to the vast majority of youngsters.
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Yet underneath the ground, there is a vast field of resources waiting to be brought out into the open, for the benefit of others. We have to go from the boring (drilling into the hard rock to provide a place for the dynamite to be placed and exploded) to the interesting, to the point where the process will provide great interest and value.
We do not need diamonds; in fact, we do not even need to have a dog instead of diamonds; we already have our children, naturally resourced under the surface, just waiting to be explored (but not exploited). Gina Barreca, an American author, once said that, “It’s not that diamonds are a girl’s best friend but it’s your best friends who are your diamonds”. In fact, it is our children that are the real diamonds, made under much pressure, no doubt, but bringing immense value. They are far more valuable than any mineral found in the ground. That is interesting, is it not? And valuable.
Diamonds? Sure, we dig it! Dogs? No, they dig the ground! School? Now we are talking; we dig that!
Tim Middleton is the executive director of the Association of Trust Schools [ATS]. The views expressed in this article, however, are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not necessarily represent the views of the ATS.
email: [email protected]
website: www.atschisz
