Conversation Between Ignorance & a Homeschooler
By: Mimi Rothschild
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” Mark said as he used a feather and ink to scribble down a phrase on the back of a napkin.
“What, isn’t school and education the same?” Mark’s friend, Ignorance, asked.
Mark shook his head as he looked into the mirror at his age and turned back to Ignorance, “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”
Ignorance was confused, so he asked Mark, “God created man, and man created schools, right? So why would He create…”
Mark quickly interrupted him and said, “In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.”
Mark continued with, “Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge.”
“I’m not following,” Ignorance answered.
Mark said nothing.
“I said that I’m not following, Mark,” Ignorance repeated.
Again, Mark remain silent.
“What are you waiting for? Find the words, Mark!” Ignorance was going intolerant. “Find the…”
“The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.” Mark was smiling at the face of Ignorance as he continued feathering his pen around the napkin on his desk.
“Mark, please, tell me what you are talking about, or, at very least, read me what you are writing. I can’t read it from here,” Ignorance uttered in a dejected voice.
Mark instructed Ignorance to read the words and value the experience of reading. Mark said, “The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.”
“Wow, Mark, who wrote that? I mean, you are an exceptional author and deserve…”
Mark quickly interrupted him and said, “It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not to deserve them.”
He continued, “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
Ignorance told Mark that sometimes he’s not sure about people. He gets confused. He knows some people want to hear one thing, but then get mad when they hear it.
“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” Mark instructed Ignorance.
“Sounds like a lot of trouble,” Ignorance answered.
“My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.” Mark said with a chuckle.
“What?” Ignorance lacked the knowledge of Mark’s imposed wisdom.
“When in doubt, tell the truth.” Mark eyed Ignorance until Ignorance understood.
“That’s a classic truth, Mark. I think your words and wisdom could be immortalized for years to come.” Ignorance almost sounded profound in his statement.
Mark turned to Ignorance and looked as though he was going to laugh, cry, or find some sort of light at the end of a tunnel. “You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”
“Huh, what?” Ignorance said as he remained fixed in his steadfast position. “Tell me this, then sir. What school of thought led you to all of these turns-of-phrases?”
Mark pointed to his home where he was schooled and above the front door it read, “Twain’s Manor.”
|