By carelessness I left the car headlights on and it ended up losing the battery. I tried to start the car and it just shook and wouldn't start, it hesitated two or three times and my heart was trembling as much as he knew about the possibility of starting. He didn't.
I push the seat back, stretch my legs and start reading the Umberto Eco that has been accompanying me these days to help me in this liquid society. While reading, I decide to try to start the car again, and it doesn't work. I turned the key 5 times asking the saints to help me. I Googled what the patron saint of drivers would be and it actually exists (I didn't even know there were drivers at the time of the saints). He can't help me, the problem in this case was with the machine, not the driver. I asked Hephaestus, then, to help me and nothing did the Greek god who works with praise to metal.
With annoyance on my face, I stop trying and a divine light is sent to me: the valet down the street. “My boy, this will ruin the car. In the stride you will… do you want help?”. I want a lot of help, what I wanted most was help. It helps a lot, but I said I didn't want to. I had already called the insurance. He insisted: "But in stride you will, you don't need insurance."
I refused again, I still joked: not even my life takes a hit, let alone the car. I laughed, he didn't. He once again insisted and I once again denied it, saying I would wait for the insurance. It was then that he told me the sentence that is the basis of this entire text: “You don't want to try hard because you don't know, these young people today don't know how to make a car start in stride, I bet they don't even know how to declare income tax”. In fact, I don't know.
He said that and went away maneuvering cars, offering his knowledge to those who really deserved it. Of course it made me uncomfortable. There, still waiting for the insurance (but very tempted to ask for help), I decided to write this text here. Making the car jerk is something I should have learned. Declare income tax too. What was I doing all this time at school that I wasn't taught either of these two skills?
I'm standing here waiting for someone who has this knowledge to be saved. Making a car start in stride is one of the little adult things that we know we're going to come across and never learned. We, educators, have the habit of talking with a heart full of pride that the school prepares for life. What life?
We are not able to teach how to make a car start in stride. We barely know how to declare income tax, but don't worry, we know how to teach you how to calculate tangents. The truth is that we outsource what is necessary and practical and we are left with some important knowledge, no doubt about it, but we don't know so well how to use it. Not knowing how to make a car start in stride is just a simple and futile example. The reality is denser.
Student leaves school knowing ionic bonds, but hits transvestite. If so, is he trained? It is. And very ready to live in society (the one that is being built, at least). Looks like that's what we're organizing for. It seems we don't need someone who knows how to make the car start and make their own coffee, and clean their own mess. We managed to pay for it.
It seems that what we need is people who know how to isolate the variable like no one else. Sounds silly, right?! Shallow text without foundation written sitting on the car seat. No, it is not. It's not about knowing or not knowing how to take the car in stride. He is about our priorities in the world of knowledge.
Next year I'm going to pay someone to file my income tax. The valet doesn't. And the way he treats people he's a nice guy. He doesn't cross the street when he sees a black man or a gay man, he helps men and women maneuver with equal patience. This text was written in the time of two and a half parking rounds and insurance hasn't arrived yet, maybe it's time to ask for help from those who really know.
“Your valet, please… what's your name? Teach me here how to do it and help me do it.” – I think it will be the beginning of a new learning…
