Liberating education

This evergreen number from Pink Floyd may well be the right thing to kick off the new year. Events in recent days and much of 2011, particularly pertaining to some erratic antics and verbal diarrhea of certain politicians and government functionaries, remind us of the importance of formal education to liberate the minds of especially the young people. The opposite, i.e. conformity, may well lead to the maintenance of a status quo that is oppressive, exploitative and, last but not least, mentally challenging.