This week I wish to make a point about western education. Following on this past semester’s lecture “Original Sin is a Hate Crime”, I believe it germane to look at how for all of our ethno-centric bias, well, arrogance actually, pointing to education in a western world on the verge of blowing itself up with nukes (gee, the cold war over too!) produces leadership supporting planet ending technologies

Reprise Robert Gates, recent past president of University of Texas [Austin] and his religious extremist generals, all with advanced college degrees, momentarily distracted from their ‘satanic’ enemies in the world of Islam while they again push war games in the face of a nuclear armed and extremely paranoid ‘godless’ communist North Korea. Bright minds, eh?

And keeping things in balance on the other side of the globe, Israel taking over the West Bank as though it were the Sudetenland and carrying on 40+ years of ‘Kristallnacht’ against the Palestinian people, the president of Germany [who replaced a president forced to resign for a honest political statement: “Germany is in Afghanistan for economic reasons”] said this past week Germany “must support Israel at any cost”, never mind the Israelis are behaving like NAZIs. So, the president of Germany sounds like a neo-con along the lines of Michelle Bachman or Sarah Palin. Bright minds, eh?

All of these people, whether American, German or Israeli, are the product of advanced educations in a system which has both supported and enabled planet threatening technologies and male hierarchal order which depend on weapons sales and aggression to either pursue their policies and/or prop up their economies. Bright minds, eh?

Now, all of this got me to thinking about my own short experience as a professor at Johannes Guttenberg University and how it happened I could not be invited back to teach again at the law school. All I actually did was to break nearly every rule and decorum of the male hierarchal German University system by applying ancient Native American educational principles to 1) entertain and 2) teach while entertaining, with the end result my product [student knowledge] rated “excellent” and “without a single student complaint” about the quality of the learning [I asked the program administrator who’d brought me in] and consequently the program I’d taught under given to different administrator and rules changed so I could never teach at the law school again. Bright minds eh?

The consequence of these attitudes and stratified hierarchal rules, lead to universities resembling inbred genetics. Requiring a degree [a type of forced indoctrination] to teach, excluding sharp intelligence combined with unique skill, precludes some of the brightest minds in the world teaching and insures mistaken ideas go unchallenged and will be passed to the next generation of academics. Bright minds, eh?

When I came to the university to see this classroom for the first time, visit with my boss in the law department and check on some important protocols, i.e., would a self educated Honky raised Indian in the Rocky Mountains be thrown out of a university in Europe for basically being himself? A matter of personality

As I entered the Law department and traversed the halls to the department chair’s office, this Professor Witch-Doctor gathered stunned looks of disbelief from the rather straight looking lawyer academic males and friendly laughs from the women, I wondered what that said about life in academia

I have known my Boss for years, relating to past Human Rights and International Law work as an investigator in Indian Country and in his office I had questions relevant to current affairs such as in regards to my stand-up comedian nature and my new professorship, could I make the point to my students the name of the law professor who composed the Bush administration memos authorizing torture has inspired a change in the spelling of the English Language expression: ‘Fuck Yoo’

Also, I established I do not own a tie and was not about to acquire one. I believe the tactful language I had used in negotiating this important parameter was “I don’t believe I could manage a tie.” I was duly assured casual clothes would be fine, afterall, I am Professor Witch-Doctor, having never subjected myself to PhD imprisonment in any ivory tower

In this Witch-Doctor’s Native world, life’s little surprises are ascribed to the trickster, and when we encounter these events, we are supposed to pay attention because life is trying to tell us something. Such as the time I had been wandering about the Arizona desert, picked up a Horned Toad for a pet to give to a child, slipped the creature into my jacket pocket and it had already slipped my mind by the time the day warmed up and I tossed the jacket into the back of my car and forgot about it for a week

Subsequently driving down a road my heart nearly blew its way out the top of my head when some cold scaly alien suddenly was attached to the right side of my neck

With the missed photo opportunity of a lifetime from the look on my face, I am sure, I grasped the horned toad and pulled it free of my neck and into my line of vision and started to laugh somewhat insanely. I stopped my car, walked the creature back into the desert apologizing profusely and set it free. Life had just told me in a moment of otherwise unfounded terror to leave Horned Toads alone. In the Native view even such a small and harmless creature has real power

These many years later, I got to be the Horned Toad. On my way to university appointment, I spryly hopped onto an escalator at the train station, was quickly sandwiched by people front and back and then noticed the little woman in a nun habit standing next to me staring at the new Professor Witch-Doctor with an expression indicating if she could leap off a twenty story building to escape me, there would be no hesitation… my camouflage bandanna and shades can do that?? I had forgot, I looked down at my t-shirt with a cameo portrait of the devil and the name “Mephisto”

I did not wink at her (oh, the temptation was great) but merely wondered at people who are prisoners of fear… with my life dedicated to non-violence, peace and Human Rights

In your student email to me has been “you showed me there is more than one way to learn at university”, “I’d take your class again just for fun!” and [I liked this one a LOT, from a woman] “your class was so refreshing after all of the suited and stiffed up law professors.” These students, my students, you are the truly bright minds

I suppose when I have survived life’s present international intrigues, the attempted assassination of myself, and achieve fame, perhaps the university could consider awarding me a honorary witch-doctorate of satire, humanities and law, and I could enjoy teaching here again ;o]