They could make it back to their village on the same day but, the sun would get very low. They certainly didn’t intend to travel in the rain forest during darkness, given the limitations of human senses compared to predators’ senses. Besides, they were inebriated. They’d set up camp at the safest spot they could find along the way. The trail was less well kept at the beginning, but Rick knew it would be easy traveling on the parts of the trail that Euromamo maintained. They’d walked for two hours when rain threatened, so they got out sheets of fiber cloth that had been treated to make them waterproof and strung them between trees.
As the rain began and the trail got muddier around them, Rick commented, “The wet conditions should put a damper on the festivities at the Hedomamo village, I’d think.”
“It’ll have little effect,” John replied. “They’ve probably gone inside by now.”
CHAPTER 21
Education
Rick knew that education was important to the village. The Euromamo used the school to instill core values in the young and to perpetuate their culture. He needed to know more about it. The school was in a separate building, always bustling with activity, on the other side of the entertainment center from Rick’s room. As he walked the short distance to it, he passed the nice day care facility located next to the school. Rick had arranged with John to observe some classes and sat on a bench to wait for him. John arrived soon and handed him a schedule that listed the six classes that were about to begin, one of which was entitled “Other Cultures.” Rick said it was the one he wanted to attend.
“Good choice,” John replied.
They entered quietly and sat in the back of the room.
“Let’s start with some basic facts from our history,” the teacher began. “As many of you know, our forebears treasured their contact with other groups during their early years in the rain forest, even though they fought with many of them. They treasured their contacts because they were ignorant about even the most basic survival skills required in the rain forest. They were ignorant here even though they had some knowledge of complex English industries. In fact, when our forebears crashed into the reef in 1750, England was leading the world into the industrial revolution, powered by water wheels. Despite the advanced technological knowledge in the homeland, our forebears’ understanding of how to survive here was, to be generous, infantile. They were babes in the rain forest.
“While their European military technology was helpful in their fights with natives, they quickly realized that military technology was not the only area of knowledge that they needed to survive in the rain forest. Their military proficiency did not make them knowledgeable about hunting, fishing, growing food, or tropical diseases. To make up for these deficiencies, they relied heavily on contacts with neighboring groups. The benefits of these meetings were immediately apparent, so they established them on a regular basis, at least once annually, to discuss anything either group wanted to discuss, from rights to land, marital arrangements, new techniques for making things, trade, newly discovered plants and animals, real or imagined affronts, etc. This was information they could draw on if a crisis arose. Our recent visits to the Nihilamamo and Hedomamo are recent examples of meetings.”
“Do we always go to the other village?” asked a student on the far side of the room.
“No. Hosting is done on an alternating basis; that is, we host one year and they host the following year. Some of you may have attended these meetings either in our village or in our neighbors’ villages.”
“We always seem to eat at these meetings,” commented another student.
“Eating is almost always a part of our gatherings with neighbors because we have found that food facilitates talking. Some of you have even helped acquire or prepare the feast food.”
“What do we learn from these meetings? Why are they so important to us?”
“If you don’t meet with others, you won’t know what knowledge you’re missing. You could miss knowledge they have about food, tools, art, technology, and more. As we say, ‘Listening to others tells you things you don’t know’.” You may have to think about that saying a bit but it makes sense,” the teacher said with a grin.
“But don’t we know more about those things than neighboring groups?”
“Yes, that’s fair to say on many topics, but remember that a lot of our current knowledge was acquired from surrounding groups in fragments over the years. Our forebears knew very little when they arrived and learned an enormous amount from the groups that were here. From early on, we’ve made a point of actively gathering information from as many groups as we can and recording it in our library so we don’t forget it.”
“But we don’t learn that much from our visits these days, do we? Yet we continue to meet.”
“We learn more specific information than you realize, like how to judge other groups. The meetings remind us that we should evaluate our neighbors realistically, not overly harshly because of prejudice nor overly favorably because of naiveté. In short, our assessment needs to be as accurate as possible. We are also reminded that some groups will not want to meet with us. We would prefer things to be different, of course, and for there to be congenial times between everyone, but that’s unrealistic to expect. Some of the reluctance of other groups to meet may be our fault rather than theirs, and we must sensitize ourselves to that possibility. With that said, some neighboring groups are not pleasant and the difficulties we have with them are mainly of their making. Some are too easily offended, self-interested, suspicious, loath to exchange information, or violent. While we wish this were not true of any groups, we certainly expect that some groups will fall into this category. Why should we think that everyone will be excited at the prospect of meeting with us? Rather, the question is what our response should be to the predictable fact that some people don’t like us. We could draw back into a shell, but instead we’ve chosen to continue reaching out by asking to meet with our neighbors even if they rebuff us. The important thing is that we try to meet.”
A student raised his hand and asked, “It sounds as if we make ourselves open to all, even the offensive ones. Isn’t that liking others too much?”
“No. We don’t necessarily like them, but it’s still important to meet with them, even our enemies, if they’re willing to do so. Indeed, it’s perhaps more important to meet with our enemies than with our friends. It took us a while to realize that.”
“Why all this concern with contacting others?” another student asked. “As you’ve said, some of them don’t even like us.”
“The advantage of contact is that you gain knowledge through it. You may still be offended, but at least you don’t get offended because of ignorance or misunderstanding. As we say, ‘Some societies are good, some are bad, and most fall in between’.”
“If you learn more about them, do you tend to like them more?” asked another student.
“Not necessarily. Exposure to others doesn’t automatically bring affection. Why should it? If the other culture is bad, the more you learn about them, the firmer your basis will be to dislike them. Interaction can breed discontent as well as content.”
“Other societies can be very different from us,” a student opined. “Weird and not at all like we behave. I feel uneasy when I see some of the things they do.”
“Yes. Exposure to different cultures can make you uneasy. Different languages, food, music, rituals, and dress. Some of their practices intrigue or amuse us, some unsettle or offend us, and others puzzle us, but we’ve learned during our time here that our society can have the same effect on our neighbors.”
“What do we do that could upset others?” asked a student innocently.
“Our light skin color was a concern to many of them. They thought it was caused by diseases like leprosy, so they were quite wary of us. It took a lot of courage, they later told us, for the first ones of them to touch us. In retrospect, it’s easy to see how they’d have been apprehensive as they suffered a lot from dis
ease following our arrival. Our skin color has become less of an issue over time as they’ve gotten to know us and as our skin color has darkened through intermarriage.”
“Maintaining contact with other groups seems like more trouble than it was worth given the uneasiness it caused,” offered another student.
“There were those who wanted us to seal ourselves off from others and focus on defending our valley. However, our experience here and our reading of history led us in a different direction, toward maintaining contact.”
“You studied history to get guidance?”
“Yes, it helped us to make the right choice. For example, we learned from our library that at least two great societies, China and the Islamic countries, failed to maintain their contacts with others and suffered decline as a result.”
“Can you tell us more about that?”
“Certainly. A European visitor to China, about the time of Europe’s late Renaissance, listened dutifully while the Chinese Emperor recounted the glories of Chinese society. Chinese society was very advanced at the time, much more so than European society, but when the European visitor offered to reciprocate by telling the Emperor at least some things about his society, the Emperor replied arrogantly that China had nothing to learn from Europe. It was this attitude that marked the beginning of the decline of China.”
“What about Islamic society?”
“As some of you may know, during the centuries after the death of Mohammad in 632 AD, Islam expanded dramatically out from the Middle East. At the same time, it was making major scientific advances. For example, when Arabs went into Spain—where they held territory for 800 years—they brought a culture that was clearly more advanced than what they found on the Iberian Peninsula. The Arabs had higher levels of literacy, more sophisticated mathematics, astronomy, architecture, engineering, and literature, and more advanced agricultural practices.
“If fact, Muslims were so superior to the people in Spain and elsewhere that they thought they didn’t need to learn from other societies, in this case, backward Europe. Therefore, they didn’t send envoys from their Middle Eastern capitals to Europe, whereas Europe, in contrast, sent envoys to the Middle East. Islamic leaders didn’t have books translated from European languages to Arabic, Turkish, and Farsi, but Europeans translated Middle Eastern books into their languages. Given the attitude of the Islamic world, it’s not surprising that they missed the scientific revolution that was led by Europe beginning in the seventeenth century. The first major indicator that they had been surpassed was when they started losing battles to smaller European armies. Their errors were not maintaining contact with other societies and not remaining open to what other societies could teach them. The results weakened their position in the world.”
“I can see how regular contact could reduce misunderstanding but surely we can’t expect meetings to remedy the toughest relationships,” stated another student.
“You’re quite right. In our own case, despite meeting regularly with some neighbors, we still have problems with them. Rather than give up, however, we established another program to establish bonds. I’m sure that most of you know that we require all males, upon reaching adulthood, to live in a surrounding culture for a year. Some of you boys will be leaving for your year-long sojourn before long.”
“How could someone who grew up in this society live in another?” asked a student.
“The people in that other society have, over their centuries in the rain forest, learned how to live here, so the first task of our young men is to learn how to live as their hosts do. They reside in the same shelters, gather the same plant foods, and hunt and fish like that group. They learn about the social organization of the other societies and how their families are run. They also explore their crafts and arts as well as their values. All the while, they take careful notes, which are placed in our library when they return.”
Rick dutifully recorded the teacher’s comments in his own notes.
“Returning young men also prepare a written report for our leaders about their experience. In subsequent years, others planning to go to that society review the reports of their predecessors so they know what to expect. We’ve been doing this for years.”
“This seems to be well thought out,” Rick mentioned in a whisper to John before the teacher continued.
“Most of the time it has worked well for us,” the teacher continued. “However, tensions have arisen from time to time between our young men and their host societies.”
“How do they deal with that?”
“In the short run, the visiting male must deal with it as best he can.”
“But what if he’s in danger?” a student asked.
“He can always return if it becomes unsafe, but the best course is for our young men to learn about the host society before moving there and then conduct themselves with tact and understanding during their stay. This can go a long way toward keeping tensions from arising in the first place. After all, the purpose of this program is to strengthen our relationships with our neighbors, not to disrupt them. Our young men should always remain good representatives of the Euromamo. However, even with these cautions and the generally commendable behavior our youth, problems occur from time to time.”
“Do all neighboring groups allow our young men to live with them?” asked a student.
“No. Some groups do not. The Islamamo come to mind. Thankfully, it’s only a small number who refuse us.”
“You’ve been talking about potential problems, but what if our young men love the new society and decide to stay there?”
“That does happen but only rarely. It’s true that Euromamo families risk having a loved one move away and losing day-to-day contact. There’s also a possibility that the visiting Euromamo will develop a relationship with a woman from the other society. Of course, we caution them that they should be very careful about making romantic or sexual overtures to those in the other society, or they may offend them. With that said, over the years, we have learned enough about our neighbors to avoid the worst mistakes.”
“Don’t we discourage relationships between Euromamo men and the women from other cultures?”
“To the contrary. We welcome them.”
“But we lose some of our young men,” the student countered.
“Yes, but we get important benefits by placing a Euromamo in the other society if the couple decides to live there, or the benefit of having a woman from that other society living with us in the event the couple decides to settle here. Intermarriages result in a better tone between the groups if a dispute arises and makes it more likely that differences will be resolved without violence. At the least, the intermarriages reduce misunderstandings stemming from ignorance.”
“It would seem that people would feel more secure if everyone in the village looked alike, especially during the early years. The intermarriages must have unsettled people.”
“You’re right that diversity can make people uneasy, but it can also energize them. Look at the most diverse cities in the United States today: New York, Los Angeles, and New Orleans come to mind. You’re familiar with them from your geography lessons. They’re bustling with activity: art, music, food. What about Minneapolis or Terre Haute? Not as much activity there. People there tend to look the same. The risk to our culture isn’t the uneasiness that we feel from diversity, but the comfortable complacency that we feel from everyone being the same.”
“Very interesting class,” Rick whispered.
“Let’s stop by the tea room so I can answer your questions.”
It felt good to get in the bright sun outside.
“It’s important that we expose our children to worthy values,” John replied. “We try to teach students to expect people to be on bell curve, namely, some good, some bad and a lot in between. We don’t want them to grow up with an overly rosy view of their fellow humans since that could leave them vulnerable to attacks or ploys by our neighbors.”
“So you tell
them about the dark side of human nature?”
“Yes, it’s very important that we do so. But we also want to make sure that our people aren’t overly pessimistic about human nature as that would encourage them to withdraw and abandon contacts with our neighbors. Humans aren’t prisoners of a base character. We have a better side, a capacity for compassion and giving that should be cultivated. In this effort, leaders have a special responsibility to lead people toward the better side of their nature. Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King were such leaders.”
“Apart from leaders like those, are there other ways people can foster the better side of their nature?” asked Rick.
“Learning about others generally helps, and we intend this class to be a part of that learning,” replied John. “Reading history and anthropology generally helps; however, there are no guarantees.”
They got their tea and found comfortable chairs.
“The teacher was good, I thought,” said Rick.
“We pick them carefully.”
“Do you test the students on how much they know?”
“Absolutely. If we didn’t test them and pay attention to their scores, we wouldn’t know what talents they have and they wouldn’t know where they stand in relation to their peers. Most students are in the middle: better than some and not as good as others. A bell curve.”
“Isn’t there resistance to the testing?” asked Rick, recalling the hurdles he had jumped over to get into the graduate program. “No one really likes it, do they? Especially if they can get food, shelter, and clothing out of the rain forest by hunting and gathering?”
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