In prison, education is a route to self-respect
After 14 years teaching philosophy in prison, Alan Smith explains why he has called it a day
"When we don't know about history and art and society we are adrift. Most of you reading this will never have had that experience, but many of the men I taught were ignorant of just about everything, and as grown men felt this keenly. Education was a relief, a route to self-respect.
For the most part, classes in the arts, social sciences and languages have been closed. There won't be much of my liberal nonsense in the future. The government has decided training for work is the way to go and for the most part education, beyond basic numeracy and literacy, has been abandoned. I can't see it myself.
Of course there are men for whom training is just the thing and it will succeed. But in prison, nothing succeeds for everyone; prison is an enormously diverse place. In my classes there were men who were mad, addicted, beyond retirement age. There were men whose intention was to go straight back into crime. There were men who were alienated or simply bewildered. There were of course sensitive, intelligent men who had decided on higher education. So, anyway, good luck with the training."
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