The Positivity Addict: Student Maturity Rising.

I chatted to Momsie Guru. (See earlier posts for more on who she is).

She said : "The most vulnerable students are the ones oppressing others and holding the whole of South Africa hostage".

"How can those who assault others, and threaten assault, be vulnerable?" Asked Mr Drollrimple - our local do-gooder who had popped in for a cuppa. He of course did not hear what Momsie Guru - the feline advanced being who resides with me, said. I pretend that I come up with these things, but it is really not me. Momsie assures me it is not plagiarism or intellectual property theft, because she is quite happy to provide these nuggets for free. Well, at least in exchange for meals, board and lodging which is provided uncomplainingly by myself.

"Well, Mo..uh" I so nearly revealed the secret, so lulled into serenity I was with Mr Drollrimple. He was a placator of great prowess so no-one has ever felt threatened by him.  "Oh, sorry, I was distracted." I said as I struggled to remember Momsie's exact words.  I had to make do with this:  "Those with a high desire for idealised, over-glamourised heroism think that rigid adherence to obstructionist and reactionary behaviours shows bravery, dedication, and selflessness. By using force and threats they become the oppressors. They lose their ability to be rational because they become addicted to the adrenalin and attention they get from their increasing extremism. Their whole identity is wrapped up in struggle politics so they feel they would lose face if they did anything less extreme. They are therefore vulnerable. Their whole identity gets trapped in a cycle of extremism."

"Ok, I get that". Mr Drollrimple nodded, disarming me from preparing what I thought was quite a formidable defense. He added more firmly "Are we not just saying that the shadow side of the masculine is perpetrator-hood, domination, oppression? That the 'light 'masculine is active -the explorer, venturing into unknown territory. To do that the light masculine needs to be firm, decisive, assertive etc. When it becomes distorted, those qualities become distorted in actions. No longer just decisive, but dominating and oppressive, no longer assertive but impulsive and aggressive and no longer firm but rigid and intractable,  to the extent of obliterating others?" He ended more with a statement than a question.

 I had to concede that his archetypal version seemed relevant when applied to the current waves of violence and intimidation across our land.

A bit strongly put, but I could accede to the overall notion. I often get a bit uncomfortable with the shadow and light aspects of masculinity and femininity because it seems reductionistic. How much it helps toward solution building was my concern. I also wondered what he thought about those who are forcing others to bend to their will by closing the Universities and forcibly pulling people out of lecture halls. Do they not realize the extent of the damage they are causing, or they do realize it but believe their needs to be more important than the rest of society? I know that 96  4th yr NMMU social work students spend 4 days a week working full day at various organizations, hospitals and schools in Port Elizabeth.

These vulnerable patients and clients that fourth year social work students have been attending to include children and adults who have been raped, people who are victims of crime, illness and injury, people  - including fellow students, who are in huge life crises and might be suicidal, to name just some of the issues that student social workers help with.

These organizations rely on students doing their practical placements and internships to provide a regular service to health, welfare and education organizations of South Africa.

My estimate is that in the three weeks of disruption and closure, at a minimum, 20,880 people connected with the work of our 4th year students have either directly suffered, or been seriously inconvenienced, as a consequence of the actions of the Fees Must Fall Campaigners.

This estimate looks at the number of clients or hospital patients that the students see per week, the family members and work colleagues of those clients and patients, and the staff of their practicum organizations - the hospitals, schools and NGO's who have been inconvenienced and disrupted by the disallowing of the social work students to attend to their duties.

This figure does not include the family members of the students who are seriously affected financially, emotionally and practically by the closure, the intimidation, violence and bullying.

It also does not include nursing, psychology or third year social work students in practical service who are also serving vulnerable, sick and dying people.

For arguments sake, let us use the same basic figure and add that as the estimate for 3 other universities with practical placements for 4th years social work students who have closed for the  3 weeks to date of intimidation and closure. That would mean that the Fees Must Fall campaign has at the least, for work connected with social work students only, affected 83 520 vulnerable people and organizations. This is not estimating the long term effects on the students, the organizations, the clients and patients who have been affected. This estimate  just looks at the disruption and suffering caused by 3 weeks of absence of services. The long term consequences are serious and in some cases, dire.

Analysing the problem has minimal value without looking at the solution.  I gathered my thoughts and said to Mr Drollrimple who was waiting patiently for my response; "You seem to be only blaming the victims here - the students who are protesting who perceive themselves as victims. Ok, some of the victims who are perpetrating against others because we cannot lump all protesters as doing harm. But what about the actions of the authorities?" I asked, my defensiveness now rearing it' s ugly little head.

" You are right in that analysing the transactions between the opposing parties is important".  Mr Drollrimple, ever respectful and caring in his responses, smiled encouragingly. "In this case, meeting a shadow masculine with shadow masculine does not work. Rigidity and might clashes against opposing rigidity and might. Never the twain shall have a spare moment to think rationally while they are all throwing stones or shooting rubber bullets. Extremism creates wars. The shadow masculine hates to lose face because then they must lose their identity as you said earlier; the 'hero'  version of self would say something like 'I am a rigid, bold, brave hero -sacrificing and not only standing up for my rights but yours too" This martyr eventually becomes the tyrant. Anyone not supporting the shadow masculine 'martyr hero' , is automatically seen as the enemy". He looked expectantly at me, as if I would agree entirely with him.

I might have done so, but his words sounded fatalistic. "Are you saying then, that these unconscious psychological forces and social roles leave everyone with little choice?".

"No". He replied firmly. " I am just pointing out that when people choose extremism for whatever conscious or unconscious benefit they feel it has for them, it has a natural tendency toward more extremes. It divides, polarizes and destroys".

Tiring of the misery of being dragged into extremism talk, I shot back immediately; "Well, knowing you, I am aware that you are far more conciliatory  and creative than that and you would have solutions to all problems".

"Aha. I have a few".  He affirmed. "You will have to pay me though. It took me 7 years of study that cost me a lot of money to get to these ideas and I am not giving it away for free! Otherwise, how do I ever pay off my student loans?"  He winked. I know that he meant that he needed more tea and biscuits.

Once tea was carefully brewed and some of it settled in his stomach, he began.  He said he was not interested at this point at looking how to create a way forward with the protesters, but rather, how to institute into the fabric of the University, a way to tap the talents of all students. I have written them here for your edification.

Tertiary Education Level.

• All students study free education models. Enlist every university department and field of study to ensure that there will be at least one week of teaching around free tertiary education for each year of study. One assignment will be required per student per year aimed specifically at examining local and global best models of this and creating a model for South Africa. This will ensure that every student participates in crafting a free education system, building knowledge and skill for the universities and creating graduates whose knowledge and skill can be further harnessed in the work place.
• Publication. The top 3 assignments from each department for each year can be published on the University websites to show transparency, promote student endeavor and share inspiring ideas.
• Graduate students do research on free education models. These students can be encouraged to do their masters and doctoral research on this topic.
• Departmental action groups. Every department and field of study commits to a quarterly meeting with staff and student representatives to collate knowledge and ideas from the student work. They refine these, and add to them to provide guidelines, models and recommendations for their department to take to a national meeting.
• Once yearly tertiary free education meeting. The national meeting will have student and staff representatives from each university with the best proposals from each department. It can take place via skype for those who do not have the funds to support travel, accommodation and venue costs.
• Best ideas Affirmed.The meeting will archive all ideas and decide on the best ideas to publish and take forward for the next year.
• National meeting minutes to be published on their websites. These developments will be taken into consideration each year to restructure assignments so students continually participate in the continual crafting of free education from the perspective of their field of endeavor.

Political, business and civil society involvement. Local politicians and businesses will be invited to lectures and the departmental level of engagement to share their knowledge and expertise together. They may then participate in the national meeting and mobilize resources and actions based on the recommendations.

"Wow",  was the most intelligent offering I could make after a long pause while I tried to digest what he was saying. Momsie had lost interest, diverted as she was by the neighborhood marauder cat sitting nonchalantly partially hidden by the tree branches on our garden wall. I was annoyed that she had removed her attention as I needed her help.

Valiantly, I marched into my own tangled jungle without her support.

"That certainly is a huge dedication of time, will, intelligence, and money to support the cause. I like it. I really like it." I blustered with a sudden rush of excitement to my head. Now I was really energized. " Oooh, I would love to design some assignments for this". I continued. " A simple traditional one would be, mmm let us see: 'choose two countries with effective models of free education in practice. Compare their political, economic, health and welfare performance to those in South Africa. Take care to compare the employment levels, tax structures and average household incomes. Conclude with recommendations for how SA may learn from these examples and begin implementing some of these practices to create free tertiary education here."

Momsie suddenly did a jig of delight to show she had heard and then apologetically slunk off to defend her turf against the marauder.

"I think I am a positivity addict", I said to Mr Drollrimple. "I think I will blame you for it".

He laughed and mumbled " More next week. We can discuss how these suggestions might be just doubling up existing structures, how it might help the young people who are losing control of themselves and how to help everyone get out of the drama addiction trap.  I now have a sugar rush and have to go and lie down. Byede bye" He waved drowsily as he exited, leaving me overflowing with curiosity and Momsie defending her territory by giving the marauder her 'death becomes you' glare.

Fees & Illusions; Falling Processes.

How strong Wobble's reaction was when I told her the title of this blog. (She is my canny editor) "Most people" she said, "do not want to be disillusioned because they don’t know that they are full of illusions in the first place. Plus, why would you or anyone else want to be party to depressing people by disillusioning them all the time?".

I was stung by that because I certainly do not want to depress people. I recovered quickly and said "If I had known before I went to University, that all lecturers were not good, that the University administration was not perfect, that the students were not all interested in learning, I would have had a far better time".

 "But rebellion is a natural process of growing up" She interjected rebelliously.

Knowing that she too had major disillusionments as a youth and young adult, I sought to explain more fully.  "I think we are talking about the same thing - not rebellion per se, but individuation - which is a process that is natural and can happen through constructive interaction. It does not have to be antagonistic".

I genuinely thought all those years ago upon entering the University campus,  that I would be swept off my feet by the brilliance of the lecturers, by the free thought discussions. By the shared ideal of searching for solutions to society's ills. This did not happen. Lectures were mostly delivered with no or minimal discussion. Knowledge was mostly deposited upon us, obedient, silent students in a formulaic fashion. I was rescued by the fact that I was employed part-time in various jobs. I sometimes felt that I learnt more from working than I did during my studies.  What I learnt from working was that each work role had specified responsibilities and that I played a small but important part in the workplace. That sense of empowerment, despite my meager earnings, provided me with a sense of place in the world. Something that  was markedly absent during my student-hood in the early years. Being one of thousands with no participation apart from handing in assignments marked by someone who would not recall having ever seen you, certainly piles up the sense of disillusionment and disempowerment.

How then can there be hidden treasure in the process of disillusionment?

Illumined Illusions.

Firstly, it is important to understand that there is treasure in illusions. With unbridled idealism and hope, we are invigorated and inspired to engage in the world. At school, perhaps we deal with our disappointments as I did - by moving our idealism to a further point in time and place. I had a mantram; "Oh well, at least at university, I will be able to speak and share ideas with people of similar passions to contribute to creating health and welfare for all".

We feel, usually as youth and young adults, that we can make the changes that our foremothers perhaps could not. The illusion is not just the projected idealism - expecting others to be powerful, knowledgeable, caring, available etc. It includes the introjected ideal, the sense of grandiosity that my idealism, my enthusiasm and dedication can achieve a lot. Not necessarily more than those around me, but certainly more than our foremothers.

When Illusions Fall.

Then, as we go about our engaging, we begin to see that our idealised authorities, the lecturers etc, are not as all powerful and all competent as we thought. Our idealism that was projected onto the University crashes. Sometimes quickly, sometimes over a few years. In addition to this is the notion that my ideal of myself also crashes when I struggle to meet the pressures that the studies demand. I can then either blame my feelings of disempowerment and failure on the betrayal of my teachers and leaders who have failed to match my ideal, or I can turn it on myself, feeling that I have failed to achieve what I had hoped and I am now not good enough. Or, a bit of each.

Stepping into Self Sufficiency?

This disillusionment is a step toward a greater sense of self sufficiency. Disillusionment is part of the process of independence - no longer relying on others to be all and do all for us. It is the step toward the autonomous self that can contribute to society without being overly dependent on those in society to provide for us.

Negotiating this crucial phase of psychosocial development can be disastrous for some people and in the current case, for some institutions and perhaps our whole nation. This occurs when the disillusionment becomes a sense that my grandiosity is affronted by the betrayal of the authorities to do what they have promised to do and then my unconscious refusal to individuate.

Instead of taking up the mantle to create the world that I wish to create with others in  a more cooperative, balanced, way, I become reactionary and rebellious thereby sinking myself further into the abyss of dependency - expecting the idealised authority to continuously provide.

Three Illusions Crashing.

 I become enraged by my own failure to cope and to enact the idealised change. However, because I do not want to face my disillusionment in myself , I need to blame the idealised other. In this case,  I blame the failure of the treacherous authorities to provide free education. In my struggle to cope with these calamitous disillusionments, I revert to earlier dependency by becoming the tyrannical outraged young rebel, demanding that the authority act according to the ideal that I have about them - that they have the power to provide.

The individuation process is now frozen in the space between striving for self- sufficiency versus seeking others to provide. At this point, the perception remains that the others might still, if forced, agree to provide - after all, they are just withholding the goods from us. Herein lies the extra illusion that needs to crash. That is, the illusion that regardless of the stance of the authority - witholding or not,  the ideal itself has simple solutions that can happen instantly or at least very soon. In this case, the perception of many is that the structures of the economy and governance have the capacity to support the whole of society adequately and can just deposit the money into the University coffers today.

The more I seek to retain the illusion that others have the power to provide this simple solution instantly, the more tacit  permission  I grant to my own destructive behaviour. After all,  my power to intimidate others to force a shutdown of operations,  at least makes me feel less helpless. The illusion of my grandiose self and the simple instant solution is constantly fed. The more the I perceive the authorities as withholding the goods, the more powerless I feel, the more enraged I become at their refusal to provide.  It literally becomes a vicious cycle.

The allure of the new emerging autonomous self becomes lost amongst the false glamour of 'heroic rebellion'. Enemies have to be made in order to act out these illusions. The University was the original enemy. Then  a little of that illusion cracked - that maybe the Universities were not the only part of the problem. The outraged grandiose self needed to keep finding new targets as each illusion began cracking, so the government, then the stock exchange were targeted. The police are now amongst the list of enemies that have to be continually created to keep serving the illusions.

Stepping into the Self-Sufficient Self.

How does the outraged rebel step into the emerging self-sufficient self? Thankfully, there are few who get stuck in the  dependent, 'rebel against withholding provider' stage. There is a natural desire to become independent on the path toward understanding and participating in the healthy interdependence of adulthood. That process is when the young person recognizes that through our independence we all contribute and therefore have a level of mutual dependence - all playing our part to provide for our well -being.

We are beginning to see some of the students and some aspects of the authorities - government, Universities and parents begin the process of engaging together. Some people are inviting greater engagement and staying true to that intention.

As more people from all sides avoid the temptation to fall into victimhood or perpetrator-hood, so the real work can begin.  As the rebel begins to seek empowerment through mutual cooperation, the other illusions will fall - hopefully more gently. This will be a more natural process as student groups engage with the arduous task of working together. To begin recognizing that they are no longer the receivers of provisions, but they too, are providers.

The illusion that others can instantly provide solutions will fade as each young adult begins to recognize that they are part of the solution. Not their violence and intimidation, but their intelligence, their growing knowledge, their ability to work in teams with a range of others. That they too, may harness their dedication in positive ways to steadily, over time , add to a better society through providing a free, respectful, nourishing, and compassionate education system.