We Don’t need No Education…. by Ahsan Zawar

We Don’t need No Education

We Don’t Need no Thought Control

No Dark sarcasm in the class room

Teacher leaving kids alone

Hey! Teachers leave us kids alone

All in All you are just another brick in the wall

All in all it is just another brick in the wall

Pink Floyd

Its tough to admit at times but I feel no regret in the fact that this song actually changed my thinking patterns. The song which is released in 1979 as part of Pink Floyd’s famous album “The Wall” was written and composed by Roger Waters from the band

Though there is a writer own interpretation of the lyrics but I find my own after listening to it again and again. First let’s get through of what the writer has to say about this

According to Waters, the song is actually against the boarding school system in England, where teachers have the habit of forcing strictness through different means (beating and abusing kids), it’s still a very popular trend in countries like Pakistan and India, and so the song is pretty much relevant to every society. The writer goes along and describe that the teacher build a wall around the student which actually stops him from seeing the outer world and from thinking in broader ways. The teacher tries to discourage the student from any other activity (like music and poetry) and wants everyone to be mathematicians, scientists etc. They are different sources that build a wall around an individual like environment, war and teachers are also related to that. That’s why they are called “another brick in the wall here”.

Well from my perspective the song surely has a deep meaning in it. We look around us, the failed personalities, the lack of thinkers around us, and the ones that like to follow other’s opinion rather than having their own. You go to any top university in Pakistan and ask the student’s there about their future plans, ironically 99 percent will reply materialistically, from being a CEO to a company to the marketing guru, they all follow what their teachers have build in them, they are following what their parents have seeded in them long ago. No one is thinking about the betterment of society, the revolution, social matters, everyone is like “just another brick in the wall” where no one is different from any other. We all are mere bricks when the material inside us will fade there will be newer bricks of the same length (same thinkers) will replace us and this wall will remain there as firm as it is today.

Surprisingly this song was banned in UK and some other European countries in 1986 when they felt it is actually igniting students against the teachers. In 1990 South African black kids used this song as an anthem to remove discrimination between Black and White students. They used “We don’t need no education” and were successful in having a single curriculum for every South African student.

We live in a country where we followed alteast 4 educational boards (Matric System, O-levels, Federal Board and The Aga Khan Board), why can’t we use something like this for bringing equality to our system or perhaps our molvis are too busy in arguing that music is haram or halal. The kind of contribution music and songs like this have played in the world is a clear cut proof that how powerful a medium music is actually but our society and molvis are still listening to Kambakht and Nikama Ishq, so they can’t see the fire this expression( music ) has. Perhaps we should widen our listening and thinking and come out and break this WALL which is all around us.