Author: Kerem ALPARSLAN (12 Years Old)
Translator: Mehmet Akif ACAR (14 Years Old)
One day in a country that was cold and rainless, the president of the country said to the press, “There will be no schools anymore, let the kids have fun. Teachers don’t need to be upset; I will continue to pay them.” He was an old man after all. He was tired of caring about school issues. The schools were on holiday after a week he said. The kids were in joy. They were outdoors playing all day. The parents were happy about this because the country was cold and mountainous, so especially in winter days this was a suffering reason for the parents. They didn't need to pick up their kids anymore. Even the teachers were saying: “We don't need to go to school five days a week, and we are getting paid”. Letters of congratulations and thanks were pouring into the president. The president was also happy. He thought that he made a good decision and protected his position.
First, objection came from the people who rented houses for their kid’s university. But the president didn’t care about it. He even got too far and closed libraries. After this, the objections started to come from librarians and publishers. After a few years, the situation even got worse.
The kids in the past were now adults and they needed to find jobs, and nobody had any knowledge left. But there were no employees left so they got them to the job and gave them the admission. But this caused a big economic shock. It was written high prices on the markets; the business owners were messing up everything. The payments were sometimes so low or so high. This was also affecting the trade between the countries. The connections with other countries were cut. This situation was everywhere. A midway wouldn't be found. There was a struggle for life. There were broken objects, trash, hungry persons, and animals everywhere. The population began to decrease rapidly.
Are you asking why the president didn't do anything about it? He tried to do but he wasn't successful. He tried opening the schools again or trying to teach something. But every time it had no use. People were adapted too much to laziness and the absence of the school that when the school was opened, they weren't coming, and they weren't sending their kids. They were even protesting it. At the end, the president made a speech to all the residents:
“My dear people! Years ago, I closed libraries and schools. In the beginning, everything was great, but everything went wrong after. We didn't have any knowledge left. Everything happened because of our ignorance. Our economy was shocked, and all of us started to struggle for life. See, let's do a short test. One plus one equals?”
“A million!”
“What is one?”
“Sixty-six!”
“What does that mean?”
“As you can see all of us are ignorant. Now, please let's open the schools again. Let all of us learn new knowledge, let life be the same as before.”
After this people started behaving sensibly and didn't protest the schools opening. Next everybody begins to learn. Worked every time, red books nonstop. After one and half a year everything begins to return to normal. People returned to their normal lives and straightened the economy. And understand how important schools are. Everybody said, “The school was a need for us, we can't continue our lives without it.”