Education
A child’s education begins on its fourth birthday, when it is parted from its mother and given to a mentor.
Mentoring
A mentor is a professional child-rearer, trained and certified by UCE. All of them are Zealots. They do not hold their charges to the same standards as those born in the UCE creches, but they are nevertheless harsh disciplinarians.
A mentor has charge of one or more broods of children, all of whom will have been taken under her wing at the same time. They live a communal existence, sleeping in the same room, eating at the same table, and playing the same team sports. There is no room for the loner. The size of a brood depends on the skill of the mentor: a beginner might start with as few as three, whereas a veteran might have charge over as many as two dozen children belonging to several different broods. In most cases, the larger the brood, the tighter the discipline: anyone who can master a room full of squalling toddlers is a force to be reckoned with.
The primary method of discipline is public humiliation, coupled with a loss of privileges. When caught in an act of disobedience, the child will be forced to stand in front of the entire household and recite the words of shame:
“I take full responsibility for my actions. The fault is entirely my own. I sought to draw attention to myself, to make myself feel important.”
During this period, the children learn how to read, how to write, and how to navigate through the digital world. They may even learn a little about mathematics and science. They will be thoroughly steeped UCE doctrine, and spend a great deal of time at rallies. They will all grow into model citizens — or else.
The Lottery
When children reach fifteen years of age, they enter the educational lottery, which isn’t a lottery at all. When a company puts in an order for a child, they have already decided which school they will be sent to, assuming they perform up to specifications. They always anticipate a certain washout/culling rate, of as much as 90% at the level of the elite academies, and plan accordingly.
The following placements are available:
Work Camp. Those with a history of willful disobedience will be sent off to begin a life of hard labor.
Trade School. Most will be taught only the skills necessary for some menial job, such as ‘driving’ a truck (i.e. sitting in a cab and pushing a button if something goes wrong).
Technical School. About a quarter will receive training in some useful trade, such as systems administration or plumbing. Most of this work could be done by bots, but by law jobs of this sort must first be offered to humans.
Professional School. A select few are chosen to study UCE philosophy, UCE theology, UCE history, UCE science, and all other things UCE. This qualifies them to work as supervisors. They don’t learn how anything works.
Academies. A very small number of schools continue to offer a classical education based on mathematics, science, and ancient languages such as English. Only the best students are admitted, and those who can keep up with the workload progress rapidly.
To put things into perspective, this is a technologically advanced civilization, yet only 1% of the population has the equivalent of a mediocre high school education, and 0.01% are at the level of a college senior.
Secondary Education
The final stages of child rearing take place during these secondary educational years, ages 15-18. Puberty has been put on hold until then, and an entire class goes through adolescence at the same time. Now that they have been indoctrinated in the prohibitions against special friendships and genderism, it is considered safe to allow them to sexually mature, provided they remain on fertility-suppressing medications.
It is in these years that each child must make a decision: whether to undergo moderation, or to apply to the birth-givers program, or to live a celibate lifestyle.
Most accept moderation, either immediately or sometime in their second or third year, and be enrolled in Matchmaker. They will then be surgically sterilized, given hormones to even out secondary sexual traits, and be psycho-erotically conditioned to make them equally attracted to both kinds of genitals. A life-long regimen of drugs will adjust their sex-drive to within optimal bounds, and most will go on to live happy lives with lots of anonymous sex. Or so they say.
Those who opt into the birth-givers program will be carefully screened and, if admitted, allowed to forego moderation. To maintain this status, they must remain on fertility-suppressing medications until such time as they accept an order for a child and are bred. Members of the birth-givers program are allowed to pair-bond, after which they may create children in the usual fashion, if they can find a sponsor.
Those who refuse moderation and who do not enter into the birth-givers program are required to remain celibate. Without access to the Matchmaker app, they cannot register consent, putting them at risk of arrest should they be caught engaging in unsanctioned sex. Many genderists find themselves in this position.
Coming of Age
The final rite of passage into adulthood occurs during intimacy training, during which a bunch of students are put into a room, naked, and told to “figure it out.” The technicians monitor their reactions, and use these measurements in the final step of moderation, gender-balance therapy. It is here that any asymmetrical responses to the two sexes will be corrected.
Soon afterward, the students will graduate and be hired by whatever company sponsored their creation.