A few days ago we all witnessed how our governor, Ricardo Roselló, asked the trapero Bad Bunny (Benito Antonio Martínez) to perform a third time for his concert since the first two shows were sold out in a matter of hours. This brought a big controversy that raised the question: “Out of all of the things the governor should be paying attention to, what is he doing talking about this?” The real reason why the governor did this is still unknown. any came to think it was an arrangement he had with the singer to give the concert promotion, but I think there’s much more behind this.
The situation does not stop there. Not long after the governor’s tweet, a teacher blamed Bad Bunny for problems in the education system, as well as the closure of schools, saying that the students have been “out of focus”. The letter, in a sarcastic tone, thanks to both Bad Bunny and Governor Ricardo Rosselló “for the successful plan to create a generation of imbeciles.”
The truth is that, on our island, the education system is one that teeters on the tightrope. Bad Bunny did not stay quiet and wrote a public response to the teacher. He titled said response: “Bad Bunny no es el secretario de Educación” (“Bad Bunny is not the secretary of education”).
(For full letter click here)
In his response, Bad Bunny talks about problems concerning the island’s current education system that hold a lot of weight. I believe he’s right when he mentions that the education system “teaches what the government orders to be taught,” because the truth is that the education system is a tool linked to the government, which attempts to dictate what type of citizen one should be. We have grown accustomed to a system that punishes students who challenge what they are taught and ask questions that go against the material we are meant to digest without hesitation.
In Education as political praxis, Francisco Gutiérrez (a Costa Rican author who discusses education) speaks precisely about this,”The school system of any society is a faithful reflection of the politics and ideology of the ruling groups or the political parties in power.” The government will generate the kind of citizen it needs, and what I believe we are seeing is a government that wants its people to avoid questioning and accepts what is given.
Now, if you let me put the threads together: the education department is one of the most criticized areas of the government due to its corruption and mismanagement. The ways in which this department carries out its responsibilities have always been criticized. They seem to want to divert attention from who is truly behind the educational problems luring over the island. Were the tweets the governor made about Bad Bunny really just casual? I think this was no casualty, and we see the results of the governor’s tweet within the teacher’s letter blaming Bad Bunn. With this, Roselló achieves his purpose: to divert attention.
Having said this, I think that the teacher who wrote to Bad Bunny is pointing in the wrong direction. Yes, a submissive generation is being built, but Bad Bunny has nothing to do with it. I’m not saying that the teacher is the one to blame either. The teacher has become aware of the domestication that exists within the education system and is looking for the culprit behind it, but the roots of this problem are much deeper than Bad Bunny’s lyrics.