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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
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Ken Stiggers

Big Roscoe: “School days. People go to school in a daze. Good old you has to go back to school for change-your-career days. Reading, writing and arithmetic taught to a tune of thousands of dollars per semester, and after you complete your accelerated studies at that online university, you’re obligated to pay back that high-interest loan. I guess the golden rule now is: You got to pay to learn and get a job.

“Modern people in this society are institutionalized. Why? Because many of us have been forced through a 14-, 18- or 20-year ritual called school. Going through this ritual makes us believe the more ‘treatment’ there is the better the results are, or, ‘escalation’ leads to success. I came to this conclusion after participating in a monthly Ghetto Science Team Philosophy and Book Club meeting; our group discussed commentary from Ivan Illich’s book ‘Deschooling Society.’

“With that said, I invite the unemployed and under-educated members of the Ghetto Science community to attend the ‘Clubb Chicken Wing Back-to-School Pre-registration and Job Fair,’ held at the Club Chicken Wing Multipurpose Complex. Representatives from the Hair-Did University School of Cosmetology and Vocational Studies and the Lord-Have-Mercy-I’m-Still-Without-a-Job Unemployment Center will be there to help you find a job or get some career training to get a new job. Plenty of food and refreshments will be served, courtesy of Momma Roscoe’s Chicken Wing Brigade.

“Remember: Escalation leads to success!”