though everyone is expected to work.

Of all jobs that are necessary for this island community to exist, teaching is the noblest profession. The Ardentians believe that passing down knowledge from one generation to the next is the best way to guarantee that the same moral and societal standards will remain intact. In addition, this gives each citizen the chance to acquire a skill that they both enjoy and are quite good at. The teachers of these skills are among the best at what they do in Ardentia.

Because everything is based on trade of service and no one has "possessions" of their own, teachers are always fed well and provided with shelter and clothing by the government. Although Ardentia has no caste system, the people here revere the teachers—both their own or their children’s teachers. This admiration is a motivating factor for people to master the trade or subject they have chosen to study. The government only chooses the best people in each field to become teachers, so the spaces are limited to the number of students.

Of course, all Ardentians were, at one time or another, students. The government of Ardentia believes so strongly in the education of their citizens that it is free to the public, not bartered for any service. (This is almost not even worth mentioning, but if a citizen here did not go to learn from their educator, the embarrassment would be so overwhelming for the entire family that they would most likely ostracize themselves from the community.)

The basis of the Ardentian education system is rooted deep in creating a better citizen for the good of the entire island. However, there is an amazing byproduct of gathering all of these great minds in one place. These people have found cures for all common illnesses and relief for most major diseases. This is not to say that people do not become stricken with afflictions of the brain or ailments of the physical body. Although, these afflictions and ailments do not destroy the life of the infected. The educators have come together, as the most intelligent minds on the island, to create remedies that will either cure the patient or postpone his or her life without suffering the pain of the disease. The sociologists try to define where the problem comes from in their society, while the writers document the conditions in detail, and the scientists, of course, work together on a cure. The system seems so obvious, I do not understand why our own country has not done the same.

Arts

One of the first questions I had for the Ardentians was about this education system: how long does one stay with the educators? Apparently, there is no set time table for someone to finish learning. Ardentians do not say "you will go to school until you are 18 years of age, then begin working." They know that each person will take as long (or as short) of time as they need to acquire their particular skill. Once that has happened, this person leaves the presence of the educators to contribute to the good of the overall society. This struck me as odd. How does one continue to better themselves outside of their particular trade?

The answer is quite simple. The intervals between the hours of work, sleep, and food are left to every person’s discretion, not to waste in revelry or idleness, but to devote the time free from work to some other occupation according to taste—intellectual pursuits, they are called. These intellectual pursuits outside of one’s own trade gave birth to the arts.

By definition, not many Ardentians are "professional" actors or writers or artists. While this may be what takes up most of their time, their trade (as I saw) may be woodworker, homebuilder, or clothing maker. (At this point, I should mention the role of gender in Ardentia: it is almost nonexistent. Each man and woman builds or cooks or sews—again, whatever trade they are best at for the overall good of the society. One’s gender does not define their role in society. However, I will write more on this later.) These artisans work on their trade to the extent that it helps their neighbors, but spend the majority of their time preparing to give some kind of lecture or song or staged performance.

I was able to attend one of these performances with a few of the Ardentians that were guiding me around their island. The woman I saw was the woodworker I mentioned above. Her contribution to the island is to build things of use: desks for writing, tables for eating, chairs for sitting, etc. The most amazing thing about her work is the unintentional beauty of each piece she builds. Her style is so defined as her own, strictly because of how graceful she is with each of her tools in the time she has available for her work. The evening that I saw her performance, she was not shaving wood, but singing a song. Although I cannot remember the words (how I wish I could!), my guides explained to me that her role as a songwriter is just as important as her role of woodworker. Their explanation was based on two reasons: that the songs have been with the island forever, passed down from generation to generation, and that the new songs usually taught some kind of lesson. While the true historians also teach lessons through the Ardentians’ own experiences over time, the songwriters are able to take more liberties. The historians cannot be liberal of a perfect pattern.

While the performances in our country are frequently for the benefit of the wealthy or government officials, their productions are most definitely for the masses. This is not to insinuate that the content is of low form, but on the contrary. The songs and plays are very intelligent and double as acts of entertainment and education. For