Exploring Alien Culture (part 5)

Reln society is focused on education, and those who are awarded places in the government have gained that opportunity through recognition of their many degrees and academic achievements. In Reln culture, education is a life-long pursuit, not something that stops after one or two degrees are earned. The Reln continue their education while maintaining full-time or part-time work, throughout their lives, and it is only when they retire that Reln are legally allowed to have children (Reln are able to bear children throughout their entire life, without age-related risks.) This society has suffered what many now refer to as “educational inflation,” where keeping a job is about staying ahead of others, continually adding on certifications and degrees to remain competitive. Whenever they are not working, Reln are constantly reading or researching, with a tenacity that is driven by an obsessive fear of falling behind. In our own world, we only need to look around us to see the same thing happening. This is especially present in the medical community, but is also becoming more and more apparent in other fields. With less and less time for children because of the demands placed upon us by our jobs, how will the human race cope with this shift in society? We don't have the physiology of the Reln in Solar Echoes, and educational demands push us closer and closer to the dangers of “geriatric pregnancy,” which begins at age 35. Will our society eventually degenerate to the dystopian vision chillingly illustrated in the comedic movie "Idiocracy?"