Here's an interesting article on possible ulterior motives for the creation of the American public education system. The claim is that public schools throughout western history have actually been created by the state for the purpose of training the people to be "good citizens". From one point of view, this is admirable and exactly what a good education should strive to provide. From another point of view, it amounts to brainwashing.
I've long believed that in many cases, it's better to believe in something that isn't true, or to be ignorant of the truth. Maybe this is one of those cases. Maybe brainwashing young people into trusting authority is a good thing, because it allows us to create a unified populace without too much social friction. Most importantly, education is perhaps the most humane possible way of creating such a unified populace -- I much prefer propaganda to ethnic cleansing.
On the other hand, there is a useful, actionable, way of reading this article: If the public school system is designed to ensure that you only think thoughts that are good for the state, then you must compensate for that if you want to be able to think thoughts that are not necessarily good for the state.
But why bother? Why not just be productive, write some code, and enjoy the comfortable feeling of fitting in? It's hard to live outside of the cultural norm, even if it's no longer as dangerous as it used to be.
Posted on September 5, 2003 05:41 PM
More politics articles
I agree with your general sentiment and conclusion, but I take exception to the original article. I spent some time reading other articles by its author Sheldon Richman and Isome of his other writings from fee.org. He essentialy an objectivist and seems to feel that any state organization is "evil" and "fascist" (his words). (BTW:I hate when rich bald guys wearing bowties use the word "fascist", it makes me want to be one.)
My point is only that his motivations for finding the conclusion that he does in this book seem much stronger than the proof he provided.
The original article is down now, but maybe it explains why it was so damned important to have us do thinks like put our heads on the desk for 15 minute when we ran out of work to do. What better preparation for the chickenshit any real job will put you through?
Posted by: rps at September 7, 2003 08:58 PM