4 ms·

Wonderful speech, but a bit of a misleading title on the article as she's not speaking out against schooling, but against a specific kind of schooling that's co

Wonderful speech, but a bit of a misleading title on the article as she's not speaking out against schooling, but against a specific kind of schooling that's common throughout the United States (and elsewhere): H. L. Mencken wrote in The American Mercury for April 1924 that the aim of public education is not "to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence. ... Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim ... is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States." [.. snip ..] For those of you that work within the system that I am condemning, I do not mean to insult; I intend to motivate. You have the power to change the incompetencies of this system. I know that you did not become a teacher or administrator to see your students bored. You cannot accept the authority of the governing bodies that tell you what to teach, how to teach it, and that you will be punished if you do not comply. Our potential is at stake. For those of you that are now leaving this establishment, I say, do not forget what went on in these classrooms. Do not abandon those that come after you. We are the new future and we are not going to let tradition stand. We will break down the walls of corruption to let a garden of knowledge grow throughout America. Once educated properly, we will have the power to do anything, and best of all, we will only use that power for good, for we will be cultivated and wise. We will not accept anything at face value. We will ask questions, and we will demand truth.

nerfhammer 16y ago
While intriguing to think about, this teleological viewpoint which she repeats a few times is a little silly. There isn't really a shadowy cabal of plutocrats secreted away in a subterranean headquarters inside of a volcano, planning all of this. It's likely instead a series of unplanned, undirected side-effects from other things. Standardization could side-effect of trying to mass-produce education, which is a side effect of the increasing size and complexity of society. Educational institutions last for generations and stick to what they know because they don't know what else to do. It's very difficult to get feedback or to infer causal relationships or have anything resembling an experimental control over a 20 year education process and literally a lifetime. No one is directing all of this from a secret mountain lair while cackling malevolently and stroking a trained leopard.
- sprout 16y ago
  If there's anything that's clear, it's that no one is masterminding the design of the US Education system.

nerfhammer 16y ago

While intriguing to think about, this teleological viewpoint which she repeats a few times is a little silly. There isn't really a shadowy cabal of plutocrats secreted away in a subterranean headquarters inside of a volcano, planning all of this. It's likely instead a series of unplanned, undirected side-effects from other things. Standardization could side-effect of trying to mass-produce education, which is a side effect of the increasing size and complexity of society. Educational institutions last for generations and stick to what they know because they don't know what else to do. It's very difficult to get feedback or to infer causal relationships or have anything resembling an experimental control over a 20 year education process and literally a lifetime. No one is directing all of this from a secret mountain lair while cackling malevolently and stroking a trained leopard.

sprout 16y ago
If there's anything that's clear, it's that no one is masterminding the design of the US Education system.