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Education

Updated 9 September 2004

 

To educate is “to draw forth...”.  Unfortunately, public and most private educational systems -- along with the various other forms of communicating the culture of a society to its members -- i.e. the mainstream Media, corporate and public relation firms, religious teaching organizations, and indoctrination institutions of every kind -- are less about “drawing forth” and a great deal more about “imposing upon”.  As Albert Einstein is reputed to have observed, “It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.”  Accordingly, these “educators” of every stripe (in the convict tradition) have become a blight (“blit/ n. & v. 1 any obscure force which is harmful or destructive...”) upon civilization, and threaten the liberties and inalienable rights of... well, just about everyone.  

 

For Updates, see also the Halexandria Forum
(And for some special insights, see the DoK)

 

G. I. Gurdjieff (himself, an object of study) has said, “There do exist inquiring minds, which long for the truth of the heart, seek it, strive to solve the problems set by life, try to penetrate to the essence of things and phenomena and to penetrate into themselves.  If a man reasons and thinks soundly, no matter which path he follows in solving these problems, he must inevitably arrive back at himself, and begin with the solution of the problem of what he is himself and what his place is in the world around him.”  Or has been said elsewhere: “Know thyself.”  Educate yourself.  (It’s a lead pipe cinch no one can do it for you!)  Never cease to be amazed at the phenomena which is you. Or more succinctly: O2BNAWE.

From a broader perspective, all civilizations can be said to have five primary aspects:

 

            1)  The basic technologies which allow the work of maintaining the civilization to proceed -- which at a fundamental level is often based and dependent upon the energy sources (be they domesticated animals, human slavery, fossil fuel, nuclear industrial based, and/or which use advanced, Connective Physics, energy technologies),

            2)  The art or culture of the civilization -- the creative thinking and continuation of previous creative thinking (i.e. traditions) of individuals and groups,  

 

            3)  The philosophy or spiritual basis of the civilization -- which is often based upon the energy source (human slavery, for example, having a dramatic spiritual effect),

            4)  The social contract between the sovereign entities of the civilization -- including the relationships between individuals and the rules which govern them, and  

 

            5)  How a people passes on its technology, culture, philosophy and social contract to its children and dependents (as in the case of Indigo Children).  

 

All five aspects are interconnected and interdependent, but given a particular energy source and its related science/technology (along with the art, culture, spiritual basis, and philosophy of the civilization), the key to the civilization’s sustainability and quality of life is its social contract.  The social contract is, in turn, dependent upon the constitutional structure of the civilization, the degree of liberty and freedom allowed, and the guarantees provided by the collective binding agreement of the society.   

Fundamentally the extent to which the social contract can be maintained is dependent upon education.  If the sovereign members of a civilization are unaware of their liberties (or the withholding of previously held liberties), then they are no longer players in the greater scheme of things.  An uninformed citizenry is a contradiction in terms.

 

The same might be said of an uninformed sentient being... particularly in a universe of such immense wonders -- again, O2BNAW. After, all "Any education is the process of learning how little you know." [1]

 

Alternatively, it can also be the process whereby you learn how little others know! There is for example much to be said about knowing thyself. Admittedly, Thoreau took this to something of an extreme in bailing out of society and heading for Walden, where he wrote: "Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the facetious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them."[2] This is the essence of why the so-called Work Ethic has become an example of extremism taken too far in the other direction. Some time has to be taken out in order to be able to see anything from a reasonable perspective.

 

There is, on the other hand, the fact that we learn primarily from others -- even if most of the time it's "don't do what I just did because..." As Peter Temes has pointed out, "Thoreau's problem is that he can't see beyond himself." "He's missing regard for other people. He's missing love. That's the price you pay for being all alone in the woods." From a more positive perspective, "To find transcendence from the ordinary [which includes the everyday chores of life] is the highest spiritual place to be." [2]

 

An essential aspect of learning is thus being around others. This does not, however, imply that large families are better. As Time Magazine has reported [3], the median net worth of individuals born between 1957 and 1964 was $62,000 for an only child, $49,000 for someone growing up with one sibling, and $6,000 for someone growing up with six or more siblings. While it is very probable that anyone having seven or more children is not passing on high intelligence genes -- or simply doesn't care one way of the other -- it is also notable that the child living with two adults is likely to do better than the child living with two adults and another child. The average intelligence/experience level of the latter group is inevitably lower than the former.

 

Education is nevertheless often facilitated by exposure to the diversity of others -- particularly the diversity of wealth, status, and family background, albeit in a room of one teacher and thirty students, the average intellectual level is somewhat less than ideal. This is of course the genius -- or lack thereof -- of an educational system. It is also the kind of diversity which causes cliques, gangs, and groupings of modern high schools -- and the inevitable problems and positive opportunities resulting from such mixings.

Which of course brings us to the arena of public education -- in all of its myriad forms. It is important, however, to remember than education and public education are not only NOT synonymous, but quite likely at serious odds with one another.

 

At the same time, to complain about the Media (press, television, radio, mailings, and portions of the Inter Net), or wonder where we’ve gone wrong with public education, is basically missing the point.  The Media and public education are accomplishing precisely what they were intended to accomplish.  It’s just that 99% of the population is unaware of the actual agenda under which both the Media and public education are laboring -- said agenda being to produce functional cogs for the Corporate State machine. In that sense, therefore, public education -- in all of its many and diverse forms -- is doing a bang up job (pardon the pun). The good news about the public education system is that:

"Nearly 64% of children ages 3 to 5 were in pre-school or kindergarten in 2001, well up from the 37% enrolled in 1970. [4] [Put those little buggers to work! No sense in having them lollygagging around.]

 

"Over 84% of Americans over age 25 finished high school by 2002. [4] [Or presumably were finished with high school!]

 

"More than 25% of Americans have a bachelor's degree." [4]

"In 1971 just 9% of medical degrees, 7% of law degrees and 4% of M.B.A.s were awarded to women; 30 years later, the respective figures were 43%, 47%, and 41%." [5]

"Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Colorado lead the nation in the number of college-educated residents, all with more than 35%." [4]

On the other hand...

The average tuition at a four-year public university has risen from $2,535 per year in 1993 to $4,694 in 2003. [6] The average cost of attending college as a full-time undergraduate for one year, including room and board, was $14,710 in 1999-2000. [4]

"One in four college freshman at four-year universities do not return for their sophomore year. Community colleges fare even worse with half not returning for the second year." [7] Stanford University referred to the situation as: "Betraying the college dream."

"Nationally, 15% of children ages 5 to 19 are overweight, triple the rate of 20 years ago. Research suggests that fat adolescents have a 70% to 80% chance of becoming fat adults." "Many obesity experts argue that the lunchroom and gym are the spots where schools should focus their energies." [8] The former is called vending machines in elementary and other schools -- a lucrative source of finances to the school, but at the cost of the health and well being of the students.

While "parents naturally want their kids to get a good education, trouble is, with so many failing schools they have to be selective about where they live." Parents are under enormous pressures to keep their kids competitive in the marketplace, and to this end spend huge sums to ensure the child has all the right opportunities. The result is that having a child becomes "'the single best predictor' of financial ruin." [9]

It gets worse. There's the looming spectre of ever more testing, for example.

Gerald W. Bracey [10] has noted that "the SAT 9 now comes with instructions on what to do if a child vomits on the answer sheet."

It's hard to top that one, but consider the fact that new Regents Examinations introduced in 1999 in Fairport, New York have had the following consequences:

"Passing rates have declined;

"The performance gap between large urban centers and other public school districts have widened;

"Students have been moved into GED programs to hide the dropout rate;

"Staff development now addresses test scoring and alighnment of curricula to tests, not teacher improvements;

"Teachers in the tested grades are fleeing the profession or asking for transfers to other grades;

"The New York City dropout rate has increased 2% each year; and

"The dropout rate for English-language learners increased 12% in 2001." [10]

Testing has become the new fad, and it bodes ill for everyone. John Taylor Gatto -- a New York City Teacher of the Year and New York State Teacher of the Year (and author of two books, Dumbing Us Down and The Exhausted School) -- has said, "The first thing I discovered was that the types of learning that are measured by standardized tests are not real learning at all. To do well on a standardized reading test, for example, does not mean that you read well. There are approximately 150 categories of information that a complex passage of reading delivers, and the standardized test covers approximately six of those categories over and over again." [11]

Testing organizations also require statistics as a means to claim legitimacy of their tests. In this regard, the "Bell Curve" has been sacrosanct in defining a specific and very limiting aspect of people. The assumption is that the public as a whole has precise percentages of dumb people, smart people, and the various levels in between. The problem is that many excellent teachers have been demonstrating that such a curve is inherently flawed.

Schoolteacher Jaime Escalante, for example, "taught the sons and daughters of Mexican immigrants advanced mathematics so well that they won all of the major prizes in the State of California." His achievement was not welcome, however. As Taylor as said, "teaching disadvantaged kids advanced mathematics is OK as long as you are not successful at it. The minute you are successful, you have demonstrated that the bell curve is a crock, and the system itself could not survive the elimination of the bell curve."

Taylor goes on to ask: "What if we operated on the premise that mathematics in its most advanced state is, in fact, fairly easy to learn, so that people with no experience at all with heavy thinking can pretty much master it in about a year? What if we generalized that to difficult reading, to writing, to public argumentation? What kind of society would emerge? Certainly one unlike any that has ever existed in human history, and the people who have a material stake and a status to defend are not interested in knowing such a society." [11]

Ah yes, the status quo. The "Let's not rock the boat, lest the elite find themselves to be in an egalitarian society." But fear not, gravy-train-riders of society. President George Bush and is neo-conservative, Dominionism sidekicks are hot on the case to prevent such equalities in education, and are proceeding on at least two fronts.

In the first line of attack, Bush "has a clear penchant for what might be called conservative social engineering." Bush wants to encourage family formation with tax credits -- even a marriage bonus -- keep children with their families at all costs, and distributing "money to voluntary groups that promote fatherhood and marriage education." [12] [What? No promotion of motherhood? Is motherhood sort of essential for the continuation of the race?]

President Bush also wants "to encourage responsible parenting by strengthening character education in the nation's schools." [12] This enthusiasm for social engineering shows up most notably in the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law -- landmark legislation which has come under mounting opposition from the National Education Association (NEA). Of course, as suggested by Education Secretary Roderick R. Paige, the NEA is a "terrorist organization". There may be more than a few students of the system who would agree!

Bracey [10] has noted that, "Some superintendents and principals have begun to feel a Big Brother aspect to NCLB." It's not the testing per se, but provisions which allow military recruiters to have information on students or for the Boy Scouts to have access to using school property despite the organization's anti-homosexual stance. Bracey goes on to say that the "NCLB is a trap, a Trojan's Horse..." The intent, he believes, is to crash the public school system and hand it over to privatization, school vouchers, and tuition tax credits. Ultimately, big business moves in to achieve enormous profits and provide minimal actual "bringing forth", i.e. education.

Vouchers has been pushed by such luminaries as Milton Friedman, who argued that such vouchers would introduce market competition into the system. The assumption is that "competition has made progress possible in every area of economic life." The flaw is of course that those with financial interests would just be cooking the books in the same manner as Enron, WorldCom, etceteras, etceteras, etceteras... ad infinitum.

There is also the religion angle. Vouchers could be used to support narrow-minded religions. "A state judge found the Florida state constitution 'clear and unambiguous' in prohibiting public money from being spent on church schools or any sectarian institution and declared Florida's voucher program unconstitutional. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush immediately appealed the decision." [10] One wonders how Jeb would feel about the Saudi Arabian's government defacto support for the extremist Islam cults education and brainwashing schools.

In some respects the vouchers for religious schools may be something of a red herring. The real issue is about "The 500-Pound Gorilla" lurking the hallways outside of class. As Alfie Kohn [13] has noted, "Corporations are not shy about trying to make over the schools in their own image." And the evidence of their efforts is becoming more than a little bit clear -- which brings us to the Bush Administration's second covert push.

The College Entrance Examination Board which owns the SAT is changing the SAT to include among other things, an essay. Suddenly any pretense toward total objectivity silently slips away. But the Board has gone a bit further in order to undertake "an unprecedented effort to push local school districts to alter their curriculums." "In short, the dreaded SAT could actually help produce a national curriculum, a sweeping education reform enacted without the passage of a single law." [14] In fact, the very nature and purpose of the SAT is being changed. "The goal of influencing school curriculums has become the overriding preoccupation of the new test's development."

Why make such curriculum changes? The most obvious answer is to make the graduate more useful -- without extensive and expensive training -- to corporations. But this is not particularly new. This has always been the goal of public education.

Prior to the advent of “public education”, the literacy rate for Americans was considerably higher than after the introduction of what amounted to a Prussian system of education.  An important reference to this aspect of the U. S. educational system is contained in John Taylor Gatto’s exceptional article on The Public School Nightmare.  Gatto, it might be noted is a two-time winner of New York State’s “Teacher of the Year”.  His article is absolutely essential reading for anyone who thinks education is always beneficial.   

 

The importation of the Prussian educational System was not without a reason.  

 

Briefly, the Prussians divide all student into three groups:  The children of society’s elite, comprising 0.5% of the society, who are actually educated; a second, more open category, comprising 5.5% of the remaining children, who were sent to schools where they were partially taught to think, and the remaining 94%  who were sent to work schools to learn “harmony, obedience, freedom from stressful thinking and how to follow orders.”  The Prussian system does not specify it as such, but Americans have evolved a fourth category.  

 

The idea is now to take the great mass of people within the jurisdiction of a governmental authority, and split them into four groups:  

 

            1)  The first group are the elite (as in the Prussian model) -- almost always the children of the previous generation of the elite (i.e. governmental and societal leaders), who do not go to public schools, but instead are sent to selected private schools where they are taught to be the leaders of society.  On rare occasion, someone enormously talented (primarily in gathering power) is granted admission into the elite, and thereafter (a few generations), their children may become full-fledged elitists themselves.  

 

(This leaves the public education system to deal with the rest of humanity.  As such it is designed to identify and separate the three other groups, i.e.:)  

 

            2)  A second group, known as the Creatives, are those individuals who provide the brain power to advance technology and the quality of life.  These are “accidents of birth” where a particular, random gene pattern produces a genius.  Said genius can be manifested as talents in everything from art and music to science and engineering -- no one in the elite cares as long as the “genius” creates a better technology and an improved quality of life for the elite.  These children are sent to what the Prussians called “real” schools, but where the so-called education is geared to “thinking in a box” (i.e. specialization), and avoids universality or generality (from whence derives the word, “university”).  

 

            3)  A third group, known affectionately as the Masses, are those individuals who are expected to obey authority, never question the controllers, and seldom think (and even then almost never take action based on their few errant thoughts).  Instead, they believe in the bastardized “Work Ethic” as something marvelously good.  These are the targets of all the advertising and marketing -- including government and media propaganda.  These are the people who in order to demonstrate their patriotism, go to wars that benefit only the banksters and corporations.  These are the believers in authority who dutifully pay their taxes to an immoral government.  They are the clear majority, but recent trends suggest the Creatives may be gaining in percentage population of the mass of humanity.  

 

            4)  A fourth group, an American invention known as the Rabble Rousers, are those individuals who early on question authority, think independently, and are uncooperative in becoming mere cogs in the machine.  The principle goal of the American educational system is prevent these types from gaining the ability to learn how to affect the system, and if necessary, to simply weed them out all together -- preferably by getting them completely out of the school system.  These are the same individuals who market analysts consider “fringe members” of society.  They -- as well as the Creatives -- are never pitched to in advertisements, in that they either don’t have the money to buy anything (particularly the “Fringees”), or even if they have the money, they are not as subject to manipulation by the advertisers as others, and thus by extension are not easily marketed to.  They are ignored, or as politicians, advertisers, and other liars refer to it:  “marginalized”.  Anyone reading this website is in serious danger of becoming a Rabble Rouser!  

 

Meanwhile, the Media’s job is to cater to the second and third group, keeping the masses in line, and hopefully, keeping the Creatives from getting too creative in terms of new and interesting ways of becoming independent of their government and the elite’s leadership.  

 

A vitally important part of the educational system is to break the link between reading and the young child, because a child who reads too well becomes knowledgeable and independent from the system of instruction and is capable of finding out anything.  In order to have an efficient policy-making class and a sub-class beneath it, you’ve got to remove the power of most people to make anything out of available information.  This can be done by discouraging reading, or making distractions as entertaining as possible.  This explains in part the enormous success of television and radio.  Don’t read; don’t think; watch television (or in a pinch, listen to radio).  Above all:  Don’t think.  That’s called in politics:  “Staying on message.”  

 

Another technique is the use of “positive language” (i.e. a “no-contradiction principle”).  This is one that can be and is encouraged by the (Prussian-style) authorities to be used in the home.  According to this concept, when one parent tells a child something, the other parent (or “significant other”) must concur.  Unfortunately, in this manner, the parents are (unknowingly?) avoiding a situation where two diverse viewpoints could be rationally presented, and the child then obliged to use (and/or develop) an ability to judge between alternatives, and thus access avenues of critical thinking, self-reliance, autonomy, and ultimately, flexibility.  The “no-contradiction principle” motivates children to become used to following authority figures, rather than questioning received wisdom and thus thinking for themselves.  Such a system is anti-Discrimination -- in the negative sense.  

 

The idea children need “positive language” in order to learn the truths that are necessary for survival is not the issue.  Any such truths must be taught by acts, not by words!  The idea is to insist that a child not blindly follow the words of an authority figure (the parent), but to model themselves on how the parent acts, even if their actions are in contradiction with their words.  A mind is a terrible thing to waste in a dysfunctional educational system.

 

But it gets worse.  

 

1963 saw the culmination of research by a combination of German, chemical medicine and Wundt psychology on American upbringing.  This group of scientific researchers centered at John Hopkins University, and supported by the General Education Board, reached the point where they concluded that they could use amphetamines like Dextrines and Ritalin to “treat” children that were considered “difficult” or hyperactive -- see, for example, “The Myth of the Hyperactive Child, and other Means of Child Control” by Divoky and Schrag.  

 

The subsequent national terror occasioned by the wide-spread use of Ritalin, et al and Mandatory Vaccines constitute a tragedy far in excess of 9-11-2001.  All, of course, in the name of control.  

 

But more than educational methods is at stake.  There is also the matter of curriculum -- what is taught and the depth to which a student is allowed to plume.  On the one hand, the inability or unwillingness of education to address any and all issues is a strong deterrent to the education of anyone, including a young Calvin.  

 

In the Calvin and Hobbes [<http://www.ucomics.com/calvinandhobbes/>] cartoon strip, Calvin, one of the more incorrigible of resistant learners, is asked by his father at one point as to why Calvin doesn’t do better in school.  His father points out that he doesn’t believe Calvin is stupid, if only because Calvin knows every dinosaur that ever lived, knows their habits and locales, even how to pronounce their names accurately.  And thus Calvin can’t be dumb.  So why doesn’t the young man do better in school?  Calvin’s answer is classic:  “They don’t teach dinosaurs.”  This, in a nutshell, is why there are a lot of Calvins in our school systems.  The system does not teach anything in which they are interested.  Worse yet, it often (but not always -- in rare occasions) discourages any one from any probing question for which the system does not have a ready or willing answer.

 

In one classic case, an honor student wrote a paper on whether or not new discoveries in history would be able to change our understanding of history -- whether in fact, such revelations would even be tolerated.  The purpose of the paper was to simply ask the question, but in the process of using a notorious example (i.e. the reconstruction of the ancient history of Egypt as suggested by Immanuel Velikovsky), the student encountered such wrath from the irate history teacher, that the student’s thesis was partially proven correct, that history cannot be changed by new evidence.  The system does not tolerate inconvenient questions.

Nor does it tolerate inconvenient topics for discussion and essays. The new SAT tests, for example, will include reading passages from various novels -- but will specifically avoid such title as often assigned in good English classes (Animal Farm, Catch 22, and the like). Alternatively, as the new SAT selections become obvious, then the whole direction of English classes will have to cater to those novels in order to ensure there students have an equal chance to score high marks. Which is, of course, the fatal flaw in the essay portion: If one takes a test and gets a topic they really love, they are doing to do much better on their score than if they are discovering some subject for the first time.

But it gets worse. The new SAT does far more damage than creating scores which will be religiously followed by college admissions and which are fundamentally biased. The SAT will also change from a test of general-reasoning abilities to a measure of what the student learned in school. "For decades, the purpose of the test has been to try to measure students' general-reasoning abilities, not their specific knowledge of algebra or the extent to which they have written practice essays." "The more you challenge yourself intellectually, the more you condition your brain; your academic achievements are less impressive if you don't have the conditioning to build upon them. As the SAT becomes more an assessment of one's achievements, it will less sensitively guage these underlying skills". [14]

 

Part of the problem is that the new SAT takes the "Old Paradigm of Education" and takes it to an extreme, whereas what is essential for anyone to consider themselves educated, a "New Paradigm of Learning" is essential. The Aquarian Conspiracy [15] defines these two opposing, fundamental assumptions:

 

Assumptions of Old Paradigm
Assumptions of New Paradigm
Emphasis on content, acquiring a body of 'right' information, once and for all.
Emphasis on learning how to learn, how to ask good questions, pay attention to the right things, be open to and evaluate new concepts, have access to information. What is now 'known' may change. Importance of context.
Learning as a product, a destination.
Learning as a process, a journey.
Hierarchical and authoritarian structure. Rewards conformity, discourages dissent.
Egalitarian. Candor and dissent permitted. Students and teachers see each other as people, not roles. Encourages autonomy.
Relatively rigid structure, prescribed curriculum, emphasis on "appropriate" ages for certain activities, age segregation, compartmentalized.
Relatively flexible structure, belief there are many ways to teach a subject. Integration of age groupings, individuals not limited by age to certain subject matter.
Priority on performance.
Priority on self-image as the generator of performance.
Emphasis on external world. Inner experience considered inappropriate in school setting.
Inner experience seen as context for learning, use of imagery, storytelling, dream journals, and exploration of feelings encouraged.
Guessing and divergent thinking discouraged
Guessing and divergent thinking encouraged as part of the creative process
Emphasis on analytical, linear, left-brain thinking.
Strives for whole-brain education. Augments left-brain rationality with holistic, nonlinear, and intuitive strategies. Fusion emphasized.
Labeling of students (remedial, gifted, minimally brain dysfunctional, etc.) contributes to self-fulfilling prophecy.
Labeling used only in minor prescriptive role and not as fixed evaluation that dogs the individual's educational career.
Concern with norms.
Concern with individual performance in terms of potential, testing outer limits, transcending perceived limitations.
Primary reliance on theoretical, abstract "book knowledge".
Theoretical and abstract knowledge heavily complemented by experiment/experience, both in and out of classroom. Field trips, apprenticeships, demonstrations, visitors.
Classroom designed for efficiency, convenience.
Concern for the environment of learning; needs for privacy and interaction, quiet and exuberant activities.
Bureaucratically determined, resistant to community input.
Encourages community input, even community control.
Education seen as a social necessity for a certain period of time, to inculcate minimum skills and specific role training.
Education seen as lifelong process, one only tangentially related to schools.
Increasing reliance on technology (audio visual equipment, computers, tapes, texts), dehumanization.
Appropriate technology, human relationships between teacher and learners of primary importance.
Teacher imparts knowledge; one-way street.
Teacher is learner, too, learning from students.

 

One must ultimately ask which of the paradigms will make create the most wisdom and understanding of the individual. It should be clear that the corporate elite would prefer the old paradigm in that it leads to more cooperative and rule-abiding slaves. The key ingredient of such thinking is that one follows the rules, even when one is not sure about the whole rule.

 

For example, when a first grade teacher collected well known proverbs, gave each child in her class the first half of a proverb (the "rule") and then asked them to come up with the remainder of the proverb, these first graders... "6" year-olds... came up with the following:

Better to be safe than.............................punch a 5th grader.

Strike while the ......................................bug is close.

It's always darkest before........................Daylight Saving Time.

Never underestimate the power of............termites.

You can lead a horse to water but...........how?

Don't bite the hand that..........................looks dirty.

No news is...........................................impossible.

A miss is as good as a.........................Mr.

You can't teach an old dog new.............math.

If you lie down with dogs, you'll..............stink in the morning.

Love all, trust.......................................me.

The pen is mightier than the..................pigs.

An idle mind is.....................................the best way to relax.

Where there's smoke there's.................pollution.

Happy is the bride who............................gets all the presents.

A penny saved is.................................not much.

Two's company, three's........................the Musketeers.

Don't put off till tomorrow what..............you put on to go to bed.

There are none so blind as...................Stevie Wonder.

Children should be seen and not...........spanked or grounded.

If at first you don't succeed...................get new batteries.

When the blind leadeth the blind...........get out of the way.

Better late than...................................pregnant!!!!

It is worth noting that in the Old Paradigm these answers and indeed the whole exercise would be considered a horrid waste of time and something to be discouraged, while the New Paradigm would welcome such creativity and innovation. As John Taylor Gatto has pointed out, education is more than just lectures; it is also apprenticeships, community service, field curriculum, independent study, parent partnerships, work study, critical-thinking exercises, and solitude. [11]

 

It is an unfortunate, perhaps, but very true reality that knowledge is power. Acquiring that knowledge is what education is about -- with the added caveat of course that the ability to use said knowledge is even more important. Without the knowledge in the first place, however, logical manipulations of limited data has minimal value. Public education is thus the prime example of diverting attention from the more interesting forms of knowledge (and shunning wisdom altogether!). It does train its students, however, in being able to read ball scores quite well.

 

Ultimately, the best thing that can be said for public education is that... hmmmmm...  I’ll get back to you on that one.  

 

For Updates, see also the Halexandria Forum
(And for some special insights, see the DoK)

 

In the interim, feel free to peruse:

            Language                                            Symbolism

            Indigo Children                                  The Public School Nightmare

            The Tao of Teaching                        Compulsory Education: A Dialogue  

 

            Knowledge is Power                      Seventh Generation Education

Or somewhat further afield, investigate:

            Sacred Geometry                   Connective Physics                600 B.C.E.  

            Nature of Law (law being a subject never taught to non-lawyers)  

 

            Money (money and finances also being avoided like the plague in education)  

Just don’t tell your teacher what you’re doing!  (No kidding!)  

______________________

References:

{1] Richard Corliss, "Hook, Line and Thinker," Time Magazine, May 26, 2003.

[2] Peter Temes, "Thoreau in the Bronx", Utne Reader, May-June 2003.

[3] Notebook, Time Magazine, September 2002.

[4] What's New Netscape, April 6, 2004.

[5] Claudia Wallis, "The Case for Staying Home", Time Magazine, March 22, 2004.

[6] Notebook, Time Magazine, November 3, 2003.

[7] What's New Netscape, April 5, 2004.

[8] Education, Time Magazine, September 15, 2003.

[9] "Maryanne Murray Buechner, "Parent Trap", Time Magazine, October 2003.

[10] Gerald W. Bracey, "The 12th Bracey Report on the Condition of Public Education," Phi Delta Kappan, October 2002.

[11] Ellen Becker, "School's Out: An Interview With John Taylor Gatto," The Sun.

[12] "George Bush, big-government conservative", The Economist, April 21, 2001.

[13] Alfie Kohn, "The 500-Pound Gorilla", Phi Delta Kapan, October 2002.

[14] John Cloud, "Inside the New SAT," Time Magazine, October 27, 2003.

[15] Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy; Personal and Social Transformation in the 1980s, Jeremy P. Tarcher/Perigee, 1980.

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