Carol
Member
Education is like a genie in a bottle. The defined purpose is the wish, and the students are the genie. The US changed that wish in 1958 and the culture of the country.
Until 1958 the US had liberal education. This was modeled after Athens education for well rounded, individual growth. It used Greek and Roman classics to build a cultural democracy, where government is only one aspect of manifesting democracy. Might I be very up front with everyone, and say, only when democracy is defended in the classroom is it defended. Fascism requires only two things; experience with democracy and experience with industry.
My first experience with this forum was a u-tube report of media, where mostly young people were protesting the fascist militarization of the US, and this was contrasted with the Tea Party prayers and patriotism. Gosh, it would be great to have equal u-tube coverage of Germany after the Prussian take over.
In 1958 the US replaced its liberal education with Germany's model of education for technology for military and industrial purpose. The US stopped transmitting its culture, in favor of educating for a technological society with unknown values, and preparing its young to be products for industry. Like the Prussians did when they took control of Germany, the US destroyed its national heroes, and highlighted the past faults, and while praising efficiency. It leads everyone to believe everything good rested upon this new focus for efficiency, and political correctness, and the rapid development of technological for industrial and military purpose.
The former education was focused on good moral judgement, and later leaves moral training to the church. This is perhaps the worst threat to the culture of democracy, that is now being destroyed. It has lead to many problems, including thinking God and morality are the sole property of church authority. Only highly moral people can have liberty, or there is anarchy, and anarchy deteriorates into a police state. We must all have a sense of morality, and we can allow one religion to define God for us. Furthermore, people loosing their jobs, because of something they said, and the powers of Homeland Security, should have us taking the threat to our liberty seriously.
The former education focused on logic and independent thinking. The later focuses on memorization and "group think". Now our young dye their pink, blue and green and use tattoos and body piercing to express their individuality, but can not formulate an independent political thought. For example, the decision of if it was right to invade Iraq, rested on what was in the news, not on independent study of out Iraq and our involvement in the mid east. If we hadn't had computers and such easy access to information, this might be excusable, but given our easy access to information, this is inexcusable. We have gone from independent thinkers to sheeple, as easily to move as the Prussian populace.
When the US mobilized the first world war, Industry, Education and National Defense sat on the same board for the first time. Industry tried to close the schools, claiming the war had caused a labor shortage, and that they were not getting their monies through from public education, because they still had to train new employees. If industry had won this argument, it would have put an end to the new child labor laws, keeping children out of school during school hours. We might have ended up with a very different nation. One more like India with child labor and mass ignorance.
Teachers argued, an institution for education for making good citizenship, is good for education for making patriotic citizens. Of course, for national defense reasons, they won the argument and public schools were used to mobilize us for two world wars. Not until the military technology of WWII, flying across oceans and dropping atom bombs, was our liberal education replace with education for technology for military and industrial purpose. Those young people protesting the militarization of the US and the fascism, don't know the history of change in the US, but they sense something is wrong. The conservatives praying to God and demonstrating patriotism, have their historical German equivalent.
I am seriously concerned that if we do not realize how public education has changed our culture, we have fought every war for nothing.
Until 1958 the US had liberal education. This was modeled after Athens education for well rounded, individual growth. It used Greek and Roman classics to build a cultural democracy, where government is only one aspect of manifesting democracy. Might I be very up front with everyone, and say, only when democracy is defended in the classroom is it defended. Fascism requires only two things; experience with democracy and experience with industry.
My first experience with this forum was a u-tube report of media, where mostly young people were protesting the fascist militarization of the US, and this was contrasted with the Tea Party prayers and patriotism. Gosh, it would be great to have equal u-tube coverage of Germany after the Prussian take over.
In 1958 the US replaced its liberal education with Germany's model of education for technology for military and industrial purpose. The US stopped transmitting its culture, in favor of educating for a technological society with unknown values, and preparing its young to be products for industry. Like the Prussians did when they took control of Germany, the US destroyed its national heroes, and highlighted the past faults, and while praising efficiency. It leads everyone to believe everything good rested upon this new focus for efficiency, and political correctness, and the rapid development of technological for industrial and military purpose.
The former education was focused on good moral judgement, and later leaves moral training to the church. This is perhaps the worst threat to the culture of democracy, that is now being destroyed. It has lead to many problems, including thinking God and morality are the sole property of church authority. Only highly moral people can have liberty, or there is anarchy, and anarchy deteriorates into a police state. We must all have a sense of morality, and we can allow one religion to define God for us. Furthermore, people loosing their jobs, because of something they said, and the powers of Homeland Security, should have us taking the threat to our liberty seriously.
The former education focused on logic and independent thinking. The later focuses on memorization and "group think". Now our young dye their pink, blue and green and use tattoos and body piercing to express their individuality, but can not formulate an independent political thought. For example, the decision of if it was right to invade Iraq, rested on what was in the news, not on independent study of out Iraq and our involvement in the mid east. If we hadn't had computers and such easy access to information, this might be excusable, but given our easy access to information, this is inexcusable. We have gone from independent thinkers to sheeple, as easily to move as the Prussian populace.
When the US mobilized the first world war, Industry, Education and National Defense sat on the same board for the first time. Industry tried to close the schools, claiming the war had caused a labor shortage, and that they were not getting their monies through from public education, because they still had to train new employees. If industry had won this argument, it would have put an end to the new child labor laws, keeping children out of school during school hours. We might have ended up with a very different nation. One more like India with child labor and mass ignorance.
Teachers argued, an institution for education for making good citizenship, is good for education for making patriotic citizens. Of course, for national defense reasons, they won the argument and public schools were used to mobilize us for two world wars. Not until the military technology of WWII, flying across oceans and dropping atom bombs, was our liberal education replace with education for technology for military and industrial purpose. Those young people protesting the militarization of the US and the fascism, don't know the history of change in the US, but they sense something is wrong. The conservatives praying to God and demonstrating patriotism, have their historical German equivalent.
I am seriously concerned that if we do not realize how public education has changed our culture, we have fought every war for nothing.