School vs. Education
Most of us have been indoctrinated from a young age to believe that they are synonymous - they are not. Just because you go to school does not mean that you are educated. In reality, most often, schooling interferes with education. In the school system, students are taught to memorize and regurgitate facts and figures, rather than encourage inquisitive minds to understand the information and boost critical thinking and creativity.
Schooling is the process of being taught in a place where instruction occurs. Students go to school to be trained to get a job, under the impression that they have chosen their career.
Education is a comprehensive, enlightening experience which deals with the gaining of knowledge and development of character - virtue. The combination of virtue and knowledge leads to wisdom.
Schooling is the process of being taught in a place where instruction occurs. Students go to school to be trained to get a job, under the impression that they have chosen their career.
Education is a comprehensive, enlightening experience which deals with the gaining of knowledge and development of character - virtue. The combination of virtue and knowledge leads to wisdom.
Mandatory State-Operated Behavior Modification
Many people follow the education system because that what is considered normal. Although, through schooling, the masses have been deeply and superficially conditioned; conditioned to the social norms; conditioned to go to college after high school; conditioned to accept the surveillance panopticon; conditioned to seek constant validation by authority figures. Consequently, this creates a society whose behaviors have been accepted and modified by a government-operated system.
The state, not the parents, gets to decide what every single child is going to learn, how they are going to learn it, and what information they are going to have access to, as well as what information will be kept from them.
The state, not the parents, gets to decide what every single child is going to learn, how they are going to learn it, and what information they are going to have access to, as well as what information will be kept from them.
The Origins of the "Education" System
The current, compulsory American school system began around the 1900s.
In 1903, John D. Rockefeller founded the General Education Board, which provided major funding for schools at all levels across the country. This foundation was especially active in promoting the mandatory State-controlled public school movement (Rockarch.org, 2017).
In 1905, Andrew Carnegie, with the help by an act of Congress, founded the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 2017).
In 1909, Woodrow Wilson says in Lewis Lapham’s introductory essay, "We want one class of persons to have a liberal education, and we want another class of persons, a very much larger class of necessity in every society, to forgo the privilege of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks." Meaning, they wanted workers to work for their companies, to make them richer and be consumers by purchasing their products, and thus those workers will do exactly what they are trained to do.
In 1916, Frederick T. Gates, director of charity for the Rockefeller Foundation and co-creator of the General Education Board, writes “In our dream we have limitless resources, and the people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hand. The present educational conventions fade from our minds; and, unhampered by tradition, we work our own good will upon a grateful and responsive rural folk. We shall not try to make these people or any of their children into philosophers or men of learning or of science. We are not to raise up among them authors, orators, poets, or men of letters. We shall not search for embryo great artists, painters, musicians. Nor will we cherish even the humbler ambition to raise up from among them lawyers, doctors, preachers, statesmen, of whom we now have ample supply (Gates, 1916)."
The Rockefeller General Education Board was not interested in encouraging critical thinking. Rather, the focus of the foundation was on organizing children and creating reliable, predictable, obedient citizens. The Rockefellers, along with other financial elite and their philanthropic organizations (such as the Gates, Carnegies, and Vanderbilts) have been able to mold society by funding and pushing compulsory state schooling for the masses.
In 1932, the "Eight Year Study”, largely funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and the General Education Board, laid the groundwork for education reform and the schooling system we have today (Louise & Rita, 1992).
In 1903, John D. Rockefeller founded the General Education Board, which provided major funding for schools at all levels across the country. This foundation was especially active in promoting the mandatory State-controlled public school movement (Rockarch.org, 2017).
In 1905, Andrew Carnegie, with the help by an act of Congress, founded the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 2017).
In 1909, Woodrow Wilson says in Lewis Lapham’s introductory essay, "We want one class of persons to have a liberal education, and we want another class of persons, a very much larger class of necessity in every society, to forgo the privilege of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks." Meaning, they wanted workers to work for their companies, to make them richer and be consumers by purchasing their products, and thus those workers will do exactly what they are trained to do.
In 1916, Frederick T. Gates, director of charity for the Rockefeller Foundation and co-creator of the General Education Board, writes “In our dream we have limitless resources, and the people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hand. The present educational conventions fade from our minds; and, unhampered by tradition, we work our own good will upon a grateful and responsive rural folk. We shall not try to make these people or any of their children into philosophers or men of learning or of science. We are not to raise up among them authors, orators, poets, or men of letters. We shall not search for embryo great artists, painters, musicians. Nor will we cherish even the humbler ambition to raise up from among them lawyers, doctors, preachers, statesmen, of whom we now have ample supply (Gates, 1916)."
The Rockefeller General Education Board was not interested in encouraging critical thinking. Rather, the focus of the foundation was on organizing children and creating reliable, predictable, obedient citizens. The Rockefellers, along with other financial elite and their philanthropic organizations (such as the Gates, Carnegies, and Vanderbilts) have been able to mold society by funding and pushing compulsory state schooling for the masses.
In 1932, the "Eight Year Study”, largely funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and the General Education Board, laid the groundwork for education reform and the schooling system we have today (Louise & Rita, 1992).
“I don’t want a nation of thinkers, I want a nation of workers.”
John D Rockefeller
A Solution: Home Education
References
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. (2017). Foundation History | Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. [online] Available at: https://www.carnegiefoundation.org/who-we-are/foundation-history/ [Accessed 13 Dec. 2017].
Gates, F. (1916). The country school of to-morrow, by Frederick T. Gates.. [online] Available at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t8hd89b20;view=1up;seq=3 [Accessed 13 Dec. 2017].
Louise, F. and Rita, S. (1992). Rockefeller and General Education Board Influences on Vocationalism in Education, 1880-1925.. [ebook] Chicago, IL. Available at: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED349475.pdf [Accessed 13 Dec. 2017].
Rockarch.org. (2017). The Rockefeller Archive Center - General Education Board. [online] Available at: http://rockarch.org/collections/rockorgs/geb.php [Accessed 13 Dec. 2017].
Gates, F. (1916). The country school of to-morrow, by Frederick T. Gates.. [online] Available at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t8hd89b20;view=1up;seq=3 [Accessed 13 Dec. 2017].
Louise, F. and Rita, S. (1992). Rockefeller and General Education Board Influences on Vocationalism in Education, 1880-1925.. [ebook] Chicago, IL. Available at: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED349475.pdf [Accessed 13 Dec. 2017].
Rockarch.org. (2017). The Rockefeller Archive Center - General Education Board. [online] Available at: http://rockarch.org/collections/rockorgs/geb.php [Accessed 13 Dec. 2017].