"[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...and that is its aim everywhere else."
-H.L. Mencken in The American Mercury


"Our schools are...factories in which the raw products (children) are to be shaped and fashioned....And it is the business of the school to build its pupils according to the specifications laid down."
-Ellwood P. Cubberley, Public School Administration


"Men like George Peabody, who funded the cause of mandatory schooling throughout the South, surely understood that the [school system] was useful in creating not only a harmless electorate and a servile labor force but also a virtual herd of mindless consumers. In time a great number of industrial titans came to recognize the enormous profits to be had by cultivating and tending just such a herd via public eductation, among them Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockerfeller."
-John Taylor Gatto in Sept. 2003 Harper's


Is our education system deliberately designed to produce mediocre intellects and to ensure docile and incomplete citizens--all in order to render the population managable?

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sig edited: no political imagery allowed. please reref to the sig guidelines

i think its definitely true...recently i read in "you are being lied to" an article that claimed the exact same thing...it even presented excerpts from books way back around the turn of the century which were very similar to the ones in ur post..it certainly makes sense to me

I wouldn't agree on that one. The intention of the school system is not to breed geniouses, but it is to give every person an adequate amount of knowledge required to function in the society. It is not preventing anyone to reach out a bit further and to gain more knowledge, though.

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1+1=10

"We are building socialism without a model. We do not wish to copy anyone; we shall use the experience gained in the course of the liberation struggle. There are no schools, faculties or universities in the traditional sense, although they did exist in our country prior to liberation, because we wish to do away with all vestiges of the past. There is no money, no commerce, as the state takes care of provisioning all its citizens. The cities have been resettled as this is the way things had to be. Some three million town dwellers and peasants were trying to find refuge in the cities from the dpredations of war. We evacuated the cities; we resettled the inhabitants in the rural areas where the living conditions could be provided for this segment of the population. The countryside should be the focus of attention of our revolution, and the people will decide the fate of the cities."

- Pol Pot, 1978

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Retro ...

i agree. the teachers in my school spend less time teaching, and more time trying to make us more like everyone else. the school system is corrupt. and i fucking hate it

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[ Romans Chapter 1, Verse 6: And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ. ]

I totaly agree, if every student was fully aware of the world around them there would be a massive revolt against the current power system and the life style that goes with it. HOwever were generaly fed a ton of BS in school so that cant happen.

quote:

Originally posted by Mikado I totaly agree, if every student was fully aware of the world around them there would be a massive revolt against the current power system and the life style that goes with it.

Bingo.

It is quite simple to understand -- even the lowest idiot can understand it! However, people do not want to realize it, do not want to hear about things that can conflict with their comfortable lives.

EDIT: Especially if it's something like, "The way you have been raised was wrong, the way you are now is wrong, is unnatural." Who wants to hear that?

Better to be sheep ...

Last edited by Alccode on Aug-26-2003 at 19:44

quote:

Originally posted by Alccode Better to be sheep ...

Sheeple suck ass, after u wake up a bit its hard to live with there generic mannerisms and conversation which they seem to have in a constant loop. Ive timed the converstation loop at about 3 mins for poeple in my school which is so pathetic.

I agree about some of the quotes mentioned above. It's pretty fucked up how our society is made up like that. My brother's like that, most people in my family are like that. No real originality or no free thinking outside "the box".

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Und ich tanz einfach weiter...

quote:

Originally posted by Mikado I totaly agree, if every student was fully aware of the world around them there would be a massive revolt against the current power system and the life style that goes with it. HOwever were generaly fed a ton of BS in school so that cant happen.

6/4/1989 Tian An Men Square


College students revolting for a more democratic government.

quote:

Originally posted by moncster 6/4/1989 Tian An Men Square College students revolting for a more democratic government.

The Chinies have had a long history of brutal oppresion. The rights they were fighting for were very basic human rights and more even financial distribution. These arguments came about becasue Chinies people became aware that there was an outside world which had rights so knowing that things could be better they attempted to make it so.
There knowlage of what could be is what empowered them.

quote:

Originally posted by Mikado The Chinies have had a long history of brutal oppresion. The rights they were fighting for were very basic human rights and more even financial distribution. These arguments came about becasue Chinies people became aware that there was an outside world which had rights so knowing that things could be better they attempted to make it so. There knowlage of what could be is what empowered them.

...and very slowly, our (assuming you too, reside in the US) basic rights are being taken away. There have been too many arrests because the accused was exhibiting behavior that suggests he or she may do something illegal, but other than that, there was nothing. Even worst, there's the whole PATRIOT act thing..