American education: Ticky tacky little boxes

I had an interesting exchange at Intelligent Discontent yesterday that highlights the impermeability of mindsets. The post, by Don Progreba, is about the danger posed by the anti-science people to our education system. True enough, I suppose. Somehow or another our schools are turning out very good scientists, not at high rate, but turning them out nonetheless. It could have something to do with scientists generally being apolitical – there are no shades to right or wrong in math or physics, and standards of evidence are very high and results are visible to all. So the hard sciences do not reward bullshit. Neither does music, by the way. You have to be good, and the standards for good cannot be hidden in professional gobbledygook.

But generally, our education system even at its best is turning out shit. You can hear it on talk radio, read it on the blogs or popular literature. There is very little dissidence, hardly any doubt about things we are not allowed to doubt. Popular culture is a vast wasteland, for sure, but is academia any better?

I posted some appropriate words from Chomsky, who was asked in an interview his attitude about the generally uninformed questions he gets in lectures on college campuses:

“There are huge efforts that do go into making people, to borrow Adam Smith’s phrase, “as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human being to be.” A lot of the educational system is designed for that, if you think about it, it’s designed for obedience and passivity. From childhood, a lot of it is designed to prevent people from being independent and creative. If you’re independent-minded in school, you’re probably going to get into trouble very early on. That’s not the trait that’s being preferred or cultivated. When people live through all this stuff, plus corporate propaganda, plus television, plus the press and the whole mass, the deluge of ideological distortion that goes on, they ask questions that from another point of view are completely reasonable….”

I’ve learned over the years that there are two reactions to Chomsky citations – one to create anger, and the other to draw criticism for letting him do my thinking. It’s OK for anyone to cite any expert on anything – in fact, people take pride in citation of the big names in economics or psychology or any other soft discipline. But Chomsky is in his own league – once cited, you are merely his sock puppet.

That’s the reaction I got from Monty in the comment section of that post. He’s not the only one, of course, but it was an interesting side trip into the mind of the authoritarian. I said that I had little use for the opinions of soldiers, economists and dietitians, and he right away concluded that I prefer ignorance over expertise. In other words, it does not cross his mind to question authority, the hallmark of the authoritarian. That’s contradictory, I know, but that is how the authoritarian mind works. They are at once submissive and domineering. In school they tend to be the ones who best reflect and regurgitate the teachers, and so often get very high grades without having original thoughts. I repeat, our education system generally turns out shit.

The post and the reaction drew another post from Don, perhaps in reaction to the lack of respect that comes from the Chomsky citation above. It is hard to be a teacher. I would not go near the profession because they are not allowed to teach. Take just one subject, history. It’s full and rich and full of contradiction and confusion. It’s an avenue of exploration, unless you study it in high school or undergraduate courses (or higher ones, for all I know). But imagine that a teacher elects to spend the allotted time around World War I having students investigate the dissident movement and Creel Commission and the origins of American propaganda. That teacher would likely catch hell, if not from right-wing parents, from school administrators, perhaps the Chamber. Stick to the subject matter, be safe, don’t ruffle feathers.

Teachers catch hell for being good teachers. Progreba is teaching the propaganda model to his kids right now. That’s a wonderful way to create doubt and confusion – the beginning of education and exploration. Unfortunately, Progreba is the exception, and not the rule.

As I look back on my own education, I know that I had some very good teachers – Aaron Small, Sister Janice, J. Cody Montalban and a part-time teacher and investment advisor who helped us understand, for real, the life insurance game. But generally most were unremarkable, following texts and assigning homework without stimulating or creating doubt or confusion. (I had twelve years of Catholic schools, I should add, and so many of those teachers were rejects from public schools, and most deeply indoctrinated in Catholicism. So my sample is skewed. But that was my experience.)
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*PS: No! At age eleven, I thought the song was about houses.