Education is an enlightening entitlement that is essential for culture, social experience and molding youth in a community into successful citizens. Without it we would not have government, innovation, infrastructure, an economy; the means to create new jobs, for the 8.1% of Americans unemployed, while keeping the jobs filled that already exist. Of course, education can be perceived from a multitude of perceptions. When you say education I immediately think of public education because that is the biggest form of education the majority of Americans are familiar with but when thinking deeply about education I should also include any other method of learning whether it be in an American public school or amongst a tribe of aborigines in Australia.
Education is essentially just a social structure resulting from the culture of a society. If a tribe of aborigine’s core structure is hunting and gathering, thus the education provided for the youth will evolve around hunting and gathering. There will probably be exotic rites of passage within the tribe for any youth coming of age and religious beliefs or philosophies the tribe lives by but the basis of a youths education will be hunting and gathering because without those essential survival skills their tribe won’t survive.
It is much easier to reflect upon an educational system set up by a tribe of hunters and gatherers than the current system that has somewhat evolved or maybe devolved out of our own culture of capitalism. Whether we like the capitalist system or don’t like it does not matter because what does matter I suppose is that there is a very important social structure at play and that structure is vital for the youth. Kids need a place to go to stay off of the streets and lots of parents have to work. Even if the education system has not figured out a way to reach all of the kids it has proven to reach some and lead them to successful positions in society. But it is evident that some people within our current culture would rather control children than teach them critical thinking skills. The Republican Party of Texas just recently opposed Critical Thinking Skills in their 2012 platform section on Education. It would seem that some schools in America act more as shepherds herding sheep than enlightening evolving establishments inspiring youth to think on their own behalf.
Currently our core structure of society is a paradoxical circle: people makes things, people buy things and people sell things, so that people can make more things, buy more things and sell more things. The system is satisfied as long as there are people out there buying things, making things and selling things. That’s what our education system is set up to create, buyers, sellers and makers. The structure of the American education system is a result of the structure of our culture. To sum up the importance of American public education, from my biased point of view without this social structure, strictly defined by the culture of capitalism, children are being exposed to and expected to succeed in, without it… We would have anarchy. Anarchism is a belief in absolutely no structure, therefore without some kind of idea of structure assimilated into the minds of the youth at an early age kids would just be a bunch of little anarchists burning and looting everything. Without our current education system our current tribe would not survive, the same way without the continuation of teaching hunting and gathering skills, a tribe of hunters and gatherers would not survive.
The value doesn’t necessarily fall in education itself because every child wants to learn something but the structure of the current education system is very different for people living in higher or lower socioeconomic communities. It is much easier for children to learn in school when they have two parents, enough food to eat and the supplies needed to succeed in school; it is easier to follow the herd than it is for kids that live in lower socioeconomic orders. But just because a kid does not have something that they see other kids have does not mean they don’t value the same enlightening education that their peers of different social statuses are acquiring.
Education is an enlightening entitlement that is essential for culture, social experience and molding youth in a community into successful citizens. Without it we would not have government, innovation, infrastructure, an economy; the means to create new jobs, for the 8.1% of Americans unemployed, while keeping the jobs filled that already exist. Of course, education can be perceived from a multitude of perceptions. When you say education I immediately think of public education because that is the biggest form of education the majority of Americans are familiar with but when thinking deeply about education I should also include any other method of learning whether it be in an American public school or amongst a tribe of aborigines in Australia.
ReplyDeleteEducation is essentially just a social structure resulting from the culture of a society. If a tribe of aborigine’s core structure is hunting and gathering, thus the education provided for the youth will evolve around hunting and gathering. There will probably be exotic rites of passage within the tribe for any youth coming of age and religious beliefs or philosophies the tribe lives by but the basis of a youths education will be hunting and gathering because without those essential survival skills their tribe won’t survive.
It is much easier to reflect upon an educational system set up by a tribe of hunters and gatherers than the current system that has somewhat evolved or maybe devolved out of our own culture of capitalism. Whether we like the capitalist system or don’t like it does not matter because what does matter I suppose is that there is a very important social structure at play and that structure is vital for the youth. Kids need a place to go to stay off of the streets and lots of parents have to work. Even if the education system has not figured out a way to reach all of the kids it has proven to reach some and lead them to successful positions in society. But it is evident that some people within our current culture would rather control children than teach them critical thinking skills. The Republican Party of Texas just recently opposed Critical Thinking Skills in their 2012 platform section on Education. It would seem that some schools in America act more as shepherds herding sheep than enlightening evolving establishments inspiring youth to think on their own behalf.
Currently our core structure of society is a paradoxical circle: people makes things, people buy things and people sell things, so that people can make more things, buy more things and sell more things. The system is satisfied as long as there are people out there buying things, making things and selling things. That’s what our education system is set up to create, buyers, sellers and makers. The structure of the American education system is a result of the structure of our culture. To sum up the importance of American public education, from my biased point of view without this social structure, strictly defined by the culture of capitalism, children are being exposed to and expected to succeed in, without it… We would have anarchy. Anarchism is a belief in absolutely no structure, therefore without some kind of idea of structure assimilated into the minds of the youth at an early age kids would just be a bunch of little anarchists burning and looting everything. Without our current education system our current tribe would not survive, the same way without the continuation of teaching hunting and gathering skills, a tribe of hunters and gatherers would not survive.
The value doesn’t necessarily fall in education itself because every child wants to learn something but the structure of the current education system is very different for people living in higher or lower socioeconomic communities. It is much easier for children to learn in school when they have two parents, enough food to eat and the supplies needed to succeed in school; it is easier to follow the herd than it is for kids that live in lower socioeconomic orders. But just because a kid does not have something that they see other kids have does not mean they don’t value the same enlightening education that their peers of different social statuses are acquiring.
ReplyDelete