COMPULSORY SCHOOLING

DANGER: STATE-REGULATED, COMPULSORY SCHOOLS ARE FAILING TO MEET THE NEEDS OF INDIVIDUALS

Why do we accept that the most naturally curious time in our lives, when everything is new and our brains are poised to learn, we instead require kids to sit still for 18 years in a row learning rote, standardized information? Have humans evolved to this point to be bored and rewarded for our obedience? We don’t think so, but unfortunately that’s the kind of school system we have. It tends to create obedient, dependent and predictable workers and consumers while failing to cultivate experimentation, original thinking and passionate learning.

The state school system is rife with problems. Former Chancellor of the Washington D.C. public schools, Michelle Rhee, attempted to transform one of the worst school districts in the nation, but was ultimately forced to resign in 2010. She offered up to $40,000 a year increase in salary to teachers who were willing to give up tenure and rely instead on performance review. She found that the majority of teachers opposed the proposal and preferred not to rely on performance for job security. The challenge of how to create accountability and a capacity to self-correct has long infused the debate on how to achieve excellence within the state-run educational systems.[1] Private schools often forego the offer of tenure in order to assure greater accountability and they attribute their greater success, in part, to this policy.

How did we get an educational system that is not only difficult to reform, but where schools function more like training grounds for obedience rather than places to foster critical thinking?

It turns out the current model of schooling originated around the turn of the century with the Rockefeller-Founded General Education Board and other Corporate Foundations including the Carnegie Foundation. They played a key role in funding teachers, schools, Universities, researchers, and curriculum and in so doing garnered influence and control of modern education. Their funding and associated Board control allowed them to control research grants, what behavior was rewarded and who was in charge. The resulting system of schooling creates a docile workforce, used to obeying commands, but not rewarded for thinking critically. This is just what the financial elite had in mind. It makes the population easier to control and more predictable. As Frederick T. Gates, business advisor to John D. Rockefeller, said,

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...

To learn more about the takeover of education, see the “Follow the Money” story.