Indulging Stupidity

There is considerable lament in the apocalyptic arena of American society concerning the dumbing down of our citizens in the public schools. Indeed, I have my own despair when I repeatedly see writing composed of improper words, words that could be considered homophones through sloppy speech.

Your/You’re
Seen/Scene
Affect/Effect
Weather/Whether

Ad nauseum. Sorry kids if you weren’t introduced to Latin. Actually I wasn’t formally, but not only did I read a lot and make frequent reference to the most ancient of dictionaries available, I endeavored to learn three foreign languages in my youth, and again, referred to the dictionary a lot. To do such a thing by the time of public school graduation was quite rare in those days. But I shortly found out three languages were required throughout Europe, in addition to their native tongue. I started with Russian for nearly three years, moved into Spanish for four, and then Norwegian for a couple of years, living within the culture of my ancestors. Since then I have explored German and French to a small degree since they are connected to Spanish and Norwegian. Learning another language not only improves one’s native language skill, but broadens the perspective. Thinking in a foreign language immerses one in the culture that spawned it, presenting a view of the world’s customs unobtainable in any other way.

I lament the formal education I received. For one, there was no emphasis on public speaking. That was an elective removed from high school curriculum by the time I attended. Public speaking skill is the kind exhibited by such people as Christopher Monckton, who can eloquently and quickly articulate his ideas as well as debate an issue with agility. Such a skill was once valued around the world as an expression of a civilized person. Today we are burdened with celebrities who cannot express a simple idea without lacing their sentences with “you know” and “like” until one is tempted to scream at them: Just say it!!! They speak as though they are choking on an egg. Writing skill goes hand-in-hand with speaking. Today there are far too many kids writing the way they speak. Because they are not taught to speak well, they cannot write well either. Too many are of the notion that writing is the same process as speaking. But it is not. If you write the same as you speak, then you are communicating far less than when speaking. And of course, it follows as night to day, anyone who cannot write well cannot read well either.

I was impressed in the fourth grade by my no-nonsense teacher that an education was not what was dispensed at school, but what the student obtained on their own initiative. She said teachers in public education only presented the basics. It was up to each student to be exactly that—a student. She quite eloquently pointed out that the law requiring children to attend school did not make them students, nor did it deliver to them an education. School was the resource provided by their parents’ taxation, and becoming a student was up to each of us. If we did not take advantage of that opportunity, we were robbing our parents of their labor on our behalf. When was the last time anyone heard such admonishment in public schools?

The heart of the problem of education lies in the conflict of inquisitiveness as opposed to indulgence. Public school in America is an environment of indulgence, and that is by design. Those industrialists who built up the backbone of our economy, making America the most productive nation on earth during the last two centuries, imposed their desires upon the education system. What they wanted was a populace who served in a production environment and performed their duties without objection or invention. Those who showed extraordinary capability among the elite families were sent to academies and ivy-league schools to cultivate leadership skills and scientific capacity. Those who wanted to be indulged tended to wash out, while those who were invested with the thirst for learning and excellence obtained higher learning.

However, even though public schooling does not accommodate well those of inquisitive mind and striving for excellence, they are not consigned to ignorance nor ineptitude. Numerous people have made themselves a success in this world without the benefit of a formal education. But they taught themselves a great many things concerning business, finance, marketing, and technology. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are obvious examples. Not so obvious is Jesse Ventura, Jim Williams (applications engineer at National and Linear Technology), or Eric Hoffer.

Eric was an itinerant laborer until he moved into longshoring. Eric had the most rudimentary formal education (blind during most of his youth), but spent all his free time as an adult between jobs in the local library. If he was in a location long enough he would check books out to read during his leisure at the end of a back-breaking day in the field. Eric became America’s foremost philosopher in modern times, wrote several books, and taught courses at the university level. Of all his books, The True Believer and The Ordeal of Change are the most noted. Within them in concise, clear detail he lays out the human condition, and the characteristics of human behavior in mass associations. Eric was not interested in wealth with its attendant vain leisure. Leisure he had all he could desire. Eric thirsted for understanding the human condition. If you want to know what makes people tick, especially within a mass setting, Eric Hoffer is the man to read. Then look into the works that he studied to enlarge his world view.

What bothers me today is not the state or agenda of public education. Actually, the term is a misnomer, for it should be called State indoctrination. Never before in the history of man has so much knowledge been made available to those who desire it. Never before has there existed such a plethora of assistance programs to help those who struggle with their public indoctrination. Never before has there existed so many private foundations dedicated to learning. In the last decade the technology to provide information beyond one’s wildest dreams has been thrust upon the world. A medium so astounding in its revolutionizing life as man has known it for millennia sometimes leaves me speechless. In the midst of this cornucopia of available information we are beset with a level of ignorance and communicative skill found in the backwoods of America’s frontier three hundred years ago.

The problems we see manifesting in society, politics, religion, and the economy are all tied to indulgence. We have seen exceptional performance in the Olympics this year, but hardly anywhere one travels in this country  is a person found of exceptional communication skill and intelligence. The value of education more than anything else is knowing when and how one is being manipulated and taken advantage of. The best slave is the person who does not realize he is. The task master’s greatest fear lies in the person who awakens to their slavery—when they realize that it is all being carried out with his consent.

To stop the corruption of Wall Street, the warring in Washington foreign policy, the Federal oversight into every detail of American life, all that needs be done is to cease the sale of indulgence, to cease consent in being told what to do. Tyrants are always appointed by the people who sell indulgences. When the people cease giving their consent to tyranny, the entire structure collapses and peace, prosperity, and true happiness take root. Eric wrote about it. So did a lot of other students of the human condition.

But first, one must be able to read, to write, to communicate effectively. Only then will there exist enough intelligence to recognize when and how the megalomaniacs have taken over the destiny of Man to turn him back into the brute of ages past.

SethSmee

References
"People dream of making the virtuous powerful, so they can depend on them. Since they cannot do that, people choose to make the powerful virtuous, glorying in being victimized by them. After their secular savior-their Robespierre or Stalin-is safely in his grave, then the people glory once more in denouncing him as a betrayer of their trust. Then they repeat the cycle." Dr. Thomas Szasz Untamed Tongue p155