The idea of education reform, to me, is inherently flawed. And that is because it does not look at education from a fundamental level but from a level of, “This is the system. So how do we rearrange it while keeping it intact?”
But if the system is fundamentally flawed then it can not simply be changed, formatted, rearranged, or reformed; because if the foundation is flawed then it must be destroyed and constructed anew. What is the point of education? If we look fundamentally at humans I think we can all agree that we each live to fulfill our desires. And if not for these desires, and with them the thoughts which seek to fulfill them, “How much pleasure will I receive from the fulfillment of this desire, and how much pain/suffering/effort will it take to acquire this desire/pleasure?” we would not move but remain still.
Early man had only desires for food, sex, family, and shelter. Now these are all bodily desires, things which are necessities for the body to live and not suffer. But then as we progress through human history we see that there came the development and need for social desires, desires for honor, power, and knowledge.
So, to ask a fundamental question, is education’s purpose to fashion human beings who can meet these various desires? And if so, are these humans whom we are “educating” able to fulfill their desires?
For instance, we see depression on the rise throughout the developed world, attention deficit disorder increasing, an economic crisis which is global, and an ecological crisis which is global. And considering that our early childhood is the most significant, significant for developing the traits and characteristics which we will carry throughout our lives, then aren’t these above crises and psychological problems an indictment on our development, which is so heavily tied to what we receive from our educational system, our family, and the society in which we live?
I said above that education’s purpose is to fashion human beings. But what does it mean to be a human being? If we simply look at ancient man then we would say that a human being, for him, consisted of fulfilling desires which were purely bodily. But of course man continued to evolve and this brings about a curious point, has education continually evolved to keep up with the development of man?
And while I mentioned that education should enable us to fulfill our desires shouldn’t it also enable us to keep our individuality, to grow into that unique person that only we can and should be/become? And isn’t this also a desire and something which education, in its current form, fails to accomplish?
We are not all the same. We are not born with the same traits and this makes each of us unique. But either to ease or lethargy, or a combination of the two, our educational system, and its similar compatriots throughout the world, treats each of us the same according to gender and age. And we see now that even gender has blurred with the years to confine our individuality, in our educational system, simply to our age.
I mentioned education perhaps not keeping up with the evolution of man. And if we look to social science, which is measuring our interconnection, through social networks, then I think we can say that education has not kept up with our evolution. Why do we think we face a global ecological crisis, a global economic crisis? Today we have so many different forms of pleasure to seek, which were not available to previous generations, and yet we see depression rising throughout the world.
This teaching of the interconnection amongst us, which is so heralded in sociology, is completely absent from our educational system. For instance, we are all the products of our environment, connected like cogs in one massive wheel or social network which stretches across the globe. And this means that the problems of the world can not simply be pinned to the rich, the leaders of industry, to the Presidents and Prime Ministers, but to all of us together.
And because we live in a world today, which faces so many global crises, then isn’t this evidence of 1) Our education, that which we consider so important to the development of the next generation, failing us? 2) And isn’t it also evidence that globalization has matured now rules the world? And because it now rules this world this means that the cause and effect amongst us has increased to become instantaneous.
And this is what I think is lacking from education, and from society as a whole, the knowledge of our complete interdependence upon one another. And so then I think that education should be constructed from the ashes of our current system. And fashioned to teach us that we are all interconnected, completely dependent upon one another, individuals each of us, but also links in one massive chain.
Other questions arise. If we are all interconnected, and I think social science has proven this in one form or another, then shouldn’t each person then live his life for the collective? And if so, isn’t this the opposite of what is being taught? And since we are all interconnected doesn’t this then make complete sense, that the connection between us should be valued above everything else, and that the needs of the world should be valued above the needs of the individual?
And if we change education in this fashion, to teach us about the interconnection amongst us, which makes us all one through it, then conceivably won’t it spread throughout the whole of society?
If so, I think a few things would occur:
1. No longer would nations seek self benefit at the detriment of the world.
2. Consumption would be curtailed in order to provide for future generations and in order to prevent pain and suffering throughout the world.
3. Ecology would be restored in a similar fashion in order to live in balance with one another and Nature.
4. Individuality would be measured according to each best benefiting society.
5. And no one would lack for not being able to fulfill his own desires since each would put the other, the collective, above himself. And so each would fulfill the other, the world over.
6. Education would finally keep up with the development of man and seek to constantly aid its continued development.
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