How the Conservative Worldview Quashes Critical Thinking -- and What That Means For Our Kids' Future

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/education/155469/how_the_conservative_worldview_quashes_critical_thinking_--_and_what_that_means_for_our_kids%27_future/

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The Conservative War On Education continues apace, with charters blooming everywhere, high-stakes testing cementing its grip on classrooms, and legislators and pundits wondering what we need those stupid liberal arts colleges for anyway. (Isn't college about job prep? Who needs to know anything about art history, anthropology or ancient Greek?)

Amid the din, there's a worrisome trend: liberals keep affirming right-wing talking points, usually without realizing that they're even right wing. Or saying things like, "The education of our children is a non-partisan issue that should exist outside of any ideological debate."

The hell it is. People who say stuff like this have no idea what they're talking about. The education of our children is a core cultural and political choice that reflects the deepest differences between liberals and conservatives -- because every educational conversation must start with the fundamental philosophical question: What is an education for?

Our answers to that question could not be more diametrically opposed.

A Question of Human Nature

Our beliefs about the purpose of education are rooted in even deeper beliefs about the basic nature of humanity.

[StitchesforSnitches]

1. Conservatism is a disease

And needs to be treated as such.

The RW gets props for thinking ahead, start attacking public education which they did starting in the 60’s so that in the next 20 plus years you have a large chunk of America that is under educated, susceptible to propaganda and fueled by racism and religious fundamentalism.

We are dealing with the true believers on the right now who will NEVER compromise on any issue.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Michelle Rhee is a Democrat. So is Arne Duncan.

It's false to claim this is a battle waged by conservatives. Plenty of Democrats have joined the far right in the war on education.

[Fumesucker]

3. +1

[xchrom]

4. i don't disagree.

and it's problematic that in the 'party of the Left' we have such influential people promoting 'right wing' thinking.

[Occulus]

6. They are?

Well, they can say so, and the gullible can believe them, I suppose.

Their actions speak very differently....

[DefenseLawyer]

5. I'm not sure it's ideology at all. They just found another place to make a buck.

There's a lot of money to be made in standardized testing and privatized education. Whenever you bring profit into the picture, efficiency becomes a necessity. Steamlining the process helps the bottom line.

[Occulus]

7. Oh, it's ideology all right.

Go do some reading about Texas and nationwide textbook curricula.

Their POV regarding education is very thoroughly politicized.

[DefenseLawyer]

9. No question

There are nuts that want to shape the curriculum, but I would still maintain that money is the driving force behind standardized testing and privatizing public education.

[raouldukelives]

8. People only have value in our society if they can be exploited

by the rich in some way. If your fast and can catch a football you will be coddled and the world of higher education will be open to you. If you achieve as best you can one day they will allow rich people to bid for you after checking out your physical conditioning and your teeth.
Pretty much the same model for other talents as well. Good at math? Got some boys from JP Morgan who want to talk to you. Good at science? Pfizer can use your assistance. Like the idea of killing people? Step on up and sign on the line.
WTF? What the hell is a Sartre? Erasmus who? Get the hell out of here scumbag!

[Fumesucker]

10. Erasmus thought that in the country of the blind the one eyed man is king..

Erasmus was a flaming optimist..

In the country of the blind the one eyed man is thought mad..

[IDemo]

11. Remember - "Obedient workers! obedient workers! obedient workers!"

[G_j]

12. K&R

[Quantess]

13. K & R

[jtuck004]

14. Xchrom, I read that, and on page 4 they get into solutions, but making those changes could

take a lifetime, and still fail.

I ran across an article "2 Billion Jobs to Disappear by 2030" - a TED talk by Thomas Frey. Among the discussion, self-described as a "wakeup call" rather than "gloom and doom", was this

Jobs Going Away
•Teachers.
•Trainers.
•Professors.

New Jobs Created
•Coaches.
•Course designers.
•Learning camps.


Those jobs he describes as increasing in number have the possibility of a lot more room for implementing those changes, staying out from under the thumb of what has been happening, what is continuing.

Maybe a cooperative, democratically run "Learning Camp". Maybe borrow songs from the Danish Folk Schools, Labor, and others they might only need a few weeks of exposure to foment something in their heads. Maybe combine it with a math camp.