One
of the problems with education systems in developed nations is that they are
trying to meet the needs of the future with customs and practices of the past.
As Sir Ken Robinson explains in a talk (1) about education
paradigms: the difficulty is that the current system of education was designed,
conceived and structured in a different age: “It was conceived in the
intellectual culture of the Enlightenment and in the economic circumstances of
the industrial revolution.” This means that our education systems germ from the
exact same seed as market capitalism itself. It follows then that inherent
within our current education systems are the same faults that lie within
capitalism.
Karl Marx talks about the essence
and existence of human beings and claims that under capitalism these two
crucial aspects of human nature come apart. We can’t be free unless we’re at
one with our natural essence. The problem is that we are forced to be
productive creatures by the way our society is organized. By doing so we are
selling our freedom – leaving ourselves at the mercy of the ruling class. The
aim of developed nations’ education systems is to fashion young people into a
one-size-fits-all labour market mould. For this, we are asked to give up our
youth to the systematic, institutionalized classrooms of school where all too
often-domineering teachers represent the future “boss class”. This methodical
custom that is now taken for granted mirrors (on a smaller scale) the ideological
structure of capitalism. Students are pushed to “succeed”, to be competitive,
to strive for academic success, which they are promised, will transform itself
into financial success. Under this strenuous treatment the essence of students
no longer corresponds to their existence. They have become conditioned to a
life of alienated capitalist labour.
In the 21st Century more
and more students feel alienated as a result of their education system. The promise
that if you work hard - you can get a job - has been broken by years of financial
instability. This meaninglessness of institutionalized schooling is further compounded
by the fact that students are forced to marginalize what they find important in
life in order to succeed in school. This is the same type of alienation that is
found to be a result of capitalist labour. George Monbiot, (2)
author and journalist, claims that our education system is too narrow - only
rewarding a particular skillset but ignoring the great intelligence, the genius
that many children have, but which is never discovered. Our system of education
is modeled on the interests of capitalistic industrialism and in the image of
it. We must go back to
Rousseau’s philosophy (3) in order to revolutionize our education
systems and avoid continuing to alienate the decision makers of tomorrow.
Rousseau tried to devise a system of
education according to his idea of nature. His portrayal of the state of
nature as desirable and not brutish formed a vital part of his philosophy. He asserted that the more innovative
man becomes, the more desires and cravings he will have which in turn will
cause anxiety and psychological troubles. This caused Rousseau to argue that a
child’s education must involve their removal from the corruptive influences of
modern society so that they can revert to their “state of nature” and become
truly free. The failings of the institutionalized classrooms of developed
nation’s education systems are to be blamed on the corruptive influence of
modern free market capitalism. Just as Marx identifies that under capitalism
our existence becomes separated from our essence, Rousseau argues that society
has lost touch with humanity’s natural virtues as a result of private property
and technical progress. Only by returning to our “state of nature” can we be free
from the corruptive complexion of modern society. It is through Rousseau’s
regressive, (now) anti-capitalist philosophy that we can seek to reform-developed
nations’ education systems to become less focused on a narrow concept of
success, enable them to lessen their failings and contribute to a less hostile
attitude towards nature.
Governments’
reluctance to adequately address urgent environmental crises such as global
warming coextends exactly with the same unwillingness to teach these problems
in our education systems. A perfect example of this is the European Commission’s
instruction to break up (or at least pacify) a small classroom of students
asking for concrete political transparency in climate change politics.
Bureaucracies with financial or unspoken political incentives will stop at
nothing to impede educational progress, which encourages political change that
goes against their economic impetus. Our education systems have their
flaws herby branded into them by a piping hot bureaucratic capitalist iron.
In
some cases the failings of developed nations’ education systems have been taken
to a surprising extreme. This is the case for example in the United Kingdom
where a small number of elite, fee-paying schools notably Eton and Harrow, have
been deliberately designed to produce the future ruling class. Ordinary state
funded schools, on the other hand were designed to produce the working class.
One single school – Eton College has produced 19 British prime ministers
(5). Similarly in France, a small number of elite universities, known as
“grandes écoles” notably lécole nationale
d’administration exercises a breathtaking hold on senior political and
business positions in France where 7 of the last 12 prime ministers where
“énarques” (6). The fact that these relatively small schools have
produced such a high proportion of important political and business leaders in
the UK and France reveals the lie in the capitalistic claim that our societies
are based on meritocracy.
Having established that the greater
part of the failings of developed nations’ education systems mirror the
failings of capitalism we must acknowledge the counter argument. These failures
are in themselves just by-products of the achievements of developed education
systems which feed the successes of capitalism. If we take this viewpoint we
might in a utilitarian sense argue that the achievements of capitalism outweigh
its deficiencies, which therefore renders it morally just. It is for example, within
a capitalist framework that we have revolutionized medical and scientific
development. This John Rawls would argue, is only beneficial if the social and
economic circumstance of a government allow the poorest individuals of a
community to profit most from the achievements of capitalism. All differences
should always be to the advantage of the poorest so that inequality works in
favour of them. For example, as a result of heavy taxation of the rich, the
poorest children of a community will be given the chance to have as good an
education as the richest children of the same community. Nevertheless Rawl’s
theory only works within the context of a capitalist structure and doesn’t
address alienation or exploitation. Since the failings of capitalism parallel
the failings of developed nations’ education systems Marx would implore us to
recognize capitalism as the problem, which will in turn give rise to
revolution. Unlike Rawls, we must step outside our capitalist superstructure.
In order to change our non-material conditions, we must first change our
material conditions. In order to address our education systems’ deficiencies we
must overthrow capitalism. Individuals would at last have overcome their
alienation and have room to develop freely to the full extent of their
abilities.
According to Marx and Engels, one of
the most important reasons why a revolution would be inevitable is that in a
capitalist society, the labour force is alienated. An explanation as to
why such a revolution has yet to have successfully taken place could lie within
the alienation produced by schools. Students learn to be alienated and grow up
having to accept this as a norm. Their reluctance to revolt is hereby branded
into their education. If we are to accept this as being a genuine explanation
for the reluctance to overthrow capitalism then we must recognize that from a
capitalist perspective this is not a failing of our education systems but a
cynical success. Because of the population’s unwitting indoctrination of
capitalist ideology, production grows, profit grows and capital circulates –
the core mantra of capitalism is achieved.
With
the ever-growing threat of climate change, resource depletion, gross wealth
inequality and financial instability, the integral flaws of our globalized free
market economy are more obvious now than ever before. The growing notion of
alienation, lack of meaning and frustration that is found in young adults and
teenagers in developed countries are the result of an outdated education system
based on a primitive form of capitalism which disassociates students from their
true state of nature. This sense of nihilistic disillusionment is further
compounded by vicious austerity measures, economic uncertainty and the ensuing
promise of an ageing population to take care of. In short, our education
systems are designed to propagate our current economic system by acting as a
sort of medical drip keeping capitalism alive on its deathbed. This is the
paradox of capitalism today - although it can be seen as being on its deathbed
– it is more efficient than ever before. Slavoj Zizek points out this paradox
in a talk (4) with the Guardian: “The more it (capitalism) is rotten… the
better it functions.”
The
failings of developed nations’ education systems mirror the failings of
capitalism because these two different systems both function within the
framework of what Marx called “the superstructure”. This superstructure
includes moral, religious and political ideas but largely incorporates what
Marx and Engels identified as “capitalist ideology”. They believed that societies
generally accepted ideology is always that of those who constitute the ruling
class. That is to say the ideology that serves the interests of the ruling
class. Preserving the elitist, competitive, individualistic, capitalist
characteristics of developed nations’ education systems is, of course, in the
interest of the ruling class as it will perpetuate their domination by keeping
the current system alive. In the words of Karl Marx we must “let the ruling
classes tremble at a communistic revolution”. We must change the base in order
to change the superstructure. Only once this has happened can we put in place a
Rousseauian style of education – students and adults would no longer be
alienated, exploited and divided into specialized labour groups. The end to
alienation would mean that at last man’s essence would be at one with his
existence. He will have overcome the limiting norms of modern society to return
to a more primitive state of nature in which our education systems would not
parallel the flaws of capitalism. Instead our reformed education systems would
focus on nature, wholeness and egalitarianism.
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Annotations
(1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U
(2) http://www.monbiot.com/2013/10/07/rewild-the-child/
(3)
http://infed.org/mobi/jean-jacques-rousseau-on-nature-wholeness-and-education/
(4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvjGOncSyHM
(5) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/etons-old-boy-network-518455.html
(6) http://www.economist.com/node/21549976
Article by Seb K.
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