Town Hall Meeting

27 Apr 2011

Why the U.S. is Destroying its Education System

Filed under: — Al @ 10:56 am

Chris Hedges writes another great article, this one about America’s schools and their teachers. He talks about how hedge funds have gotten really interested in schools once charter schools came about. And how hard it is to get good people to want to become teachers when they are treated so badly and paid so poorly and micromanaged every step of the way.

“Teachers, their unions under attack, are becoming as replaceable as minimum-wage employees at Burger King. We spurn real teachers–those with the capacity to inspire children to think, those who help the young discover their gifts and potential–and replace them with instructors who teach to narrow, standardized tests. These instructors obey. They teach children to obey. And that is the point.”

“It is better to be at odds with the whole world than, being one, to be at odds with myself,” Socrates said.

“What brings us meaning and worth as human beings is our ability to stand up and pit ourselves against injustice and the vast, moral indifference of the universe. Once justice perishes, as Kant knew, life loses all meaning. Those who meekly obey laws and rules imposed from the outside–including religious laws–are not moral human beings. The fulfillment of an imposed law is morally neutral. The truly educated make their own wills serve the higher call of justice, empathy and reason. Socrates made the same argument when he said it is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong.”

Read the entire article here

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