Ramblings and One-Offs: "Spelling False" and the Problem With Modern Education

When I think about the education system in the United States, I am reminded of a sonnet written by John Milton which I will now quote in its entirety:

A BOOK was writ of late called Tetrachordon,
And woven close, both matter, form, and style;
The subject new: it walk'd the town awhile,
Numb'ring good intellects; now seldom por'd on.
Cries the stall-reader, Bless us! what a word on
A title-page is this! and some in file
Stand spelling false, while one might walk to Mile-
End Green. Why is it harder, Sirs, than Gordon,,
Colkitto, or Macdonnel, or Galasp?
Those rugged names to our like mouths grow sleek,
That would have made Quintillian stare and gasp;
Thy age, like ours O soul of Sir John Cheek,
Hated not learning worse than toad or asp,
When thou taught'st Cambridge, and King Edward, Greek. (Milton 1-15)

Milton seems to be upset with state of education in his time (this is an oversimplification but it will serve here). According to him, it condemned people who hate "not learning worse than toad or asp" (they like to learn) to "stand spelling false [...]" when they are confronted with a Greek title. If the "stall readers" being unable to pronounce "Tetrachordon" was enough to inspire Milton to write this little poem, I suspect that the modern education system would result in an entire epic. Sadly, despite Milton's criticisms of education in his time, we have continued down a path that pushes essential knowledge, wisdom, and information aside. We have placed more value on multiple choice questions than on philosophic questions. We ban the reading of deep and meaningful texts because they may be upsetting or difficult to grasp for a young and growing mind but that struggle for understanding is the womb in which knowledge gestates. The Aeneid (formerly the cornerstone of western education) is replaced with a story where the prince and princess live happily ever after and the impressionable reader learns nothing about the pain of living and the importance of duty. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is removed because its language is harsh and the reader misses its message of adoptive familial love between a runaway slave and a poor white child. We focus on the things that will produce obedient workers and unquestioning citizens and, in doing so, we rob students of their talent and creativity. Simply put, Milton would be appalled if he saw what passes for education these days. There is hope, however. Our age, like Milton's and Sir John Cheek's does not hate learning. In spite of the poor state of education and its subservience to systems of authority, our minds are still hungry for knowledge and many of us are willing to work toward obtaining that knowledge. For those of us who are already in our adulthood, we can educate ourselves (with the use of some helpful resources and a little time) and if we have children, we can provide them with the tools of understanding which are withheld by the broken education system but we must first understand its flaws.

The focus on standardized testing is one of the biggest driving factors in the erosion of education in this country. The recitation of factoids is not a substitute for understanding. When I look back on my own time in public school, I remember a great deal of emphasis being put on these types of tests. We were forced to memorize a formula or a fact and were expected to repeat it on command. This was great practice for penciling in the correct bubble on our papers but it did nothing to improve our lives or our understanding of the world. Filling out a Scantron sheet cannot instruct one on how to react when duty and desire come into conflict. Answering an endless list of questions about dates and events does not force one to understand why those dates and events are important to our history. Some would argue that these tests are a measure by which schools can be judged but this is not their purpose, in my opinion. They function to replace the types of education that encourage free thought. These tests have only one right answer and this creates an environment where questioning authority is impossible and where critical or creative thinking are irrelevant.

Censorship plays a roll in the death of proper education as well. It is good to protect people from a number of things but words and knowledge are not part of this category. If one sees a child about to step in front of a bus, it is right to pull them out of its path. However, such action is not required if a child picks up a book which contains adult themes. Dealing with difficult, depressing, or frightening topics is how one learns. When we see the causal racism in Twain's work and contrast it with its message, we come to understand the culture of his time, how people responded to it, and, more importantly, we learn something about ourselves. When we read the Aeneid, the sex and violence are secondary to its message of duty above desire. These lessons are infinitely more important than being able to say that so and so did such and such on a particular date. Like the tests, this censorship serves to prevent dangerous thought in the minds of the students. If a student can come to terms with Dido's death and understand that Aeneas had no choice but to leave her, he or she has gained a skill which is problematic to systems of authority, that would prefer people to view things as black and white, good and bad, or us and them.

Schools are also used as delivery system for misinformation that indoctrinates students with the "approved" world view and it comes at a great cost. This issue is most evident in drug and sexual education classes. There are political forces driving the curriculum in public schools; this is undeniable. The government and certain elements which hold sway over the government in the United States have an agenda. In practice, this means that students are forced to sit through propaganda classes that demonize both sex and drugs. The government, wishing to continue the drug war, demands that schools deny students valuable information about drugs and feed them lies (like cannabis is dangerous) in its place. Sadly, this lack of proper education leads people to do things that may be dangerous because they don't know any better. A person who was told that all drugs are dangerous, may, after realizing that he or she was lied to about cannabis, assume that meth is safe too. When students are denied accurate information about sex because some influential people disapprove of human nature, they will not know how to act responsibility when they, inevitably, choose to engage in sexual activity.

It is not an accident that the effect of these problems is the loss our individuality, our creativity, and our ability to question. Schools function to shape students into "good" adults but only from the perspectives of the systems of authority. The authorities don't want adults who question the drug laws. They don't want adults who can think critically about history, literature, current events, and public policy. Truth and knowledge are enemies of tyranny and those who perpetuate it because it is difficult to sell propaganda and lies to an educated populous. This is the reason creativity is punished, this is the reason critical thinking is discouraged, and this is the reason knowledge is made taboo.

Knowing this sad truth about education in the United States is the first step toward addressing the problem but the real work still lies ahead. I am not a religious person but there is a religious saying that appeals to me. This saying states that "God helps those who help themselves." My message is one of self-reliance. We cannot rely on systems of authority to teach us or our children how to question systems of authority. Instead, we must look to ourselves for this education. We must read things that challenge us. We must weigh claims against reality and determine their merit. We should seek out information from all sources. We must value interpretation over memorization. Finally, we should try to teach our friends, our children, and anyone who listen to do the same. This may be a difficult task but I have hope. People seem to like to learn and when they have access to information, they often take advantage of it. As time goes on and technology becomes more prolific, this sort of self-education will become more common.

I have rambled enough, so I will leave you with these words: To fight the forces Falsehood we must arm ourselves with the weapons of Knowledge.

Peace.

Note: I want to make it clear that I don't think everything about the education system is negative. Public schools are perfectly sufficient for teaching math, reading, language, and many other things. I also want to state that I do not lay the blame on the teachers themselves. In fact, I view them as victims of the system in most cases.

The above poem is Sonnet XI by John Milton and it is in the public domain. If you are interested in the poem, it can be found here: http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/milton/detract.htm

Unless otherwise credited, all the images in this post were sourced from the free image website unsplash.com.