School Structure Explored through Other People's Ideas

During World War Two, Walt Disney made American propaganda films that depicted the evil of Nazi indoctrination; it was done through the school system:



Here is a post justifying the free market economy and the right of libertarians to make choices about schools and the role of parent support, financially and otherwise, in education:



Then, here is a great speech by Noam Chomsky (because I love the guy) on the influence of school structure on freedom of thought:



Further criticism by Alvin and Heidi Toffler on how current school structures are not creating creative people and how the institutions themselves were originally modeled on factory ideals:



And, now two conclusions that reflect my worries. An ad from the New Brunswick board of Education:



Please note the ad. is long and well-put together and there is no voice over. Do you think they realized the importance of the old fashioned stand-by, reading, when they put this advertisement together and publicized it?

And, finally, a brief article from the Press Association about standardized testing in British Schools published in today's Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/feedarticle/9240241


I don't know what summary type conclusion to make except there is still value in reading, the current school model indoctrinates children in whatever labour model is popular, schools are intentionally non-creative places and, if you choose to put your children in school, the best way to insure a school works is active parental participation. It strikes me that there is criticism of schools from all sides, right, left and middle; the only thing everyone is sure of is that current structures are not working but no one has the ideal remedy.

My children read an average of 3-4 hours a day and we are currently not "schooling;" my point is the easiest way to begin to educate your children is turn off the t.v. and read to your kids or have them read to you. Even the illiterate can make up stories to go with pictures and that will help children learn to read and that act alone can insure academic success. But, it does have to be done every day. I don't know about all this technology in the school place. If children don't read, I cannot see how a computer reading for them helps them. Just my two cents.

Book Review: More money than Brains

Laura Penny, an academic from the East Coast has recently written this vitriolic rant about how stupid people are in charge of the world and eggheads, deemed lazy but intellectual, are somehow the repository of blame for all that is wrong with the world. I loved the ideas in the book; its style, not so much. However, Ms Penny makes valid criticisms when she discusses the current status of intellectualism in society. Market capitalization is constantly seen as a positive in the media despite the growing evidence capitalism is heading for a fall. Like Matthew Stewart, she constantly questions the validity of some business school programs when basically they amount to expensive networking opportunities. She wonders about the state of educational systems when numerous graduates of high school programs are almost inarticulate and illiterate. She questions the constant right wing criticism of government and the hypocrisy when government is necessary for companies that "are too big to fail."

If anything, Ms Penny can be seen as not harsh enough in her criticism of conservative ideologies that are currently dominating political rants. Ms Penny makes the point discussion really isn't happening when political ideologues insult one another rather than participate in a debate with each other. Further, she makes the most important point that silence is the dominant culture despite the idea that we live in a blogosphere of thousands of ideas; so many voices ultimately are saying the same thing and it is inane. There really are no valid opinions. No one has credentials anymore because the conservative way of thinking questions the validity of credentials. Worse yet, and this is not explored by Ms Penny, what happens when credentials are not credible? Case in point are current MBA programs, such as the one at Royal Roads University, whereupon a BA degree can be equated to life experience and a "graduand" permitted to work at post secondary level. The very notion diminishes the credibility of a BA and the MBA; although, in the working world, that MBA graduate may be entitled to a better salary based on questionable academics alone.

It is hard not to rant when thinking of Ms Penny's writing; her disdain for the lack of public discourse in so many areas is infectious. She is absolutely right that there is no respect for the thoughtful or considered opinion. The world, right now, is dominated by speedy satisfaction not level-headed thought. It is a book well worth reading although a headache may also result. The writing style is so loud and so vigorous, it can cloud the message; sadly, in some ways, Ms Penny almost echoes some of those she criticizes...a "Bill O'Reilly" of the page but, at least, she has content.

Plagiarism

Here is an article on the current state of plagiarism in American Universities:

www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/education/02cheat.html?hp

It made me wonder about the authenticity of original thought and work; the student editor at the end of the article does argue most students who do plagiarize are lazy, they are not ignorant of their habits, and fully know they are stealing someone else's ideas. My bigger concern, which is saying something, is the method by which some universities and academics tend to excuse this behaviour as if it is some how acceptable and cannot be helped in a growing media and technologically savvy world. It is still stealing; downloading files be they music or movies, television or ebooks, that have not been bought and are not free, is robbing an original producer of authorship, creativity and productivity. I don't know how there can be moral justification for the behaviour.

The story of Helene Hegemanne is a good example. This author never excused her scrapbooking of experiences of the Berlin nightclub scene; she made a pastiche of a variety of other people's experiences and published them. She almost dared the publishing elite of Germany to say she was wrong and they cowed. So, in a way, her act of literary transgression was accepted and justified and no one was willing to say she was stealing--which, in fact, she was. Her act also highlights a growing trend of ignorance in the world; her work had to pass through a number of editors before someone clued in to the fact the work was an act plagiarism. And, I imagine by then it was too late and too much money invested. Either there is so much information available today, it cannot be sifted through and original thought found--which is debatable in light of the numerous programs designed to fight plagiarism, or people really don't read enough and skim through information lightly rather than actually reading and interpreting it. Thus, they get caught really not having read thoroughly.

Marianne Wolfe's book, "Proust and the Squid" comes to mind when one thinks about reading as an act in itself and the way in which the brain changes when reading is done successfully. Technology is generally helpful in the way a card catalogue used to be helpful in libraries; however, it cannot replace in-depth interpretation. It cannot replace the time needed to acquire knowledge through critical thought. What is most scary about this article is the way some academics in the American university system acknowledge this behaviour as acceptable. What kind of teachers are they if they find a student's lack of original thought credible? What does it say about their teaching methods and marking schemes if students are welcome to find and use someone else's original thought? This is an example of "dumbing" down academic expectations.

It is simply wrong to "cut'n'paste" an article from Wikipedia and take credit for it; the fact a student mentioned in the article didn't even bother to learn how to adjust the script for their paper illustrates the intellectual development of some students. Obviously, the person knew they had taken an article from someone else, why he wouldn't feel the responsibility to credit it is curious, almost daring. I would argue someone who needs to plagiarize knows they are not up to the task of independent thought; someone who needs to excuse plagiarism and justify its existence is not a good teacher. I would wonder about the credibility of their independent thought,too.