Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Capitalist education
The birth of the modern American education system occurred around 1900, when a combination of industrialization, immigration and urbanization caused a fundamental reshaping of the institutions of learning. The system that emerged was one built on outcomes and statistics and standards (sound familiar?). This system was founded not by John Dewey, as popularly thought, but rather by a group of individuals backed by corporate magnates such as Carnegie, J.P. Morgan and Rockefeller. It should come as no surprise then, though it is often understated, that the contemporary education system has a decidedly capitalist flavor.
Much of the malaise that currently haunts our system -- e.g. an overemphasis on standardized tests and facts, an underemphasis on critical thinking and concepts, curricula that does not relate to the real world, teacher-dominated classrooms -- stems from America's particular capitalist nature. Our society is designed, in many cases to great advantage, around the basic ideals of capitalism: individualism, determination, self-reliance, etc. There is also the pervasive idea that Outcomes Matter. Profit margins drive the economy, and a fixation with acquiring more material possessions is an undeniable facet of the national character. It is not uncommon to hear someone remark matter-of-factly, "you don't get effort points in the real world." The importance of outcomes even shows up reflectively in America's popular culture, such as sports, as elaborated in an earlier post.
The No Child Left Behind act is, as a student recently remarked in a course I'm taking, a business plan. It's designed to optimize "profits," in this case schoolkid's test scores. Schools that don't perform are reconstituted -- reassigned, if you will. You even see schools applying literal business models to the classroom.
But our school are not businesses. Their job is not to churn out money, nor workers, nor even productive citizens. Our schools' job is to arm children with the tools to achieve their fullest potential. What the individuals do with that, well, that's up to them. I happen to be of the belief that intellectual, critically-thinking people tend to be good workers, productive citizens, innovators, democratically engaged, less prone to social degeneracy and more prone to social compassion, but those are side benefits. Our schools cannot be oriented around outcomes; there is a preponderance of evidence (only the tip of which I've covered on this blog) showing unequivocally that the outcome-based standards movement and indeed outcome-dominated education over the past century does not and has not produced these thinkers.
Education is a process of living, Dewey once wrote, not a preparation for future living. Education is about giving people the democratic equality of opportunity they deserve despite background or means. Instead, we have a system that gives people a schooling, and tries to get them to choose between A, B, C and D correctly.
Our capitalist tendencies are strong. They've controlled education for over 100 years. Until we start fighting the fundamental idea that outcomes matter more than process, real reform will be impossible. Ask yourself: What should be the goal of education? Then ask yourself: Is our system designed to meet that goal?
Challenge Everything.
-EMH
