Our EDUCATION SYSTEM needs REFORM

At this time in the millennia, everything that we need to know can be found in the internet and most of them are free. So why do we need to spend so much to attend a “formal” education?
According to the College Board, the average cost of tuition and fees for the 2017–2018 school year was $34,740 at private colleges, $9,970 for state residents at public colleges, and $25,620 for out-of-state residents attending public universities.

These means that right after college graduation, a student would have racked up a minimum over $100k in debt. And these costs do not include board and lodging.

Our School System was Designed in 1893 dubbed “Assembly line Education Model”

After the defeat of the Prussians (Germans) by Napoleon at the battle of Jena in 1806, it was determined that the reason why the battle was lost was that the Prussian soldiers were thinking for themselves on the battlefield instead of following orders. And so Prussia designed a new education model.

The new model was established in 1819 which follows a three-tiered educational system that was considered “scientific” in nature. The central tenet of the Prussian system was that it defined for the child what was to be learned, what was to be thought about, how long to think about it and when a child was to think of something else. Basically, it was a system of thought control, and it established a penchant in the psyche of the German elite that would later manifest itself into what we now refer to as mind control.

The educational system was divided into three groups. The elite of Prussian society were seen as comprising 0.5% of the society. Approximately 5.5% of the remaining children were sent to what was called realschulen, where they were partially taught to think. The remaining 94% went to volkschulen, where they were to learn “harmony, obedience, freedom from stressful thinking and how to follow orders.” An important part of this new system was to break the link between reading and the young child, because a child who reads too well becomes knowledgeable and independent from the system of instruction and is capable of finding out anything. In order to have an efficient policy-making class and a sub-class beneath it, you’ve got to remove the power of most people to make anything out of available information.

The plan was to keep most of the children in the general population from reading for the first six or seven years of their lives.

Now, the Prussian system of reading was originally a system whereby whole sentences (and thus whole integrated concepts) were memorized, rather than whole words. In this three-tier system, they figured out a way to achieve the desired results. In the lowest category of the system, the volkschuelen, the method was to divide whole ideas (which simultaneously integrate whole disciplines – math, science, language, art, etc.) into subjects which hardly existed prior to that time. The subjects were further divided into units requiring periods of time during the day. With appropriate variation, no one would really know what was happening in the world. It was inherently one of the most brilliant methods of knowledge suppression that had ever existed. They also replaced the alphabet system of teaching with the teaching of sounds. Children could read without understanding what they were reading, or all the implications.

In 1814, the first American, Edward Everett, goes to Prussian to get a PhD. He eventually becomes governor of Massachusetts. During the next 30 years or so, a whole line of American dignitaries came to Germany to earn degrees (a German invention). Horace Mann, instrumental in the development of educational systems in America, was among them. Those who earned degrees in Germany came back to the United States and staffed all of the major universities. In 1850, Massachusetts and New York utilize the system, as well as promote the concept that “the state is the father of children.” Horace Mann’s sister, Elizabeth Peabody (Peabody Foundation) saw to it that after the Civil War, the Prussian system (taught in the Northern states) was integrated into the conquered South between 1865 and 1918. Most of the “compulsory schooling” laws designed to implement the system were passed by 1900. By 1900, all the PhD’s in the United States were trained in Prussia. This project also meant that one-room schoolhouses had to go, for it fostered independence. They were eventually wiped out.

One of the reasons that the self-appointed elite brought back the Prussian system to the United States was to ensure a non-thinking work force to staff the growing industrial revolution. In 1776, for example, about 85% of the citizens were reasonably educated and had independent livelihoods – they didn’t need to work for anyone. By 1840, the ratio was still about 70%. The attitude of “learn and then strike out on your own” had to be broken. The Prussian system was an ideal way to do it.

One of the prime importers of the German “educational” system into the United States was William T. Harris, from Saint Louis. He brought the German system in and set the purpose of the schools to alienate children from parental influence and that of religion. He preached this openly and began creating “school staffing” programs that were immediately picked up by the new “teacher colleges”, many of which were underwritten by the Rockefeller family, the Carnegies, the Whitney’s and the Peabody family. The University of Chicago was underwritten by the Rockefellers.

The bottom line is that we had a literate country in the United States before the importation of the German educational system, designed to “dumb down” the mass population. It was more literate that it is today. The textbooks of the time make so much allusion to history, philosophy, mathematics, science and politics that they are hard to follow today because of the way people are “taught to think.”

We cannot continue to teach our children using the methods of the 19th century and hope to prepare them for the 21th century and beyond.

The problems that threatens our very existence at this time is the culmination of the antiquated education system has been designed for. We need thinkers not just followers.

A principal in Singapore sent the following letter to all parents before an exam:

Dear Parents:

The exams of your children are to start soon. I know you all really anxious for your child to do well.

But please do remember, amongst the students who will be sitting for the exams, there is an artist, who doesn’t need to understand Math. There is an entrepreneur who doesn’t care about History or English literature. There is a musician, whose Chemistry marks wont matter. There’s an athlete, whose physical fitness is more important than Physics. If your child does get top marks, that’s great! But id he or she doesn’t, please don’t take away their self-confidence and dignity from them. Tell them its OK. Its just an exam! They are cut out for much bigger things in life. Tell them, no matter what they score, you love them and will not judge them.

Please do this, and when you do, watch your children conquer the world. One exam or a low mark won’t take away their dreams and talent. And please, do not think that doctors and engineers are the only happy people in the world.

With warm regards.

So What is the Best Model of Education?

Believe it or not, the INTERNET is the best education model. It does not discriminate. Nor does it judge. Students from all walks of life can choose and learn the subjects that interest them.

A good example of how the internet can become our greatest "TEACHER" is demonstrated in Nihal's story: How the internet is coaching Nihal Sarin, India’s latest chess prodigy

A Matter of Perspective

The century-old debate about how to overhaul our education system will continue for many years. Partly because the elite wants to hold on to their grip on the masses. Another reason is that the governments of the world wants to protect their borders and their greatest tool to accomplish this is education. The general population on the other hand remains ignorant and get caught on petty things like arguing over perspectives.

Conclusion

Innovation is happening everywhere. In business, military and defense, transportation, banking and investment etc. The only exception is in education. Our education system is what feeds fresh blood into various engines that runs our society, and it paramount that we start looking into the best way to overhaul it.

Bonus Materials: TED Talks VIDEO on Education. Watch of Bill Gates, Dr. Canada and Mr. Robinson – an educator knighted by the Queen of England:

Sources:
http://hackeducation.com/2015/04/25/factory-model
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_model_school
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/10/10/american-schools-are-modeled-after-factories-and-treat-students-like-widgets-right-wrong/?utm_term=.208137de2060
https://feltd.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/the-prussian-german-educational-system/