I Support Education, Not Indoctrination


"Every child must be encouraged to get as much education as he has the ability to take.

We want this not only for his sake -- but for the nation's sake.

 

"Nothing matters more to the future of our country: not our military preparedness -- for armed might is worthless if we lack the brainpower to build a world of peace; not our productive economy -- for we cannot sustain growth without trained manpower; not our democratic system of government -- for freedom is fragile if citizens are ignorant."1 

          Lyndon B. Johnson; January 12, 1965

 

When one thinks of education and the reasons for it, the answer one is likely to obtain depends a great deal on who is asked the question.  Asked that question of an agnostic and a Christian fundamentalist their answers are liable to be as far apart as their world views.   The agnostic may be more in tune to building a life style geared more to improve his quality of life given his current life is believed to be the only life that he may ever experience.  A fundamentalist on the other hand believes this life is merely the first step to eternal life hence preparing for the hereafter is what should be taught.  And who is right?  All depends on one's point of view and hence the conflict.

          There are consequences for one's point of view however.  If one lives his life under the assumption that this life is his only life and he finds out after death that was wrong, then the consequences he will have to face in the hereafter are his own.  Of course some would argue with that.  Just today in fact I learned that children born of a mother who has had a previous abortion are much more likely to be handicapped than had their mother not aborted her first child.2  Pat Robertson claims the earthquake in Haiti was because the Haitian ancestors made a pack with Satan.3  And let's not forget 9/11:

 

JERRY FALWELL: And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."

PAT ROBERTSON: Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government. And so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do. And, the top people, of course, is the court system.4

Their message is clear --- people will be held accountable for sin committed by others, even the children by a loving god of all things.  I did notice however that State Delegate Bob Marshall of Manassas, Virginia did not offer any statistical data to back up his statement on abortion, nor did Pat Robertson on Haiti or Falwell on 9/11, and my guess is they'd be hard pressed to find any.

          As for the fundamental side, I have often been threatened with their favorite allegory above.  Fundamentalists apparently believe if they die and it turns out they were wrong, that nothing is lost.  On the contrary --- much is lost but rather they pay the cost, the cost is passed on to society who must then bear the burden of the fundamentalist's mistake.   And what might that be?  War for one.  Fundamentalists, regardless of religion, are known fire starters as they seek to rid the world of opposing views.  Ignorance is another.  It's difficult to make sound decisions if the problem isn't understood --- like disease for example.  Even today many fundamentalists blame sin rather than microbes for disease.  During the Dark Ages plague was believed to be spread by witches waving their wands from mountain tops.  Rather than spreading such rumors, my feeling is the people would have been far better served by just getting rid of the rats, their breeding places and lunch spots, garbage mounds. 

          At any rate, there are consequences for being uneducated.  The Dark Ages was but one of them --- and for those who believe that fundamentalism is the answer for humanity today, they might do well to return to the time when fundamentalism had the only answer to everything.  My guess is they would not like it very much, untreated open sewers, animal dung everywhere from beasts of burden pets, and vermin, no lights, no cure for diseases as simple as minor infections, when tonsillitis was often fatal or worse; small pox, syphilis, tuberculosis, yellow fever, or diphtheria ravaged the population.   Those were the days when god was the answer to all human problems, when god's powers were put to the test in the absents of modern medicine -- and failed.   It seems that even then god required people with education if the ravages of disease were to be reduced. 

          We've forgotten that though haven't we?  Years, ministers, politicians, news media, and school boards have shielded us from knowing these unpleasant actualities of relying on simply god for which it could be said we are still paying today.  But can you imagine the uproar if that truth was taught in public schools?  Why --- who knows, god might breathe fire into St Helens again.  Or more likely --- it might just erupt again --- the difference being if we understand the warning signs, we may be able to limit the resulting human suffering. 

          Our world today is in peril.  Our seas are over fished.  Our forests are disappearing at a rate never experienced before.  Everyday another living species goes extinct.  Human population is stretching the limits of earth's carrying capacity to support it.  It is probably safe to say that each night more people go to bed hungry than not.  Our drinking water is in jeopardy and the once plentiful resource of fresh water is rapidly being depleted.  Once mighty rivers like the Colorado are being reduced to trickle.  Humanity is in serious trouble.

          And we, humans, do have choices.  We can continue to point our fingers at others and make groundless rationalizations to justify the plight of others, we can do nothing, or we can attempt to understand the problem and do something about it.  Keep in mind --- which ever choice society makes, there are consequences.  The first choice --- to point our fingers at the others and make groundless rationalizations about why conditions are as they are normally falls under the umbrella of religion, more so the further to the right and closer to fundamentalism religion moves.  This type of action from a historic point of view usually results in mass murders and unimaginable human atrocities.  So ask yourself --- is this the future you wish for your children, being either the executioner or the executed?   If not -- quit this path now.  Quit supporting the religious fervor that contributes to this end.  And educate yourself.

          In recent years we hear much about Armageddon with rapture ready Christians pushing for the war that they believe will usher in the return of Jesus.  But, what if they bring about this war only to find out they were wrong.  Jesus did not return?  Where will they (we) be then --- other than dead?  Where will society be left?  Does society have to go through the crusade's misery again -- only this time the end may not justify the means?  In fact --- it very well may the end --- period --- if they are wrong again. 

          Then there is the do nothing crowd.  Let what will be be.  The consequence for this line of thinking is they often get what they let be.  In terms of Armageddon above, they will get it by doing nothing just as surely as if they supported the crusade to bring Jesus back --- because those who strive for Jesus' return will never relent.  In fact, many are wagering on the do nothings doing nothing.  They know that every year fewer and fewer discouraged voters vote meaning that their vote counts even more --- and every time that happens the power of the fundamentalists increase, not because of their numbers but because of the growing lack of opposition.

          We do have a third choice fortunately --- and that is education, education apart from indoctrination.  To be effective and hope to have any chance of success however this education must be based on verifiable and uncensored information.  The students will need to know the dirty little secrets, like population growth and concepts such as carrying capacities, that they are currently shielded from.  They will need to know accurate history, not the history that I experienced growing up when our founding fathers could not tell a lie.  They will need to know the monstrous acts being carried under in the veil of freedom like the true number of Iraqis killed since the US invasion.  It would make Saddam look like a saint comparatively.

          I just returned from central Minnesota where I met with a group of evangelicals who bragged about their mission service to Guatemala.  I was shocked to learn that none of them even heard of Rios Montt, the evangelical dictator of Guatemala who only a few decades ago nearly wiped Guatemalan indigenes from the face of the earth.  Our education system needs the power to communicate those types of facts to those who will be making future policy if any hope of improvement is to come to this world.  I support education --- not indoctrination masquerading as education.  Education, I believe, is mankind's only hope.  And it can not start soon enough.    

 

1) January 12, 1965 LBJ's Special Message to Congress: "Toward Full Educational Opportunity" Presidential Papers, Item 9  http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/Johnson/lbjforkids/edu_quotes.shtmhe


2) Legislator: Disabled kids are God's punishment (Audio added)   Capital News Service • February 22, 2010


3) "Pat Robertson Blames Earthquake on Pact Haitians Made with          Satan" ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper January 13, 2010 3:29 PM

          http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/01/pat-robertson-blames-earthquake-on-pact-haitians-made-with-satan.html

4) Partial transcript of comments from the September 13, 2001 telecast       of the 700 Club:  http://www.actupny.org/YELL/falwell.html
 
 
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