Hello Ron!
Sunday January 11 1998 09:46, Ron McDermott wrote to Chris Lord:
 CL>>   But it is so much a part of our world that we take its
 CL>> existence for granted,  and rarely seriously question what it is
 CL>> for.
 RM>
 RM> I'm not sure I accept that last.. Seems to me that
 RM> we do a great deal of questioning as to what it is
 RM> for and what we wish it to accomplish...
 RM>
"What we want to accomplish" is I think part of the problem in what followed. 
The assertion is that education has an intrinsic value and doesn't need to be 
_for_ something.  Sure we often question and plan and persue; but do _most_ 
people question the "system" or do they take it for granted?
 CL>> The State -- even the democratic State -- has an interest in
 CL>> our compliance  with its authority and administration.
 RM>
 RM> Which is why, traditionally, schools/colleges have
 RM> been considered the enemy of autocratic governments.
 RM> Political unrest is a characteristic of colleges, in
 RM> particular...
:-)
 CL>> The combination of these three forces means that, on the one
 CL>> hand we are not  very critical about the sorts of things
 CL>> that "education" is applied to, and  on the other, because
 CL>> the word conveys something positive, it is useful to slap it
 CL>> on any learning process we want other people to think well
 CL>> of, simply  because of the positive aura which the word will
 CL>> present to us. It has ideological, or manipulative value.
 RM>
 RM> There's one questionable leap here; that "we" are
 RM> not critical about educational subject matter,
Not just subject matter.  I think methods need to be considered
here as well.
 RM>  a conclusion for which there are AMPLE counter-
 RM> examples.  Certainly it has the potential to be
 RM> manipulated...
And that opens a different issue which becomes very important
later on.  The manipulation can have a harmful effect and ceases
to be education.  Peter's, Snook, Oliver and others not only
discussed the concept of education over many years but also the
concept of indoctrination.
 CL>> ... continued inthe next message ...
 RM> Ok... Me too....
and more...
Cheers
Chris
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