Subject: Re: A Is for Anarchy
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 18:17:54 -0600


Pappy Goat used to say, "Teach 'em to read an' write an' cipher and get 'em
a lib'ary card."  His belief was that the onliest person could educate me --
is me.  I guess I've come to agree with that.  Looks like I was
indoctrinated, after all.  Well, at least I learnt where the boundaries are.
Nothing wrong about that, AFAICS.

old goat
"There are a number of mechanical devices which
  increase sexual arousal...in women. Chief among
  these is the Mercedes-Benz 380SL convertible."
  --P.J. O'Rourke

----- Original Message -----
From: Shawn P. Wilbur <swilbur-AT-wcnet.org>
Subject: Re: A Is for Anarchy


> On Thu, 31 Jan 2002, Madeline Bohm wrote:
>
> > At 11:32 AM 1/31/2002 -0800, Kristopher K. Barrett wrote: >Yes, but as
> > a worker's right, rather than as primarily an indoctrination tool.
> >
> > >This is really important, in my opinion. Children believe what they are
> > >told ... it's why they
> > >are considered children. In my opinion, the best way to root out
Statism
> > >once and for all is
> > >to get to those kids before the State does.
> >
> > And that is one of the more disturbing ideas that I've seen hit this
list
> > in a while.  It seems exceedingly hypocritical to set up "anarchist"
> > schools for the express purpose of indoctrination.  Not that i have a
more
> > viable alternative, except to suggest that anarchism, like any political
> > theory, is something that one must arrive at by oneself, not something
that
> > can be instilled in vulnerable (?) young minds.  Otherwise it just
becomes
> > another form of statism.
>
> We touched on all of this in a bit of a wrangle awhile back. It still
> seems to me that one cannot avoid some degree of authoritarian behavior
> when it comes to the education of children - and that isn't necessarily a
> bad thing. Face it, we are not neutral on issues like the authority of the
> state. As anarchists, most of us believe pretty strongly in particular
> forms of non-state organization. We think we're right, and we talk, teach,
> take to the streets, etc on the basis of that. We have our values, opposed
> in many ways to those of the dominant culture, and generally we won't be
> apologizing for that. If we're particularly concerned about the case of
> children, where the power assymetry is particularly difficult to escape,
> then we had damned well better make sure we have our shit together.
> Perhaps in some future society where there is less in the fabric of the
> culture itself to encourage passivity and fundamentalist forms of belief,
> we will be able to develop systems that utilize self-education to a
> greater degree, but to some extent there is just an inescapable difficulty
> here. In the end, we could be wrong. To the extent that we approach issues
> of education with our eyes open to the potential pitfalls, however, we do
> have a chance to lay the groundwork for a different kind of society. And i
> suspect the kinds of education necessary to raise up anarchists will, if
> nothing else, arm children better for criticism of and dissent from the
> present society, or from their anarchist elders.
>
> -shawn