File spoon-archives/phillitcrit.archive/phillitcrit_1997/phillitcrit.9711, message 256


Date: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 11:40:22 -0800 (PST)
From: { brad brace } <bbrace-AT-wired.com>
Subject: Re: PLC: Tenured Education




The contemporary education system is the result of trends that had their
beginnings several centuries back and which culminated into legacies which
cut across all levels of the educational process. The first legacy is that
the educational system is an authoritarian system that functions in such a
way as to reproduce itself across generations. Second, while it purports
to prepare people for life and work, it fails to do either. Third, it
inhibits inquiry and discourages creativity. And finally, the contemporary
education system promotes homogeneity and rewards mediocrity. These
legacies are embedded in all levels of education and are problematic
because the cultural context within which the themes originally arose no
longer exists.

Contemporary education is authoritarian, hierarchical, and centralized. It
was created to indoctrinate and later train children and young adults to
be productive and obedient and conform to cultural standards appropriate
for the level of education than they attain.  The embryonic modern school
may be seen in the educational reforms during the Reformation and later
the Counter-Reformation.  Recognizing the scholastic method, which had
dominated university education since the 12th century, as an extension of
Church doctrine, Protestant Reformers latched upon the 'new learning' of
the Humanists as a viable alternative. Assuming the form if not the
substance of humanistic studies, reformers established town schools (it
was, after all, an urban movement) whose curricula were closely watched
for 'errors'. Regular visitations by Protestant church officials ensured
that town schools taught good Protestant values: Martin Luther himself had
taught on the university level before the posting of his theses, and
Philip Melancthon, his humanistically trained captain of Reform, also
served as the architect of a system of education that is still dominant,
though perhaps on the wane. Melancthon adapted the humanist curriculum of
history, rhetoric, grammar, poetry and moral philosophy to accommodate the
Protestant tenets of total depravity and vocatio, the work for which God
has called His followers.

Not to be outdone, and in direct reaction to the application of humanism
to Protestant education, the Catholic Church turned to its newest order,
its "Soldiers for Christ", the Society of Jesus or Jesuits.  Rigorously
trained in some of the hallmarks of humanism, such as classical Latin, and
dedicated to recruit young boys into holy orders, the Jesuits replaced
humanist instructors in those areas that remained Catholic. Humanism was
suspect by both Protestants and Catholics, the former because humane
studies had developed prior to the Reformation and some Humanists still
retained their affiliation to the Pope, the latter because many Humanists,
such as Melancthon, had become heretics. Still quite active as educators,
the Jesuits and Jesuit schools continue to command respect for their
disciplined approach to education.

On both sides of the fence, then, the development and maintenance of
schools for pre-university students was wholly focused during and after
the Reformation to affirm and transmit religious conviction and authority.
In other words, education functioned as an agent to perpetuate ideology
and to ensure future generations of devout Christians: Protestant or
Catholic. When the Age of Religious Wars finally came to an end with the
resolution that whatever the religion a ruler held would be the official
religion of the people who lived there (eius regio, cuius religio) the
merger of religion and the State became complete. It was very successful
marriage: literacy rates were higher in the 17th and 18th centuries in the
United States, the great Protestant experiment, than they are today.

This authoritarian legacy is painfully evident. New teachers in all levels
comprehend the 'pecking order' quickly: school board, superintendents,
principals, Melancthon adapted the humanist curriculum of history,
rhetoric, grammar, poetry and moral philosophy to accommodate the
Protestant tenets of total depravity and vocatio, the work for which God
has called His followers.

Not to be outdone, and in direct reaction to the application of humanism
to Protestant education, the Catholic Church turned to its newest order,
its "Soldiers for Christ", the Society of Jesus or Jesuits.  Rigorously
trained in some of the hallmarks of humanism, such as classical Latin, and
dedicated to recruit young boys into holy orders, the Jesuits replaced
humanist instructors in those areas that remained Catholic. Humanism was
suspect by both Protestants and Catholics, the former because humane
studies had developed prior to the Reformation and some Humanists still
retained their affiliation to the Pope, the latter because many Humanists,
such as Melancthon, had become heretics. Still quite active as educators,
the Jesuits and Jesuit schools continue to command respect for their
disciplined approach to education.

On both sides of the fence, then, the development and maintenance of
schools for pre-university students was wholly focused during and after
the Reformation to affirm and transmit religious conviction and authority.
In other words, education functioned as an agent to perpetuate ideology
and to ensure future generations of devout Christians: Protestant or
Catholic. When the Age of Religious Wars finally came to an end with the
resolution that whatever the religion a ruler held would be the official
religion of the people who lived there (eius regio, cuius religio) the
merger of religion and the State became complete. It was very successful
marriage: literacy rates were higher in the 17th and 18th centuries in the
United States, the great Protestant experiment, than they are today.

This authoritarian legacy is painfully evident. New teachers in all levels
comprehend the 'pecking order' quickly: school board, superintendents,
principals, master-teachers, and, at the bottom of the order, students.
The same is true for tertiary education;  though it is perhaps more
labyrinthine, students still come in dead last.



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