Education Will Restore a Vigorous Democracy

[Guest Len B'stard]

Henry Rollins: Education Will Restore A Vigorous Democracy

According to Henry Rollins, education is the great leveler of the playing field, which is why the punk rocker says that elites are fearful of it. What would happen if our educational system did succeed in leveling the playing field? According to Rollins, for one thing, the prison population will plummet. The temptation to rob a liquor store, for instance, would be greatly reduced, Rollins says, if our schools succeeded in teaching all students aptitude -- the ability to learn. That means "someone can open any book and have the ability to obtain knowledge." What other benefits would reinventing education have? Rollins says that democracy would be a much more vigorous thing. "We would expect much more of our politicians," he says, "and Thomas Jefferson would finally stop rolling in his grave."

http://bigthink.com/ideas/47122

Thoughts? Do you think education is important? Do you think your country suffers from a lack of education? Do you think the current education system in place where you are at is overall good/bad/ugly? How educated are you, what difference do you think it's made to you as a person on a basic level, i mean aside from getting you a good job and whatnot.

[DirtyDeeds]

Thoughts? Do you think education is important?

Naw, fuck that.

[Guest Len B'stard]

Well, that answers my question rather resoundingly, thank you, we should probably lock this thread now

[Bumble's Bridge Pickup]

Henry Rollins is da boss

[DirtyDeeds]

I know, sorry Len.

I think he's right in many ways. In many places, New Orleans, LA being one of them, government officials calculate how big to plan to make prisons in a few years based on standardized test scores of second or third grade children. Think about that.

Here, I know the quality of education kids receive varies wildly from state to state, region to region, and even school to school. There is no doubt a correlation between crime, poverty, and education or rather lack thereof, and it certainly doesn't take a genius to figure that out. While I don't think there is a massive conspiracy or anything, there are definitely policies in place that wind up working against the common good and against student success, and those policies are in place because of political pressure from those who somehow have money invested in people's failure.

Also, in a dream scenario, I think there should be some sort of series of tests that would be like a GED but for college instead of high school. There are a lot of extremely smart people out there who are self-learners, self-motivated, and also who can't afford college for either a time commitment or a money commitment. If you can pass tests every so often in a subject that you are teaching yourself, then I don't see why that can't officially count for something. There have been subjects I've wanted to learn about, so I've looked up the books professors typically assign for that class, and I get those, read them, and figure out ways to engage and work the material, but it's been just for my curiosity. However I really don't think I learned any less than a kid taking the actual college course. I would say I'm a better self-learner, but there are a lot of others who are a lot better than me as self-learners and a lot worse as traditional students, or who, for whatever reason, cannot afford to be a traditional student. Some better recognition ought to be granted to those who take it upon themselves to get educated however possible.

[volcano62]

Education is very important. This is why the government hates the internet. We can all get together and educate ourselves and call them out on their bullshit.

The military had the internet in the ealy 70's and we had no fuckin' idea...what else are these fuckers hiding from us?

[ADPT]

I'm not really sure you can teach aptitude but I agree with him. I'd add the qualifier though that people have to want to learn.

Edited August 13, 2012 by ADPT

[arnold layne]

Education has fallen victim to capitalism in the United States.

[Graeme]

Education Everything has fallen victim to capitalism in the United States.

[Ketan]

i feel it is important to have an education system which attempts to teach kids how to learn. back here its all about memorizing chapters. really, so what we end up with is high school graduates who cant even tell the geography and the history right .

the funny thing is, most people i have met who tend to be prejudice against others based on their religion,cast or even region are all educated. but if they were really educated they should know better right?

[Redhead74]

Education in Australia is pretty average. I've been to places where it's worse but also many where it's far better and the difference is visible. When it comes to cultural things such as art and design the general level of knowledge is very poor compared to most European countries. Here it is viewed as something for rich people or snobs, whereas in a place like the Netherlands it is considered something that everyone can appreciate regardless of which economic background you come from. I'm sure the fact that our heritage in that area is so limited compared to Europe has a lot to do with it, but this is the 21st century and i think for some industries to be taken seriously they have to become a bit more sophisticated.

The standard of primary education is also dubious here. I'm not aware of any targeted efforts to teach small children to question things or use their minds in creative ways, which I do think happens in many European countries. On the plus side Australia manages to teach a really good work ethic however the end result of that is that we work more hours here than any other western country. Perhaps thats not such a plus after all?

It seems to me the world is changing so drastically that to leave the current system in place will be like suicide for the next generation. I guess we'll wait and see because there's no doubt nothing will change.

[Guest Len B'stard]

The problem is that schools are more geared towards teaching you how to sit still for 8 hours and what you're told instead of practically applicable skills and information.

[Takeshi]

Education has fallen victim to capitalism in the United States.

Education fell victim to ideology. Teachers unions are more intent on pushing their political agenda than educating kids.

[DirtyDeeds]

Education has fallen victim to capitalism in the United States.

Education fell victim to ideology. Teachers unions are more intent on pushing their political agenda than educating kids.

I think both are true, but I also think there are probably 2 or 3 more main contributing factors.