Guest Post by Jim Kunstler
Sunday night was Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’s turn through the CBS 60-Minutes wringer of censure with a visibly frustrated inquisitor Lesley Stahl trying to hector her into self-incrimination. The sad truth about American schools is that they’re a mirror for the painful collapse of the society they supposedly serve — a process ongoing for decades before Ms. DeVos came on the scene.
The expectation that some uber-regent can or ought to fix public education is bound to disappoint a news media searching for saviors. The further we leave the 20th century behind, the more anomalous its organizing principles look, especially the idea of preparing masses of young people for mass, regimented work at the giant corporate scale.
It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
-----------------------------------------------------
To donate via Stripe, click here.
-----------------------------------------------------
Use promo code ILMF2, and save up to 66% on all MyPillow purchases. (The Burning Platform benefits when you use this promo code.)
There’s a big divergence underway between the promises of schooling and the kind of future that the 21st century is actually presenting — of no plausible careers or vocations besides providing “therapy” and policing for the discontented masses stewing in anomie and compensatory pleasure-seeking, with all its nasty side effects. In the meantime, we’re stuck with wildly expensive, out-of-scale, giant centralized schools where the worst tendencies of human status competition are amplified by smart phones and social media to all but eclipse classroom learning.
Education in the years to come is destined to become more of a privilege than a right, and it will probably depend more on how much an individual young person really desires an education than just compelling masses of uninterested or indisposed kids to show up everyday for an elaborate and rather poorly supervised form of day-care. But it’s difficult to let go of old habits and obsolete arrangements, especially when we’ve spent countless billions of dollars on them.
I call the future a World Made By Hand because it is going to be entirely unlike the sci-fi robotic fantasy that currently preoccupies the thought-leaders in this culture. A lot of what will be required in this time-to-come will be physical labor and small-scale skilled work in traditional crafts. There never were that many job openings for astronauts, not even in the 1960s, but in the decades ahead there will be none — notwithstanding Elon Musk’s wish to colonize Mars.
Even if you believe the current model of education must be defended and “fixed,” two issues stood out in Ms. DeVos’s interrogation. One was the question of behavior in the classroom. The Dept of Education under Mr. Obama put out a directive to reduce suspensions of black and Hispanic students because they were being punished at a greater rate than whites and Asians and it looked bad.
Lesley Stahl tried to put over this idea as if it were just a matter of racial animus.
“…let’s say there’s a disruption in the classroom,” she said, “and a bunch of white kids are disruptive and they get punished, you know, go see the principal, but the black kids are, you know, they call in the cops. I mean, that’s the issue: who and how the kids who disrupt are being punished.”
I doubt that it happens that way. Rather, it’s probably the case that there is more disruption among the black student demographic, and probably more violent disruption. The reasons may range from bad parenting (especially absent fathers), inability of students to express themselves (and subsequent frustration) due to poor language skills that are not corrected in school, and the victim narrative that emanates from the universities and distorts culture everywhere else. But to actually state that would be branded as “racist,” so the authorities have to dissemble acrobatically to evade the truth, and in the end it’s learning that suffers.
The other issue was the Obama-era directive (“guidance,” they call it) that sexual misconduct be prosecuted more aggressively by colleges and universities. That led to an era of campus kangaroo courts in which due process of law was cast aside in favor of medieval-style star chambers where the accused had no right to a lawyer, or cross-examination of their accusers, and other established legal protections. Apparently, the producers of 60-Minutes thought that was a good idea, and that Betsy DeVos should not attempt to change it.
Of course, school shootings are the most shocking symptom that something has gone terribly wrong in the system we’ve set up for occupying children and teens. It will be very hard to do anything about that without turning the buildings into something like medium security prisons. We’ve already managed to design them to look like that, but now we’re seriously talking about turning teachers into armed guards. And I’m sure we’ll be spending additional billions to fortify the entrances with metal detectors and officers to mind them. That will only shove the school districts a little closer to bankruptcy.
I felt a little sorry for Ms. DeVos. She seems to understand, at least, that the trend is taking us away from the system we currently know to some uncharted territory of social organization.
So do the problems in our schools reflect the problems in our society, or do the problems in our society reflect the problems in our society because the originated in the schools over the past several generations?
It didn’t used to be the way it is now, something somewhere changed and the cause of that change is what needs discussing before anything else is discussed or any solution is proposed.
I was in a school today and mentioned your very same thought in 2nd para.
Note how Kunstler ignores the real reason for black violence in the classroom. Which is that blacks are many times more violent than other racial groups, probably because of the incidence of the MAOA gene. Young black males, less than 3% of the population, commit 60% of the murders in the US.
If I had my way, I would close ALL public schools and reopen those who had a strong parental base who could run them themselves.
Here in Michigan, school administrators make six-figure incomes, while doing very little, while teachers have contracts with gold-plated wages and benefits, while working a nine-month school year.
There are privately-run charter schools that perform quite well, but are constantly harassed by teacher unions and the “powers-that-be” because their state funding comes from students–and, as a result, the public schools receive less. Follow the money.
DemocRATS HATE privately-run schools as they take away funding from the teachers’ unions which depend on forced “union dues” to stay in operation. As most privately-run charter schools are non-union this sticks in the craw of union officials.
In addition, privately-run schools make the public school systems look bad as they have no accountability when it comes to truly educating students…
$50k/year with a modest pension and ever-increasing health care contributions to teach 30 feral brats is hardly “gold-plated.” a GOOD public school teacher is a gift.
a private charter school in Holland Michigan pays its teachers about $30k/year. how long do you think that will fly as minimum wage moves up toward $31k/year?
Memo to credit: What planet are you living on? $50,000/year is close to starting salary here in Ohio. Any teacher with 20 years is pushing $90,000 NOT including benefits. I suspect along the coasts its even higher. Typical lib BS, kudos Credit.
Salaries I quoted are facts. Find out how much a starting teacher makes in the south clueless one.
Education majors have by far the lowest GRE scores on the planet, which means the average teacher is of low average intelligence, and very badly informed. Many of them would be out of work if they couldn’t find a sinecure in the education system.
Very good teachers, perhaps 10-20% of them, are valuable, but their results depend greatly on the ability and attitudes of the students they teach. Most teachers are mediocre or worse, and are greatly overpaid due to teachers unions’ political activities.
Better is just closing all public schools, period. Then let parents make their own arrangements, maybe in the same school buildings, maybe not.
As long as the parents are not actively involved to preclude teachers and administrators from larding out the curriculum with the usual B/S social topics nothing will be accomplished. Read, write, calculate and compute is the path forward…….
This is for ALL students and not just the National Honor Society candidates. Those who are NOT college material need to be taught those topics that will get them a good job and basics of living in today’s society. Good example is how to manage a checkbook. When I was a company commander in the Army the old story about.” I still have checks…..I still have money” did not come true but similar faux pas did that were almost as scary stupid. Bad checks at the PX were a no no……
How about,
“reading, writing and arithmetic,
taught to the tune of a hickory stick”.
Greetings,
Competition is now the only solution. First, close all public schools and end the onerous taxes placed on homeowners. Second, make parents 100% responsible for the education of their children. If parents can not afford to educate their children or refuse to do so themselves then it isn’t my problem. I’m sure that once the 14 years of free daycare go away, many mothers will think twice about having all those extra kids. Third, shrink the University significantly because no one needs a degree in Communications, Marketing or Gender Studies.
Know nothing.
Your skills of counter-argument are legendary.
Compared to getting someone to buy something, making a product is easy. Marketing is VERY hard.
“Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two–and only two–basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.” ~ Peter Drucker
You’re right. Touched on this in the patent conversation with deplorable wanderer. It’s almost never about “what it’s about.” But lots of people are invested in those cave wall shadows.
I never understand how people bemoan the state of teachers in this country.
I grew up in a very red district. Even the union guys are red. Kansas is famous for its terrible teachers salaries/benefits etc.
Starting teachers (back then) made ~25-30k a year. They were guaranteed to have basically all of the summer off, and almost a full month over the holidays.
While the job sucks (to me) there are many who enjoy it. Lets face it guys, the problem with America’s schools it not the teachers, their pay, or their benefits. The problems with America’s educational system is not something we can spend money to improve.
nowadays it’s $40k/year in Wichita. and it requires 5 years of schooling at a cost of about $100,000. nobody should do this, especially given the current scorn toward their occupation, in a country where their hands are tied on both curriculum and discipline. and even the well educated parents don’t usually help with homework.
It seems to me that most of the social ills in our country are directly related to population density and I would suggest that our school problems are similarly related. Dense, large populations of students create no end of opportunities for conflicts. Small schools and small classes make it possible for students to befriend each other and for teachers to understand their students and to provide more comprehensive instruction. Students are more apt support each other and so are teachers. Institutionalizing and politicalizing our educational system has been a colossal mistake. The result should not come as any surprise.
I have been thinking this same thing for a loooong time. We are rates in a cage. It is unnatural to live so close to each other. Population control and spread out and decentralize and etc.
Despite all my rage I am still just a rate in a cage.
Ultimately, Localism is the only answer to Globalism. Imagine this: a system of schools attended by local children, who are taught by local teachers, funded by local parents and administered by a board of local residents under rules made by local leaders. Does this not seem more efficient, more effective, in fact better in all ways than sending money to DC so that people who have no interest in our local childrens’ well-being, so that they can then send a small portion of it back and in exchange for this “benevolence” make up rules that serve THEIR interests? Yet, people are terrified by the very idea of ending the Dept of Education?
In almost every instance governance at the local level is VASTLY superior to that at the Nation State level…and yet we have all been trained to think the other way around. Could that possibly be on purpose?
A friend of mine–of liberal bent–agreed in principle with the notion of localism, but asked is that even possible at this point? It is, in fact, inevitable. Empires collapse, its what they do, and they don’t collapse into larger and more powerful empires. They fragment. The only question is whether we can survive the fragmentation process as the powers that be will use and and all means at their disposal to avoid losing said power.
I don’t pay taxes to educate children,
I pay taxes to keep them off the street for the 8 hrs that I am away from the home, usually at work.
This is money well spent, otherwise, it would be like living in a 3rd world country, with bars on the windows, security systems, and living inside gated, guarded communities.
The only difference between the two, at this point in time, is that at least we get to deduct the school tax off of the income.
You just described Los Angeles.
You just described extortion. Sorry, THAT is NOT an acceptable reason to STEAL from all of society. If the kids can’t behave, then they belong behind bars. Extorting money from society to keep bottom feeders off the streets is an unacceptable way to run a society.
parents are lazy,indifferent and irresponsible–
curriculum & rules that are dictated by washington & state capitols–
If your money was stolen from you, you were told which school your child would be forced to attend, and you knew that all of your objections to any or all of it would fall on deaf ears, how lazy, indifferent, and irresponsible might you be??
Until we put both the responsibility AND the power back into the hands of parents, they will NEVER truly give a damn…and that means MAKING THEM PAY (or secure scholarships, charity school enrollment, whatever).
Make education voluntary. Close the schools. End property taxes. Put annual tests on the web for grades 1-12. Anybody can study for tests, take the tests, pass and move on to the next grade. Certificate issued for each grade and at the end of 12 grades (Diploma). Parents’ responsibility to see that children are educated.
University. Private, voluntary, Run by employers for their employees. Also mostly on web.
Done.
Indoctrination (not education) is involuntary. You’ve seen Gatto’s stuff?
The public school system really is completely broken. It is so unlike anything “real” I have ever seen in life. A real school modeled after the real world would feature classes with students of all ages. The older ones would help teach the younger ones, solidifying the skills they learned when they were young. The differences in ages would prevent all these meaningless and highly damaging cliques from forming the way they do in modern public schools. It sounds counterintuitive that students could actually learn more in a setting like this, but that is how the human brain is wired. In some leftist mind, it makes sense that taking 30 kids all at the same academic level and putting them in front of a single teacher so they can all learn at the same pace is more efficient. I used to think that way too. But its just not more efficient. Because you truly, truly learn by teaching. And that is the key critical experience you get by having 8 year olds and 14 year olds in the same classes.
They are not 30 but 18 and they are not level IQs (most are stupid).
You are basically describing the “one-room schoolhouse” that used to be the norm in this country before GOVERNMENT decided that it needed to consolidate AND CONTROL.
Your observations about being able to teach as the TRUE measure of actual and honest learning are SPOT ON!!!!
Jim- “I call the future a World Made By Hand because it is going to be entirely unlike the sci-fi robotic fantasy that currently preoccupies the thought-leaders ….
dude, every time you pimp this, I see you alone, wondering where everyone went. Your WMBH is pure fantasy, the tech is never going away, or backwards, it just isn’t, deal with it.
Greetings,
I disagree. All of that tech – all of it, requires energy in order to work. Any disruption in the delivery system and we all go back to the 1850. Given that most of us do not know how to live in 1850, this presents a real problem. Now, you might be thinking that nothing could every happen to your precious energy but history tells us otherwise. Just in time delivery is a bitch.
Take an estimate of recoverable oil from US soil. 30 billion–60 billion–pick a number. then divide it by the 5 billion barrels we use each year. I’m near 70, so it isn’t my problem, But I would not want to be 15 years old.
Everyone under 40 will live in a lean, cold, slow, violent world. There will be lots of work ( labor traded for food? ) guarding walls of all kinds.
“I’m near 70, so it isn’t my problem”
Nice. Well at least you got yours.
Not our fault when, and into what, we are born. Not to get too Shakespeare-ian, but we are all just acting out our “nature” modified genetic is-ness ; actors of a brief, brief moment, consequences unknown, and unknowable.
Just so. Wisdom. Better than the twistdom that precedes it. Would it were more left the gallows, on their own two feet, instead of carried off to potter’s fields.
Public education is based on the old Prussian/German socialist model of indoctrination. Despite all the altruistic hand-waving to the contrary, public education was NEVER about actually educating people how to think, but rather it’s goal was create an army of unquestioning, brain-washed robots that could do industrial jobs and be good little socialist-sheeple.
Just so. & within a generation, two at most, sacrificing ones kids to the new & improved village it takes to sacrifice them was old hat.
The government school system is a failure that cannot fix itself. Give the parents Vouchers for God’s sake for private schools that can succeed.
And where would that money come from? MY POCKET AGAIN? Vouchers simply perpetuate the violence-backed socialist funding mechanism, and will ultimately result in the old adage “its public money so the ‘people’ need to be in control of where it is spent” will raise its ugly head and even private schools will come under the yoke of the tyrannical government and their non-sensical demands. Exclusive private schools will raise their tuition EXACTLY as much as the vouchers, and any school with enough moral principles to NOT take the stolen, government-tainted money that the vouchers represent, will NOT be able to compete in the marketplace. Vouchers are the wrong solution as they keep government in the driver’s seat – when they really need to be thrown completely out of the marketplace.