Centralization of Education: The War On Critical Thinking
From kindergarten through 12th grade, Americans are conditioned by our education system to believe certain things and go along to get along, often suppressing deep seeded convictions they may have. From the teaching in science classes of Darwin’s theory of evolution to the one-sided views often presented in history classrooms, our educators are less concerned with the students’ ability to think for themselves, and instead concerned with the students’ capacity to memorize “facts.” In many respects, the public school system has also taken on the role of parent, teaching right from wrong to its students and imposing on them a belief system and a set of values, which is a direct violation of the precepts of a free society.
A cornerstone of free enterprise is the principle of competition. Our government-controlled school system has assumed a virtual monopoly on the education of the young people of the nation. While one is free to send his or her children to a private school, or to home school if they wish, that individual is still expected to endorse the public education system, and everything that it teaches, through the paying of his or her property taxes.
People who pay exorbitant fees and tuition to send their children to a privately funded school, together with those who home school, should be able to opt out of that portion of their property taxes that is used to fund the local public school, or free to claim their tuition for private school or materials for home school as a deduction from their property taxes, thereby hopefully reducing the amount of money that they pay into the public school system. Parents only send their children to a private school, paying the sometimes astronomical tuition costs, or home school their children, when they sense that their local public school is failing to provide the education that they expect for their children. But as long as the school is taking in money by force of law, it has no obligation to improve or to ensure an adequate education to its students. Government education has therefore become, by definition, a monopoly.
March 1st, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I apologize for nit-picking, but I cannot help myself. Are you suggesting, in this day and age, with all of the scientific knowledge we have, that Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection is incorrect?
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/lines_01
March 4th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
To speak for Jesse: I beleive he was trying to show how often only one view point is shown in the classroom instead of showing all viewpoints and teaching children to think critically. He made no judgement on the theory of evolution, rather is discussing the techniques of teaching one side of ANY issue.
March 4th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Catherine, you’re spot on! While I have my ideas concerning Darwin’s theory, this is not the forum to discuss the accuracy or inaccuracy of such. To get to the truth and the whole truth, you’re gonna have to present every theory and give it equal time. If that seems impossible to do, then maybe the topic as a whole should not be a part of the curriculum.
March 4th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
…and that goes for other subjects as well.
March 4th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
I don’t want to debate this here either, but I just thought another voice could be heard on the issue. There is no competing view of how we evolved other than the scientific view accepted by all reputable scientists which is based on Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. Any competing “theories” with any “merit” are religion-based, not reality based, and religion isn’t supposed to be taught in schools. (See Constitution.)
If you have another theory of how we evolved other than that which the scientists have found through millions of years of fossil evidence, I’d be interested in hearing it!
March 6th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Note: The views expressed in this reply are mine and mine alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of The Liberty Restoration Project, any other member of such, or the organizations with whom the Liberty Restoration Project works.
Okay, your distinction between religion and “reality” is one that sets you off as an intolerant extremist. The reality, as I see it, is that facts (as you call them) do not exist in the area of the origin of life and the earth and everything is open to debate. Anything beyond the direct experience of the individual is open to debate, and each side should be given equal time to express its point of view.
I’d be curious to know how you define the terms “reality,” and “merit.”
Two comments regarding your Constitutional reference: the first amendment says, among other things, that “Congress shall make no LAW respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of SPEECH…” I see no prohibition of the teaching of religion-based theory in public schools in the first amendment, or anywhere else in the Constitution. In fact, I see just the opposite: freedom of speech. If you can show me otherwise, let’s chat! My e-mail address is jesse@libertyrestorationproject.org.
Also, whenever religion or the origin of life is debated, it is important to realize that each argument represents a belief system and nothing more. No evidence, as you call it, can conclusively prove one thing or another. Whenever a side is taken on a debatable issue regarding religion, it represents a belief system: a religion or counter-religion. I would argue that if it is uncnstitutional to teach religion, then it is also uncnstitutional to teach anything that runs counter to religious teaching.
March 8th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
“On Dec. 20, 2005, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III ruled that the Dover School Board violated the separation of church and state when it voted to introduce intelligent design into science classes by requiring students to listen to a disclaimer critical of evolution.”
http://www.au.org/site/PageServer?pagename=issues_evolution
March 11th, 2009 at 11:34 am
The problem of separation of church and state is not as important as the issue of the separation of education and state, in my opinion.
If the school is not state-run, then the Constitution gives the government no standing to tell said school what to teach and what not to teach. Which is, of course, the way it should be.
The problem is that when the government becomes the teacher, then the restrictions so rightfully placed on our government(a soulless, man-made entity) become restrictions placed on the people(flesh and blood, real, tangible), which can have no positive outcome in a “free” society. Remove the government’s indefensible role as everything to everyone and many issues become moot, or at the very least localized.
-Josh Carter