From: Michael Wiik (mwiik@messagenet.com)
Date: Mon Aug 12 2002 - 19:36:21 MDT
Harvey Newstrom wrote:
> Is this supposed to be a a humorous analogy? Or do you really believe
> that there is a conspiracy to destroy family values and brainwash kids?
> Are you claiming that advertising and Barney and the public school
> system are somehow all controlled by a single source for the same hidden
> agenda?
>
> This is a serious question.
I'd like to revise my hasty earlier reply to make it much more
affirmative. Yes, it's a conspiracy, of real men with real power, who
thought they were bringing about the utopian society.
One of the benefits and drawbacks of being self-employed is that I can
and I do sometimes take a whole day off to research a topic. Today I
have been reading the John Taylor Gatto book, _The Underground History
of American Education_ at
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/index.htm
Eight of 18 chapters are online, and the site indicates one new chapter
will be added each month. I'm not qualified to review the book, except
to say it has been a tremendous education in American life from colonial
days to the present. I agree the U.S. still offers great opportunity,
and opportunity has increased in terms of who can make use of it (as in,
it's no longer just for white males), but compared to what existed in
Revolutionary-era America, it's a pale comparison.
Learning about the practical and often self-directed education of George
Washington and Ben Franklin alone has been worth the effort and time in
reading.
Gatto's history of U.S. education is the most heartbreaking thing I have
ever read.
The singularity is long overdue.
Thanks,
-Mike
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