A Brief History of Classical Public Education

                Prior to public education, the options for education were essentially limited to:

·         teaching yourself, which was pretty hard if you didn’t have access to books and couldn’t read (most people);

·         learning from your parents (if they had been educated or were self-taught);

·         apprenticeship to a master of some type of craft (in theory, at least, the master was responsible for the apprentice’s education);

·         entry into a guild;

·         become a member of the clergy;

·         enter into a private school (very expensive);

·         private tutelage (very expensive); and

·         university (also very expensive).

In other words, only the wealthy had access to education, and most common folk couldn’t even read or write.  Public education in the West originally started in Europe in the 1700-1800s in response to a need from industrialists for laborers who had basic skills that would eliminate or simplify job training.   In an agrarian economy, most people didn’t need to have an education - or so it was felt – but, in an industrial economy large numbers of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers were required.  So, kings and queens had public education developed for the masses to meet the needs of the rising business class – and other less meaningful things.  In Prussia, for example, the King wanted all of the citizens to accept and honor his divine right to be king – to be obedient to him – and the Christian sect in Prussia had similar designs, so the public education system was modified to indoctrinate citizens with these traits and other things – in essence, religious obedience indoctrination.  Another effect of public education was to give educators a position of status that allowed them to push their own opinions on people, especially the under-educated and the young.  By controlling what was kept out of public education, as well as parochial education, kings and other leaders could shape the minds of the students  to maximize their own benefits.

                Classical education has dominated public education throughout much of the world since those times.  The system was imported into the US with some modifications, was introduced by colonizing nations into at least some of their enslaved colonies with the intent of broadening the sphere of influence and increasing obedience and superstitions like divine right.

                Traditional education prioritizes language, math and science over all other topics.  This would all be well and good if the world only used those topics, but it is a small part of the big picture and, in schools with less funding, other subjects are not only marginalized but eliminated with the notable exception of sports (for reasons that are flawed at best).  This obsession with “core” topics, unfortunately, leaves out a portion of the population that has no real superior ability in those subjects, and eventually causes the weakening of their native strengths as well as their interest in learning things, at the very least.   Instead of measuring their mastery of a subject through practical application, students are tested about theory and trivia and learn how to pass tests instead of how to apply what they know.  The results don’t give a good indication of ability nor do they tell us how successful they will be in their future.  Repeatedly, research has demonstrated that school scores, GPAs, national standardized and international tests don’t correlate with work success because there’s more to work than just knowledge, and the same holds true for private life.

Classical teaching is not very interactive; the teacher talks and the students listen, only speaking when given permission to ask or answer questions.  The teacher is viewed as the omniscient source of information that can be trusted explicitly, but is also someone who deals out punishments for incorrect behavior, often in ways which induce fear in the students so that they are less likely to cause trouble.  Deviation from expected behavior is not accepted and generally also often dealt with quite harshly in the past and even now in some parochial schools and countries.  In the old days, it was acceptable to verbally abuse a student, embarrass the student publicly, or even physically punish the student, such as by hitting the student’s knuckles, thighs or buttocks with a stick, ruler or switch.  I was once given permission by the parents of a South Korean student of mine to use corporal punishment (e.g.: switching, spanking) if he misbehaved; I refused.

Classical teachers are generally very authoritarian, sometimes dictatorial, and their style of teaching crushes creativity and individuality and establishes a fear of authority, which tends to lead to a lack of respect for those in power, especially if the teachers ignore the very rules that they require their students to follow.  Since many teachers do a lot of theoretical teaching and not very much experiential teaching at all, lecturing frequently, they are usually very boring.  Students were, and usually still are, grouped by age, as if they were products coming off an assembly line, and no consideration is given for individual differences that might provide a better way to organize students.  Everyone is expected to fit the same mold - but not get the same results because, actually, the system was devised so that, from all the students, about 60% would be suitable as semi-skilled laborers, 20% as skilled laborers, and the other 20% as low-level management.

                To summarize, public education was not created to help everyone achieve their potential; it was, and is, used to create a labor force that benefits businesses and the politicians who benefit from them - monetarily or otherwise.  Its concern is not with providing the best educational experience for students, or even teachers and administrators, but for simplifying things for bureaucrats and producing a relatively docile workforce.

Do teachers benefit?  One might argue that they do, because of the status they are given and the influence they hold over people, not to mention the tenure given to teachers in some places which protects them even when they should be fired.  But, if you also consider the limitations imposed upon them by people who don’t understand education (e.g.: politicians, bureaucrats, school board members), the very long work hours (sometimes as much as 30 hours in-class, and another 30+ outside of class, including at home), and the dangerous situation in many public schools due to criminal activity, it starts to look like the military should be stepping in!  Plus the excessive and incorrect formulation and use of standardized tests to evaluate students and teachers; determine the amount of funds a school receives; adjust salaries and bonuses, etc. instead of using the tests formatively to help improve teachers and their tools; and often poor support systems put into place for teachers, and we begin to see that teachers are actually suffering in many cases even when their unions hold too much power.  When teachers are overworked and unhappy, students suffer more, not less, and the quality of education drops.

Classical public education was a fossil before it even started to be used.  It was just a manipulative tool to further the gains of a minority at the expense of the majority, and needs to be replaced with a system that promotes excellence for everyone involved in education while taking the reins of control away from politicians, bureaucrats and others who don’t actually have enough knowledge to make appropriate decisions, and whose motives are suspect at best.