Education is arguably the most important thing we should collectively spend our money on... our tax dollars. But unfortunately for the kids it is also the most neglected, manipulated ... and abused.
One thing has never made sense to me: Why do we teach children about the ‘meaning’ of Thanksgiving only to later reveal the gruesome reality of it is far from this symbolic image of collaboration? Growing up, I did Thanksgiving arts and crafts, wrote stories about the Native Americans and colonizers, and presented my creations with pride to my classmates and parents. Then in middle school the school system throws us a huge just kidding – what you thought was a peaceful, collaborative dinner between two groups of people was actually genocide! As a middle schooler I was too young and naive to ask why we were initially given a false narrative. If we are too young to learn about the harsh reality, then why even teach us about it at all?
I hated school growing up. I genuinely found no value in the information they were teaching us. Ultimately in college, I ended up picking a major that would require the least amount of schooling. I didn’t figure out my natural curiosity and genuine love for learning until I finished my first year of college. But why did it take me so long to realize something that I now consider a fundamental part of my identity? I realized the answer lied in the way education in America is taught, not as a tool to expand one’s mind, but as a way to install patriotism and nationalism in the youth (as well as productivity and discipline but that’s a conversation for another day).
The way American history was taught in my public school was based on the premise to regurgitate facts. When I wrote papers in my history classes there was no application of critical thinking or problem solving, but rather simply writing about what happened. My theory is that if we were to critically assess America’s past that would go against the ‘fact’ that America is the ‘best’. We are taught to love our country, the home of the free and the brave. We are taught to love the fact we can do whatever we want because we are not living in a third world country – we are living in the great world superpower that is America!! And do not get me wrong, I am extremely grateful I live in a place where I have the privilege to get an education and create my own life rather than living in a war torn or famine stricken area, but this does not mean America is entirely free of criticism. The many conversations I have had with older, more politically conservative individuals offer me the insight that they were taught and preached chauvinism, most likely stemming from wartime where the general headspace of the country was an us vs them mentality. For these people who hold such chauvinist viewpoint, realizing that not everything in America is fine and dandy would be to completely alter their reality. It is very difficult to accept that the reality one once knew was nothing but an altered state of perception, mainly stemming from the fact that they are not the ones experiencing the greatest injustices in American society. This is why education is so important. We must educate our youth on how society really functions in order to progress, as they can offer new perspectives on things we simply don’t see. If we teach them America is great, things will stay the same and this is fundamentally counterintuitive to progress.
We learn about how bad slavery was, enslaving people is horrible but why do we learn and read about it over and over again throughout different levels of schooling? My question was trying to understand why I can recall vivid details about the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Frederick Douglass, the Underground Railroad, ect. but any history of social injustice against Black people following Reconstruction or the Civil Rights Movement was summed up in essentially a month or two where we talked about desegregation and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. I actually think I spent more time learning about hippies and Counter Culture than I did on the topic of ‘modern slavery’ – or the way Black people were and are still oppressed through systematic processes and institutions. I personally think the reason why we are taught so much about slavery, as opposed to the way our current and contemporary political systems fail those of color, is that the message is trying to be pushed on us that we overcame slavery. As in we saw the error in our ways and we fixed them, Go America! Attention wants to be drawn away from the fact that modern day slavery very much exists but in more subliminal ways that are less, or not even, apparent to white people. To teach the youth about these injustices would be to teach them how to critically think about the pitfalls of our country and that maybe America isn’t so great after all (going completely against everything we stand for as a country painted as the illusion of the American Dream).
If the education system genuinely wanted students to expand their mind through education, subjects like art, philosophy, and anthropology would be installed into the curriculum. The issue here in lies with the where education is prioritized in the economy. Teachers don’t make much money, therefore most people are unmotivated to become teachers, unless a their true passion overrides the societal pressure to make money. Therefore in public schools, teachers are typically unequipped to teach more specialized subjects from lack of training that again would cost time and money with little monetary benefits. Subject like politics, anthropology and philosophy are not taught or given little attention in schools because unequipped teachers do not have the resources to properly teach these subjects. Teachers are afraid of subliminally pushing their political agenda on their students and thus getting complaints. But, education is inherently political. There are deliberate decisions made on what information to omit and include in history textbooks, not to mention how this information is told.
With more education comes the burden of knowledge. This burden referring to the knowledge of how things actually work in society. Teaching children there are issues in America today, inspiring them to change these systems, would be to threaten the power of those who hold it. However we have a duty to our children and this country to live up to the title of America as #1, not just in the sense of our military, but also in our humanity, ethics, and morals.