Education or Indoctrination?
Hi Jonah, I saw that you were presenting a workshop at the Left Forum in New York this weekend entitled "Fertile Grounds Project: Spaces for Youth to be Youth/Education over Indoctrination." I will not be able to attend the session myself, but I was wondering what you meant the difference between "Education" and "Indoctrination" to be. Even if you are "educating" people towards democracy or social justice, isn't there still a certain level of indoctrination going on?
-Anne M., Toronto
Hi Anne,
Not only is this is a great question, it is in fact the assumption at the crux of the workshop I will be presenting at Left Forum this weekend. When I talk about the education that I do the term I often use is democratic education. Before going into the difference between education and indoctrination I will explain what education is to me.
When I talk about democratic education, I am talking about a few things. I am talking about structures that empower young people to take ownership over their educational experiences. I am talking about offering young people support, encouragement, and sometimes a little push to follow their innate curiosity and passions. I am talking about modeling a truly respectful discourse that will lead to sticky and unpredictable conversations. And above all I am talking about engaging in an experiment in which the processes of exploration, conversation, and learning are at the core of educational experience.
The difference between education and indoctrination is that education opens the mind, while indoctrination closes it. Education is a process-driven approach to engaging in the knowledge and ideas of the world. Education is playful, experimental, mysterious. Education opens doors of intellectual exploration and equips its students with the tools they will need to dissect, analyze, and interpret the information that they find.
Indoctrination, on the other hand, is a results-driven approach that aims to instill in people a set of habits and beliefs that align with an ideology or political agenda. Indoctrination narrows the lens through which we are able to see the world and insures that all of the information we receive is interpreted through the filter of the promoted ideology. The problem lies in the fact that the majority of spaces, institutions and philosophies that we call educational are, in fact, examples of indoctrination.
Educational institutions throughout human history have been used to promote social and political agendas. This is most obvious when we look at the history of totalitarian regimes who, upon gaining power, immediately revise educational policy and curricula to reflect the party platform. It can also be seen in the education debate today. Earlier this month the Texas school board decided to rewrite American History so that it included more of the people that they agreed with and eliminated the study of historic figures who promoted ideas and policy that they disliked.
In both of these cases the "education" system is being used to indoctrinate. A preconceived notion or belief is used to set education policy that ends up promoting a particular political agenda. But these are extreme examples and if I stopped here I could be rightfully accused of writing a posting that in itself is more indoctrination than education. As a presenter at the "Left Forum" I have, in my examples, compared "right wing" Texans to totalitarian dictators. Sounds like there's a bias there, doesn't it? Well there might be, but I also know my audience. Indoctrination is not a strategy with partisan leanings. We all use it.
The original question gets at this exact point. If I go into a classroom, or after-school program, Sunday school, or summer camp and start changing the curriculum to focus on reading Marx or even replace all history books with Howard Zinn's work and begin pushing a left leaning, "social justice" based agenda, isn't that just indoctrination of another kind? If I go into a classroom and say, "We are now going to function as a democracy; here are the rules," isn't that just indoctrination of another kind? If I go into my youth group meeting and say, "Everyone must now treat each other equally," is that indoctrination?
Short answer: yes. Any time the purpose of an educational activity is to make a point or teach a lesson, there is some indoctrination going on. When we use movies to show the horrors of slavery, we are indoctrinating people to believe that slavery is bad. And there are times that we should do that. Indoctrination brings order, and for society to function there needs to be a certain level of order. But the important thing is to call things what they are.
It can feel dangerous when we allow young people to follow their curiosity, to make decisions, to live outside of the beliefs and habits that we have all been indoctrinated with. Most of us have not developed the courage or confidence necessary to subject ourselves to the unpredictable minds of our not yet fully indoctrinated youth. Most of us are still afraid of the chaos that would ensue if we let our children truly play in and explore the vast knowledge of the world. But I would argue that it is our responsibility to try. Educational settings are the one place in society where we should be encouraged to explore without bias, without leading questions, without the assumptions made by our ancestors filtering the world we see.
I will end with a reference to two very old stories. In the story of the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, and with them the future of humanity, are punished when Eve picks fruit from the forbidden tree. In the story of Pandora's Box, Pandora, opens the box (or jar) that she was forced to carry, and in doing so releases evil into the world. These stories have a few striking similarities. In each story the main character is the first woman in the world, and in following her curiosity she introduces "evil" into the world. But there is something else going on in these stories. The tree in question in Eve's story is the Tree of Knowledge and humanity is banished from paradise because she became curious, explored and learned on her own. Pandora was also curious, and when she opened her box, along with evil and suffering, hope was introduced to the world.
The interpretations of these stories can tell us more than the stories themselves. The story of Eve is told as humanity's fall from paradise. Pandora's story is told as the beginning of human suffering. In each case we remember the negativity. We remember the fall from paradise and the beginning of suffering, but we forget the introduction of knowledge and hope. We remember the actions of these women as having negative consequences but we omit the boldness of their curiosity and the beauty that their actions brought to the world.
Is it any surprise, then, that we live in a world where women are continuously sent the message that they are inferior and told that they are stupid? Is it a surprise that we discourage and even punish curiosity?
In the story of Eve I see a strong, bold woman, exploring the world around her and saying, "I would rather know some of the questions than have a limited number of answers forced down my throat." I see the first woman saying "I choose education," and I see her "teacher" saying, "I am going to punish you because I am afraid that I can no longer control you."
Knowledge and hope are two of the most beautiful parts of the world. Our ability to experience them is what makes us human. We must begin to get comfortable with the messy conversations that come with truly empowering all people to pursue them.
Keep the questions coming,
Jonah
- I'd rather know some of the questions than have all of the answers.
Posted in Philosophy of Education on Mar 19, 2010 - 09:52 AM
Education and Indoctrination: Is there a difference? In this post, Jonah explores the challenges that face those of us who want to give young people an indoctrination-free education.Hi Jonah, I saw that you were presenting a workshop at the Left Forum in New York this weekend entitled "Fertile Grounds Project: Spaces for Youth to be Youth/Education over Indoctrination." I will not be able to attend the session myself, but I was wondering what you meant the difference between "Education" and "Indoctrination" to be. Even if you are "educating" people towards democracy or social justice, isn't there still a certain level of indoctrination going on?
-Anne M., Toronto
Hi Anne,
Not only is this is a great question, it is in fact the assumption at the crux of the workshop I will be presenting at Left Forum this weekend. When I talk about the education that I do the term I often use is democratic education. Before going into the difference between education and indoctrination I will explain what education is to me.
When I talk about democratic education, I am talking about a few things. I am talking about structures that empower young people to take ownership over their educational experiences. I am talking about offering young people support, encouragement, and sometimes a little push to follow their innate curiosity and passions. I am talking about modeling a truly respectful discourse that will lead to sticky and unpredictable conversations. And above all I am talking about engaging in an experiment in which the processes of exploration, conversation, and learning are at the core of educational experience.
The difference between education and indoctrination is that education opens the mind, while indoctrination closes it. Education is a process-driven approach to engaging in the knowledge and ideas of the world. Education is playful, experimental, mysterious. Education opens doors of intellectual exploration and equips its students with the tools they will need to dissect, analyze, and interpret the information that they find.
Indoctrination, on the other hand, is a results-driven approach that aims to instill in people a set of habits and beliefs that align with an ideology or political agenda. Indoctrination narrows the lens through which we are able to see the world and insures that all of the information we receive is interpreted through the filter of the promoted ideology. The problem lies in the fact that the majority of spaces, institutions and philosophies that we call educational are, in fact, examples of indoctrination.
Educational institutions throughout human history have been used to promote social and political agendas. This is most obvious when we look at the history of totalitarian regimes who, upon gaining power, immediately revise educational policy and curricula to reflect the party platform. It can also be seen in the education debate today. Earlier this month the Texas school board decided to rewrite American History so that it included more of the people that they agreed with and eliminated the study of historic figures who promoted ideas and policy that they disliked.
In both of these cases the "education" system is being used to indoctrinate. A preconceived notion or belief is used to set education policy that ends up promoting a particular political agenda. But these are extreme examples and if I stopped here I could be rightfully accused of writing a posting that in itself is more indoctrination than education. As a presenter at the "Left Forum" I have, in my examples, compared "right wing" Texans to totalitarian dictators. Sounds like there's a bias there, doesn't it? Well there might be, but I also know my audience. Indoctrination is not a strategy with partisan leanings. We all use it.
The original question gets at this exact point. If I go into a classroom, or after-school program, Sunday school, or summer camp and start changing the curriculum to focus on reading Marx or even replace all history books with Howard Zinn's work and begin pushing a left leaning, "social justice" based agenda, isn't that just indoctrination of another kind? If I go into a classroom and say, "We are now going to function as a democracy; here are the rules," isn't that just indoctrination of another kind? If I go into my youth group meeting and say, "Everyone must now treat each other equally," is that indoctrination?
Short answer: yes. Any time the purpose of an educational activity is to make a point or teach a lesson, there is some indoctrination going on. When we use movies to show the horrors of slavery, we are indoctrinating people to believe that slavery is bad. And there are times that we should do that. Indoctrination brings order, and for society to function there needs to be a certain level of order. But the important thing is to call things what they are.
It can feel dangerous when we allow young people to follow their curiosity, to make decisions, to live outside of the beliefs and habits that we have all been indoctrinated with. Most of us have not developed the courage or confidence necessary to subject ourselves to the unpredictable minds of our not yet fully indoctrinated youth. Most of us are still afraid of the chaos that would ensue if we let our children truly play in and explore the vast knowledge of the world. But I would argue that it is our responsibility to try. Educational settings are the one place in society where we should be encouraged to explore without bias, without leading questions, without the assumptions made by our ancestors filtering the world we see.
I will end with a reference to two very old stories. In the story of the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, and with them the future of humanity, are punished when Eve picks fruit from the forbidden tree. In the story of Pandora's Box, Pandora, opens the box (or jar) that she was forced to carry, and in doing so releases evil into the world. These stories have a few striking similarities. In each story the main character is the first woman in the world, and in following her curiosity she introduces "evil" into the world. But there is something else going on in these stories. The tree in question in Eve's story is the Tree of Knowledge and humanity is banished from paradise because she became curious, explored and learned on her own. Pandora was also curious, and when she opened her box, along with evil and suffering, hope was introduced to the world.
The interpretations of these stories can tell us more than the stories themselves. The story of Eve is told as humanity's fall from paradise. Pandora's story is told as the beginning of human suffering. In each case we remember the negativity. We remember the fall from paradise and the beginning of suffering, but we forget the introduction of knowledge and hope. We remember the actions of these women as having negative consequences but we omit the boldness of their curiosity and the beauty that their actions brought to the world.
Is it any surprise, then, that we live in a world where women are continuously sent the message that they are inferior and told that they are stupid? Is it a surprise that we discourage and even punish curiosity?
In the story of Eve I see a strong, bold woman, exploring the world around her and saying, "I would rather know some of the questions than have a limited number of answers forced down my throat." I see the first woman saying "I choose education," and I see her "teacher" saying, "I am going to punish you because I am afraid that I can no longer control you."
Knowledge and hope are two of the most beautiful parts of the world. Our ability to experience them is what makes us human. We must begin to get comfortable with the messy conversations that come with truly empowering all people to pursue them.
Keep the questions coming,
Jonah
- I'd rather know some of the questions than have all of the answers.
Tags for this entry:
hope,
curiosity,
howard zinn,
exploration,
mythology,
indoctrination
