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Email UpdatesThis blog is about ideas, not personalities. This isn’t personal, unless you want to wrap your ego around your ideas and beliefs. Making it personal is your choice, not mine.
I’ve already been told by a reader to quit blaming licensed professionals and government institutions for the problems in public schooling and how unfair it is to the people who are trying so hard to make these institutions work. I don’t blame the people, I blame the failed ideas which they choose to defend. It is when they let go of those failed ideas that they will find the solutions. I want to debate those ideas. You may directly benefit from the ideas I challenge here and that doesn’t mean I don’t like you. It means I am challenging you to think about the ideas you fail to question. Most of us live our lives and without questioning the ideas and institutions of which we are a part.
For example… Professional Licensing. We claim professional licenses exist to ensure safety and quality. Do they? Can you prove it? How? As compared to what? Why do you believe in this idea? What are the facts? Have you done any critical thinking about the matter?
It is impolite in our society to question certain ideas. I will question the very foundation of many of our political ideas, beliefs, and institutions. I don’t do this in an attempt to malign anyone or be impolite. I do it in an attempt to get you to think and question reality.
In American political discourse we don’t challenge ideas. We attack people who challenge ideas. This is an effective way to end debate and resist change, because keeping the debate personal makes it uncomfortable for most of us to debate ideas. Our focus on personalities over ideas obscures fact from fiction and reason from emotion. People shut down quickly when I challenge the fundamental beliefs they hold about our political culture. In many areas they are uncomfortable even entertaining the idea that there may be better ideas than the ones we currently embrace.
One retort I hear most often…
Now, that is never going to happen!
What if Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and John Adams had sat down in a pub and thought up the idea of a free constitutional Republic, and a couple of pints later… Ben said, "Hold On. Wait a minute. What will the British Empire do?"
To which John and Thomas reply, "You’re right, that’s never going to happen. See ya at the pub tomorrow."
It would be a different world, wouldn’t it?
We must challenge and debate the ideas which shape our current reality:
- Public Schooling is an idea
- The IRS is an idea
- Licensing is an idea
- The Nanny State is an idea
- The War on Drugs is an idea
- The University is an idea
- Terrorism is an idea
- War is an idea
- Prison is an idea
- Paramilitary police tactics are an idea
These are just a few of the ideas that I am going to challenge.
Have these ideas been implemented in our reality? Yes.
Did they exist before they became an idea in someone’s mind? No.
So in order to change our current reality, what do we need to change? Our ideas.
Do we have to cling to old ideas in fear that new ideas are dangerous? No. That is a choice.
Can these old ideas be replaced with new ideas? Yes. Better ideas? Certainly.
I don’t want you to come here and get offended. I want you to come here and think.
Steve,
I must say that reading this article gave me chills. I’m a freshman in college, on the cusp of adulthood, and I’ve managed to find niches on the periphery of The System that have allowed me to thrive on my own terms. However, Reality is creeping in, and it’s damn depressing. I’ve seriously considered moving to Europe after I graduate, but that’s simply running away from the problem. I am truly inspired that there are individuals in our society like you who are not afraid of challenging the status quo and offering alternatives. Keep it up!
Comment by Eric March 22nd, 2008 @ 9:24 am
Wow, tremendous reminder to us of the nature of debate and what education formerly was designed to impart!
That’s what happens when we give up “The Lost Tools of Learning” as expressed by Dorothy Sayers (see http://www.stanthonypaduainstitute.org/lostart.htm): “Is not the great defect of our education today–a defect traceable through all the disquieting symptoms of trouble that I have mentioned–that although we often succeed in teaching our pupils “subjects,” we fail lamentably on the whole in teaching them how to think: they learn everything, except the art of learning.”
Your list of “ideas” also challenges me to relook at their origins. It was truly enlightening for me this past year when I started to learn how public education came about and began reading John Taylor Gatto’s works. Shocking, more like it! What a challenge to my thinking!
Your articles and comments are really thought-provoking and much appreciated in this time when so many accept without thought what others (and they themselves) spout as “fact.”
Comment by Jan March 23rd, 2008 @ 4:09 pm
Steve - stellar post! You hit the nail right on the head. It is ALL about ideas - not the people spouting them. I may not agree with all of your ideas, but I will die to defend your rights to them and to express them and as long as we can debate them in a respectful manner you and I will, in the end, depart as friends!
Eric - Europe is not the answer. They are further down the government control road than we are. Stay here and fight for your country! That is what all patriots should do!
Steve - keep up the good work! I can’t WAIT to read more!
LL
Comment by The Lady Logician March 24th, 2008 @ 3:35 pm
LL,
Yes, leave the personalities to Hollywood. I’m interested in innovation and thoughtful ideas.
I agree that Europe is not the answer. However, I like a few things about the EU, I especially like Estonia’s free market. Some say Estonia has the freest economy in the world, and it shows 10-12% annual growth. 10 times that of its socialist neighbors.
Comment by The Savage March 24th, 2008 @ 5:38 pm
Steve,
I like it. Nice blog and a good set of ideas to start with. See you Saturday.
Comment by Jeff March 25th, 2008 @ 10:01 pm