So pleased to read this. Its content is so apposite to the current political and economic situation across the World and their detrimental effect on the living conditions of so many but as, if not more importantly, the opportunity for people to experience and enjoy the wonder of life rather than simply living.
That we have reached such a parlous situation does not surprise me, though it very much disturbs me. My view is that there is a common and relatively ubiquitous confusion of schooling with education. - They are not the same.
Schooling has, I think, always been fundamentally about socialisation rather than education. That, in itself, is not necessarily a bad or harmful purpose. However, it becomes one when the socialisation is so directed and limited in its focus that it places a premium on materialism, false standards of 'success' and reward for achieving superior status over peers on simplistic, restrictive, restricted and narrowly focused 'tests' that themselves encourage or even impose a restrictive and restricted composition of curriculum.
The sad and destructive results of a curriculum that fails to include and develop understanding of life, rather than simply affording to live, (and worse - affording to live at the cost of supporting a privileged and usually undeserving few to gain wealth and power from the work and effort of the majority), is perhaps more highly visible today than it ever has been.
If we choose to bemoan, (as we do), the sad state of society and the cruelty, depravity, inequity, inequality, criminality, indecency, poverty, fraud and such that exist then we ought also to consider why this is so, else all we do is to whine.
What we bemoan are symptoms of a greater malaise. That malaise is to confuse living with life and to put material development particularly but not only that, before human well-being, mutual understanding, respect for difference and diversity, knowledge of history, physiology, thought, philosophy, questioning, conditioning, stereotypes, manipulation, human organisation, power relationships, interpersonal relationships and physical and mental intimacy and its meaning and experience for both traditional sexes and all genders - and much more besides.
That is not to say that we oughtn't to explore, innovate, create or develop new technologies or ways of being. However, if that is our focus and that development and awe at its power is not under-pinned and guided by sound moral and ethical principles which themselves encompass equity, equality, compassion, caring, justice, sharing and insightful comprehension that facilitates incisive thought, communication and collaboration, then technology, materialism, wealth, power, status and 'five minutes of fame' become the standards by which success in life is measured, (wrongly).
Schooling is probably the major institution of socialisation in modern society, if not, it is certainly one of them. Education of worth can only bring about a peaceful world if that socialisation is based on sound understanding of the nature and characteristics of human instinct, characteristics, differences, universalities, relationships, nature of bonding, group formation and such and such fields or topics need to form the composition of school curriculum, parenting, modelling and aims of any true government which seeks to benefit and empower all its people.
... Thank you for a great piece of writing that highlights where we have faltered in our steps and how we can regain equilibrium for the good of all.
