Bad Education

I like to watch old films, and Film Preservation has a bunch of them on their website to stream or download.  A lot of them are educational, commercial, or propaganda films, which are very interesting indeed.  One I watched recently was Crowded Out, showing the difficulties faced by schools during the Baby Boom and redistribution of population during the '50s, what with lack of funds for new schools and more personnel, leading to crowded and uncomfortable classrooms.

More than uncomfortable in fact, detrimental to the learning process for a number of children.  Not only were the "slow learners" left behind by the teachers who had no extra time to dedicate to them, but the "gifted" students finished their work early, got bored, and got busy making trouble for themselves and their classmates.  Some of them also stopped trying due to lack of stimulation I would imagine.  I had always thought of traditional schooling as the lecturing teacher and the crowd of students, with group work being done under strict supervision and everybody on the same page, so to speak.  Only rarely would students be allowed to explore their educational opportunities on their own.  If course it happened in some "alternative" schools and school systems, and in this short film, nearly 20 years older than the first, we see children using more hands-on and self-guided techniques of learning.  The teachers have their goals, but let the children find their own way, so it seems.  But those styles were stamped out by the overburdening of the classrooms or the desire for regimented thinking among the nation's young.

Why would people not want their children to learn at their own pace and in their own way?  Obviously money has a great deal to do with these choices, as public schools depend on a certain amount of "generosity" from the taxpayers and private schools depend on whoever funds them.  Even if people prefer a more individualized method they might not be able to provide financially for the necessary resources, human and material.  My feeling, though, is that another factor is even stronger than money, and that is control.

The control I mean is the rigid training of the young to fit the mold(s) of society and not have the confidence to question why.  Everyone keeps their head down, follows the status quo with some amount of willingness, and doesn't rock the boat at all.  Sure, we do find anti-war protesters of the '60s and '70s who must have been stuffed into their school boxes, but they are a bit of a blip on the radar.  While some things have loosened up, much depends on the individual districts and schools to get away from the regimented, factory-style of education that the second half of the 20th century saw as normal.  More than that, many people saw and still see it as "correct".  They bemoan attempts to give children more freedom in the classroom and more resources to stimulate their own learning and learning styles.  And that's not to mention the problems of underfunded public schools in poor districts.  The overcrowding and lack of resources continue in many places, and the most idealistic and energetic teachers are no match for the utter nothing that they get from the system.

Again I ask, why do people not only allow but insist on this?  It is control.  Children who can't think are easily led.  They will do the bidding of their betters, pushing out who needs to be pushed and continuing the trends for the promises of treats.  Uneducated, miserable masses will be desperate, they will fight wars far away for a chance at a better life.  They might also kill each other in frustrated despair, taking care of the problem at home.

There were always good ideas about furthering education and respect for learning.  There were always people who were afraid that the wrong people would learn they were people.