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The Astounding Failure of the US Educational System
The below article titled “The Educational System Was
Designed to Keep Us Docile”, by John Taylor Gatto is a fine read as a complement
to my latest article “Inside the Illusory Empire of the Banking Commodities Con
Game.” Who is John Taylor Gatto?
Mr. Gatto was the NYC “Teacher of the Year” three times, and a teacher that
became highly disillusioned with the formal education system due to its
failures to stimulate critical thinking in children.
I find it odd that people that find value in the information
I provide to my clients as well as information that I provide publicly on my
blog often desire to know of me, “Where did you go to school?” I find it even odder
that many people find my attendance of an Ivy League university to be validating
of my knowledge base and thinking skill set, as if attending an expensive
university is responsible for the thought processes that have enabled many of my
big picture, long-term predictions of the global economy to be accurate. I
believe there is absolutely no correlation between the cost of an education and
intelligence or even between formal education and knowledge, although oddly
people believe this relationship to exist. If there is a provable relationship
between formal education and intelligence, it is probably an inverse one. The
more letters you have behind your name (MBA, PhD, JD, MFA, CPA) the greater
level of stupidity one likely possesses, as the attainment of a higher level of
education means that one has been exposed for a far longer time period than the
average citizen to the indoctrination process.
I find oddest of all, the expressions on people’s faces,
when I inform them that I sincerely believe that the knowledge I gained through
formal institutions of academia was detrimental to my understanding of how capital
markets operate. In fact, I explain to those that inquire of my educational
background that I had to rewire my brain and purge it of nearly all of the
false business concepts and stupidity I learned in school because I later found
the great majority of what I had learned in school to be not only downright
deceptive, but also in my opinion, deliberately erroneous. Many people express
genuine shock when I tell them that my formal education was, as was my
education on Wall Street, almost entirely useless to any of the investment
research and analysis I perform today and that my understanding of how capital
markets move is entirely the result of self-education.
"When we look at the information Gatto has uncovered regarding the purpose of the education system as designed by the men that funded and implemented the foundation of the American educational system in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, we discover, in fact, that the US educational system accomplishes exactly what it was designed to do – to dumb down people and suppress the natural inquisitiveness and critical thought processes of children."
In fact, an article I wrote titled “Delaying a College
Education in this Economy is the Right Choice” probably generated some of the
most perplexed responses I have ever witnessed up close and in person when
discussing the content of this article with others. Some of the responses I have
heard are as follows:
But isn’t this the BEST time to send my kid to college? The
economy is terrible now, so after he graduates, the economy will be much
better, right?
You don’t REALLY mean that, do you? Everyone needs a diploma
to fall back on. Who’s going to respect you without a college degree?
How is my child going to get ahead in life without a college
degree?
Even when someone saw eye to eye with my viewpoint and
generally understood the points I was trying to make in that article, in the
end, they still bowed down to societal norms because of the fact that he or she
has been conditioned to believe in the institutional system of education.
Yes, I understand what you’re saying, he or she would tell
me. But I still need to send my child to college. What other choice do I have?
And that’s exactly what the elite want you to believe – that
you have no choice but to indoctrinate your child through a formal institutionalized
process versus providing an alternate path of education and enlightenment for
your child. In the article below, Gatto states, “It’s no secret that the US
educational system doesn’t do a very good job.” But when we look at the
information Gatto has uncovered regarding the purpose of the education system
as designed by the men that funded and implemented the foundation of
the American educational system in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, we discover, in fact,
that the US educational system accomplishes exactly what it was designed to do
– to dumb down people and suppress the natural inquisitiveness and critical
thought processes of children.
Gatto reveals that Eldwood Cubberly, the future Dean of Education
of Stanford University, argued, in his 1905 dissertation for schools that
should be factory-like in production “in which raw products, children, are to
be shaped and formed into finished products…manufactured like nails, and the
specifications for manufacturing will come from government and industry.”
I have pointed out numerous times the banker-funded state of
business academia in America as my rationale for why business degrees are often
useless. I have often told those considering entering business school that I
could sit down and talk to them for three hours and probably grant them
knowledge that will be a thousand times more valuable than anything they will
learn during a two-year MBA program at Harvard Business School. I say this not out of
arrogance. I acknowledge that I still have a long road to travel in my
own educational journey. I say this only because I am 100% convinced that the
business school curricula of all traditional institutions of academia will
never provide the knowledge young adults need to succeed in today’s Empire of
Illusion.
Today, revered professors all across the US teach students the
nonsense that bankers want them to learn and that bankers want them to believe
is real, NOT the reality of how currency markets, stock markets and commodity
markets truly operate. Gatto confirms my thesis by pointing out a statement
from the Rockefeller Education Board, a key institution that was a critical
force in shaping modern education in America: “We shall not try to make
[students] into philosophers or men of learning or men of science…The task we
set before ourselves is simple…we will organize children…and teach them to do
in a perfect way the things their fathers and mothers are doing in an imperfect
way.”
The Educational System Was Designed to Keep Us Docile (John Taylor Gatto)
About the author: JS Kim, the founder and Managing Director of SmartKnowledgeU,
a fiercely independent investment research & consulting firm, attributes
zero of his success as an entrepreneur to the formalized education process, his
four years of education at an Ivy League institution or the attainment of a
double masters in business administration and public policy. Instead, JS
attributes 100% of any success he has attained in any entrepreneurial endeavor
to critical thinking skills that were fostered from international travel,
exposure to independent media and artists, and self-education.
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right. which is why we discuss it on ZeroHedge and not at the neighborhood block party.
The answer to your questions: Beats the shit outta me.
"Azannoth you're obviously an idiot." - well 1st thak you for the complement
2nd Since your post has so little logic in it i reply with as little logic, go fuk your self
But youre a wrong about me, I do think religion has it's uses, that is why I keep The Bible, The Torah and The Koran in house, the're right next to toilet paper in case I ever run out if you know what I mean
Everyone rejects religion until they dunk their head underwater for 15 minutes or in a foxhole under heavy fire. There's no shame in accepting it, much to your ardent stubborness to reject it.
Is pervasive misspelling some sort of attempt at humor? Is it supposed to be irony? If so, it fails miserably, it only comes across as a ranging infantile mind that is out trying to play at a level far above its capacity.
It is completely purpousefull, it filters out people with too little inteligence to glance over the small typos to get the bigger picture
a·zan (ä-zän) n. Islam. The Muslim summons to prayer, called by the muezzin from a minaret of a mosque five times a day.
Things that make you say, "Hmmmm."
Don't preach about logic when you purposefully deny yourself a third of what life has to offer because of some peverted bias you carry against religion.
Enlightenment for you is wiping your ass with belief systems of 95% of the world.
When I said obvious, I meant it.
Argumentum ad populum -- invalid.
Excuse me, 56.22%.
http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html
I wasn't referring to the numbers. Your entire argument is invalid.
"If all your friends were jumping off a bridge, would you?"
+1
you are attempting to reason with a child, but at least you are using the old parental standby "If all your friends..."
to quote the 'assembled bible': "pearls to swine", Rocky. "pearls to swine".
Some people prefer the truth to comfort.
Very Christian of you old chap! I see your religious studies have taught you humbleness and good will. Next you'll be pontificating about the righteousness of democracy.
Where are you seeing humbleness and good will in ANY of the above?
If religion is so marginalized in schools, is government too?
Man's quest for enlightenment seems on the decline.
I've gone full circle. I'm getting more superstitious with each passing year. I've witnessed too many "famous last words" to ever discount anything.
Perhaps I've just reached a time in life when I'm sure I do NOT have the answers to the universe. One way, or the other.
It has always seemed strange to me SciFi could imagine pure energy beings, but not angels. Weird.
As the great John Updike said, "disbelieved in like angels."
Do you remember the character 'Q' from Star Trek he Is God by all our definitions, just becase the angels are missing well.. but if youre a Monotheist than you might have a problem that he is not portrayed as the christian god nor is he unique
Yes, he is God, and a nasty, spoiled, bored, and uncaring piece of work. That is hard for many to accept, but look at the world around you. Sci-Fi, on its good days, helps us think outside the box.
kaiserhoff
Charles Stross, but it takes a mind to fully grasp Jasper Fforde.
Google "oppositional defiant disorder treatment medication" Holy Fuk!
Second That. If you can stand yet another dose of severe absurdism.
I propose you change the name of your article to:
"EVERYONE ON WALL STREET IS A BRAINLESS MORON" . While it is obviously not true, it is just as true as your allegation that doctors, lawyers and electrical engineers are stupider than the general public. Honestly, I would be embarrassed to put something like that down on paper, let alone place it on this site.
Weinerdog43...
I think he is referring to sophisticated stupidity that kind of stupidity that can only come from the most elite universities in our land.
Are not the "weinerdogs" that are fueling the destruction of America from these institutions?
It's kinda like sophisticated white collar crime the kind of crime that doesn't get recognized as the usual crimes because it's so sophisticated.
this is not JS commenting here as it was in the above comment, but the smartknowledgeu admin. it's called sef-deprecating humor as JS is among those people that have a bunch of advanced degrees. his "advanced degree" equated with "stupidity" comment was a tongue-in-cheek comment for those unable to identify humor. I believe JS meant, by that comment, that that the longer you are in the system, the more indoctrinated you become, and the less you are able to think for yourself. you must be among the brilliant that equate the possession of advanced degrees with brilliance. oh, and that's called sarcasm! :)
... the longer you are in the system, the more indoctrinated you become, and the less you are able to think for yourself.
Can I change that to the longer you are in the system, the more indoctrinated you become and the less you dare to think for yourself.
Case in point: Juan Williams was fired today for thinking for himself. Unfortunately for him, he did it out loud, on national television.
On the other hand, I don't want the doctor who is repairing the burst aneuryism in my brain to do to much independent thinking for himself. Be creative within limits, of course. But stick to the basics of what is known to work while you are inside of my skull with a knife.
I was probably too subtle. I meant that I don't want a banker mucking around in my brain with a knife. I want someone who was forced to conform to the body of information that brain surgeons study. I have no problem with the surgeon pushing the boundaries of what is known, if that is necessary - just so long as it is an informed pushing of boundaries, rather than the jubilant curiosity of a Montessori child.
My understanding is that Juan Williams was playing both ends against the middle and NPR was looking for an excuse to cut him loose. Williams was more right of center than left of center.
+1
i'm not sure I want bankers doing anything. seems to me the world would be a better place without central money planning and fractional reserve counterfeiting, but thats another topic altogether.
as far as Jaun Williams:
How dare he? Good thing "National Public Radio" is financed by the taxpayer. It is paying such fantastic social dividends.
All that is "known" was discovered by independent thinking and, yes, it cost a few brains in surgery along the way. better theirs than ours today. of course, future generations will be saying the same thing about surgeons who experimented while operating on us.
bottom line: a really great surgeon, who knows everything that was every taught, is bound to step into the unknown to advance the field. Textbooks are simply the accumulation of our forefathers giving it an educated guess and we continue to "stand upon the shoulders of giants".
I just wanted to add to your thoughts.
great point about Jaun Williams. Now he can finally come over to "the dark side". ha, ha. ;)
agreed. well said!
Um, gee you are correct because your sarcasm makes sense because I know you personally and all.
Sorry, but I take people at what they say, if I do not know you. Sarcasm makes sense when people know the background of whoever is writing.
In any event, regardless of "degree" status, all of this noise boils down to Access. Who has it, and who does not.
again, Cindy, the author of the article has access. did you read the "about the author" segment at the end of the article? JS graduated from an Ivy League school and has two master degrees. this gives him plenty of access to people in high positions. ACCESS is NOT the point of JS's article. he never argued in his article that a highfalutin Ivy League education doesn't grant one access. in addition, he never argued that attending an Ivy League school doesn't grant one connections that other people lack. it most definitely does. i believe, and know JS believes as well, however, that someone that has earned an MD or an MBA is not automatically "smarter" than someone who has not. I've met people that, for various circumstances, dropped out of formal education before even completing high school yet who I consider far more intelligent and more knowledgeable than those that achieved higher degrees at institutions of higher learning. how? they read books from a library.
Furthermore, if you read JS's comment (the first comment on this thread by SKU was written by JS), he said "If my kids wanted to become an engineer, doctor or architect then I'd still send them to school." I respectfully believe that you missed the entire and only point of his article. it is about the purpose of the educational system by the men that funded it in the late 1800s and early 1900s and whether it promotes critical thinking and produces intelligent graduates. we believe intelligence is not defined by your school of graduation, the degrees behind your name, your access, how much money you make, and so forth. we believe intelligence combines the ability to think for oneself, creativity, curiosity, the ability to see problems in a different perspective than others and the flexibility to change one's opinions when confronted with knowledge that challenges and disrupts one's beliefs, among a long list of many other factors. intelligence, in our opinion, is NOT having a 4.0 GPA from UPenn, Princeton, Oxford, or Harvard nor is it about having access.
Cheers! - the smartknowledgeu admin
Looking for a place to jump in here...this will do I guess.
This has been one of my pet rants forever and I appreciate it's posting as it is one of the most important issues of our time to understand...completely.
The public education system was not designed to infer knowledge.
It was designed to make competent workers. Nothing more.
This is also very important to understand.
The structure of the public education system is the companion to the eugenics movement of that time. Eugenics was taught as a "science" at the highest levels of academe then.
In my opinion, it (eugenics & fascism) has never been uprooted. It remains in the faculty lounge.
It appears firstly as an innocuous suggestion, soon followed by admonition, then finally a law to eat this...to not eat that...to do this...to not do that...to say this...to not say that.
Thanks for the valuable post...the more people dig into this, the more they will understand what has been really stolen from them.
Regards...and again thank you.
word.
Anyone who didn't understand from John's article exactly what you are explaining is proof that what John said is correct!
Great article and advice, John.
I am a Software Engineer(a good 1 too) and I can honestly say that school taugh me < 1% of the things i need for work, they tried to indoctrinate me with all possible shit, than at about 15 -16(at that time as my knowledge grew beyoned schoold and notes declied proportionaly) I undrestood that school was not about learning only about learning to comply
I'm a Civil Engineer and my experience was very similar. I've told people before that I could have done my job when I was 12. College was about getting the required resume chip. Luckily I didn't have to go into debt to get it.
Back from actual work.
Fred, you are so correct. I know that most 12 year olds can easily do civil engineering.
I can't tell if you're grammatically taking the piss, or if your post is serious and sadly displaying the end result of many wasted years in a formal school setting.
And I wish you had more than an average IQ, I am not an English native speaker and am typing on a German keyboard so get a clue
Wie geht's?
The people of the entire western world are suffering from a severe lack of knowledge on the debt-based monetary system and the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). As an ambassador of goodwill, please pass on the following information to your countrymen:
http://www.zerohedge.com/forum/asymmetrical-warfare-mill-wars-based-ucc-practice
I've followed the UCC up into the working papers of the UN. It is practiced all over the world.
I like JBERNI2's youtube updates on the German economy. Leider, he never gives the real story. :(
My sincere apologies. Your English is much better than my poor attempts at Indonesian. It was rude and arrogant of me. I assumed that you were one of my fellow countrymen, whom are able to mangle the English language in a way that appalls the senses.
I am only ever embarassed or ashamed at 1 thing only , if some1 finds a fundamental fault in my logic not my spelling
Azannoth:
I truly respect your thoughts and know that after visiting Germany the West needs to significantly change it's world view to accommodate the justified prejudices toward the arrogance of Americans. We, as a nation, are struggling to regain the lost moral compass and ideals of self-reliance. We have lost whatever culture and heritage was brought from the Old World. Thank you for your perspective.
hmedicine
Your logic appears to be sound. I have a son who could not "conform" in even the best of schools. He never finished high school because he was working on things that were not related to his "studies". He self-educated himself in calculus by the 10th grade and found school quite boring. We had several conversations in which I pointed out that he would miss the liberal education that was needed to carry on conversation and understand allusions and references to the literary masters and historical references. He got it. Went on to take what he needed but left the rest. He is now quite successful and still reads in many fields outside his career field. I'm rather proud of him and his intellect. It was not due to his education, but his own abilities. The educational experience was one that he used for his own needs, not the needs of society.
We had several conversations in which I pointed out that he would miss the liberal education that was needed to carry on conversation and understand allusions and references to the literary masters and historical references.
Well put. Without a common frame of reference, communication is impossible.
Hear, hear. I've raised three children exactly in the same manner. Encouraged them to read and develop general skills in mathematics, sciences, and the liberal arts. And develop the particular gifts that they received at birth. They read widely and are doing extremely well now as young adults.
Here's a sample of my own self-education of late.
http://www.zerohedge.com/forum/asymmetrical-warfare-mill-wars-based-ucc-practice
RockyRacoon
If only more of us were Autodidacts.
It could be hereditary! I don't have the slightest formal education in economics but absorb all I can find about the subject. Sometimes what I think is common knowledge turns out to be rather esoteric, especially amongst those with PhDs in economics!
If you think your child will succeed ONLY based on the public school system, think again. Parents play a key role. That said, I have one child in a top prep school and a younger one in the public schools. The prep school lays on the homework big time and really does prepare students for college rigors.