Educated Obsolescence

At the risk of offending many, I want to mention a few thoughts about our educational system.  To me it seems to be the product of industrialization with the original intent having been lost somewhere along the way.

At the primary level, education is of a reasonably general nature and should, if properly executed, lay a foundation of basic skills that are necessary, or at least useful, in any endeavor.  These are the basics of Reading, "Riting" and "Rithmatic." The rudimentary functionality in each subject is necessary to existence in a pre-technological society.  Today, with the pervasiveness of computing capabilities, even those functions are relegated to the realm of specialization.  We have audio books, voice recording and amazing computational capabilities at our fingertips, or in many cases, strapped to our wrists.  The only requirement today for functioning in society is the ability to speak and to hear and even the absence of those abilities can be mitigated somewhat through technology.

In some ways, our cumulative knowledge has replaced our need for existence.  Of course, our existence has nothing to do with our functionality within society; it is related to a more primal drive, that of reproduction, if you want to ask the learned of the day, or in a Biblical sense, we are here at the pleasure of God who created us.

Returning to education:  As one climbs the educational ladder -- i.e. advances from primary to secondary to post-secondary and then to graduate and post-graduate levels -- the focus becomes one of specialization.  The higher one climbs, the more narrow the focus until at the pinnacle, the ability to tie ones shoes may be lost by one who has vast knowledge of the molecular manipulation of genetic code.

I have always been a generalist.  Even generalization becomes an area of specialization.  This is because of a mindset which permeates the specialists that idealizes knowledge of specific industry as requisite to understanding the needs of that industry.

We have become pieces of machines.  The machines are large and complex and our place as a small pin that holds a cog in place is important, however, it places us in a position of total dependence upon the whims of those whose function is to replace parts as they see fit.  Our very education devalues our existence.

Even educators are subject to the specialization conundrum.  The more they are educated to educate, the less they are qualified to judge the quality of the very subjects they are in charge of conveying to their willing and in the case of public education, often unwilling students.  They understand how to educate, but not necessarily what they should teach.  They know how to convey information, but often do not know what should be conveyed for the betterment of society. 

The founders of our country were, for the most part, highly educated.  Their knowledge was of a general nature and included everything from Latin to Astronomy.  They were not taught to be specialists, but were instead encouraged to be generalists.  It is only by knowing how various things interrelate that understanding can be awakened.

I am not content to be a piece in a machine.  Don't misunderstand, I have no qualms about operating within a large system -- a machine -- but, I want to know why my contribution is important.  I want to see the overall function -- to stand back and admire the entirety upon occasion.  I also want to see the value of not only my contribution, but the contribution of the whole.  I want to be able to answer the question, "Is what I am doing making the world a better place?" in the affirmative.

Much of the turmoil within our nation is due to the specialization of roles.  When one becomes a part of a machine, one becomes merely that -- a part.  Parts are replaceable by other parts -- whether human or machine.  Technology has displaced many.  Industrialization is the primary reason for our ghettos.  Many were displaced by the industrialization of agriculture, more were displaced by the technolization (I think I just made up that word) of industry.  What will people do when we are all replaced by machines?

Within the working and non-working classes, the current trend is toward Socialism.  The parts of the machine are rebelling.  They no longer see value in what they do, only that a few are enriched by their contribution.  Obsolescence can occur in many ways....