Can schools brainwash children?

The education system is a powerful structure.

Less than one hundred years ago, students in Germany from grades one and two onward were taught that Jews were fat, wealthy people who lived off the backs of the poor Germans. Students studied characatures of Jews, who were often portrayed as rats. Mixing with these people would only contribute to the “bastardization of society,” as Decoste and Schwartz wrote in their book, The Holocaust’s Ghost.

Students were given assignments to observe the Jews, how they talked, walked, etc., the work the Jews engaged in, and the ways Jews were portrayed in stories. Of course, teachers were looking for specific answers. Those who objected were punished. In History, the students studied men who did great things for their countries, and learned that “the ‘blood’ of Nordic imigrants had been the foundation of the great Persian, Greek, and Roman empires. The disappearance of Nordic bloodlines, on the other hand, had eventually sealed the fate on these great civilizations.” In Biology, the students learned about eugenics, and that improving their race would indeed benefit the growth and health of the community.

What? Thats what I thought. Schools fed their students this ridiculous information, and punished those who were intellectual. Of course, a student who has heard this information from the moment he or she has entered a school will eventually take it as absolute truth. These students grew up to be some of Hitler’s greatest Nazis.

The education system holds a great deal of responsibility and power in their hands. We can simply tell our children to believe something, or gently push them to learn the facts for themselves. The problem with the schools I spoke of above was that they were anti-intellectual. Although our schools today strive to produce intellectual students, few of them actually question what is spoken to them by their peers, media, and schools. Students should learn to question, and teachers need to embrace this.

I was a student who questioned my teachers. I never bought the theory of evolution, and I thought Charles Darwin had some good ideas, but should be pointed towards a Bible. My teachers, of course, told me I was wrong. They were great teachers, but did not like the fact that I was searching for my own answers. I still don’t really know these answers, but does anyone, really? The greatest scientists still debate over this (See the National Geographic’s latest: Evolution vs. Intelligent Design). I think there needs to be a shift in the education system – one from where children go from being told, to actually learning. There is a huge difference there. Teachers need to be aware of the responsibility they have in their classrooms, because, to their students, they seem to be wise role models who have figured out all the answers. We need to encourage our children to be intellectual. We do not know where technology and society will take us in the future, and we need to produce unique individuals, not robots, to solve the problems we will face there. Encourage them to learn. Encourage them to go beyond. Be….intellectual.

Tags: creation, ecmp, evolution, Hitler, intelligent design, power, schools, teachers