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Consumerism Lies at the Heart of School’s Educational Purpose
A stream-of-consciousness reflection on the state of school, civilization, capitalism and the way we live our lives.
by Tim Hjersted / filmsforaction.org
Consumerism is at the heart of the school institutions educational purpose. It schools people to believe in the value and necessity of channeling autonomous, community activities into monetary commodities provided by professionals. Bury the dead? You need a funeral company. Feeling isolated and needing someone to talk to? You need a psychiatrist. Feeling sick? You need a doctor. Feeling unsafe? You need a police department. Want to help people? You need to join a social worker agency. Need a haircut? You need a professional that cuts hair.
All of these assumed connections arise out of the fundamental idea that if you or your child needs to learn, he must find a school where licensed professionals can help him.
It is also true because it has been decades or centuries since either previous or alternative learning methods have been available. Over time, more and more of life’s necessary activities have been moved from the autonomous, community sphere to purchasable commodities manufactured by the service and goods industry.
We’ve come to the point that modern day man is rapidly devolving into a position of dependence far more debilitating than any in history.
It is somewhat ironic that modern culture looks down on ‘primitive’ hunter-gatherer societies. Our technology and social institutions have become more complex, but we have also become more dependent. Our ability to survive today is based on innumerable layers of systems, institutions, technology and organizational networks, which themselves are dependent on everything else to survive. If the system were to crash we would be helpless, as clueless as we are to how a “primitive” hunter is cable of tracking and catching a nimble elk over miles through the forest.
Philosophers stone – selected views from the boat http://philosophers-stone.co.uk
Source: http://www.philosophers-stone.co.uk/?p=9618
