Symbiotic Relationship of Education and Democracy

The Symbiotic Relationship of Education and Democracy

Haji Haji

Name of School
Symbiotic Relationship of Education and Democracy

Abstract

Many of us don't see a correlation between education and democracy. But how can we be

truly free without freedom of mind, thought, and action. There Is a symbiotic relationship

between education and democracy. Compulsory schooling does little but teach young

people to follow orders like cogs in an industrial machine. A lack in education promotes

and creates illiberal democracies. An illiberal democracy is where the citizens are cut off

from knowledge about the activities of those who exercise the real power ie., the

self-appointed elite. If we are kept ignorant and in the dark how can we move into a

better future. Education is a key to the illusive freedom that we seek.

Symbiotic Relationship of Education and Democracy

I. Education Only For The Privileged

A. Inaccessibility of Education

Throughout the history of humankind there have been powerful people who have done their best

to keep the masses ignorant in order to rule them. In the past education was a privilege that was

reserved for a so-called elite few. For many centuries, the people were forced to stay in the social

and economic places in which they were born. The masses were not educated and there was little

to nothing they could do about it. By keeping the people uneducated the so-called elite kept the

status quo and no one ever challenged this notion. This guaranteed that those at the top would

stay there and the gap between the unfortunate poor masses and them would continue to increase.

The elite used many tools to keep their hierarchy but, their primary means was communication;

the use of language itself was used as a weapon. It was ordered by the powerful men of the time

that all learning was to be conducted, not in the language of the people but, in a language that

was completely foreign to them.”Our current educational system is not born out of logical

necessity or scientific insight. It is a product of history. School is only one of many institutions in

American society patterned after a scheme to confuse the public, one first put in place in ancient

Sparta management by cleverly managed illusions.(Weapons of Mass Instruction, Gatto, 2009)

Symbiotic Relationship of Education and Democracy

B. The Language of Education

So in historical times what was the language of education? The language that was spoken by the

people was considered vulgar and too commonplace. The elite felt that the language that the

people spoke was of the inferior classes and not fit for educational purposes. The language fit for

the educated elite was Latin. Latin is a highly organized and logical language. Two-Thirds of

english words are derived from the language of Latin. It was a requirement that you learned

Latin before you could attend school or any place of learning. Latin was the key to opening the

door to education. For many centuries Latin remained a necessary part of gaining entrance into

the places of higher learning and universities. Education is supposed to be the key to a better life,

this is true past and present. Education allowed the self-pronounced elite to obtain high ranking

government positions and to have ultimately more control over their destinies. By controlling

education the masses were kept at their mercy in every way. The people were forced to follow

the rules and by nature of the rules continue to survive in total ignorance. This was a vicious

cycle which perpetuated the educated elite making a good living and helping their descendants to

follow in their footsteps, while the masses remained ignorant. The church also played a major

role centuries ago. The Church was a major center of power and authority in matters of state and

in the context of life in general. The church represented a great place of influence and it makes

sense that Latin was its official language. What would the world look like today if the

information in books, newspapers, magazines, and all other written or printed materials were

written in a language you didn’t know? Because the Bible was written in Latin it could only be

taught through stories to the people. People learned through stories orally or through the arts.

Stories were passed down about paintings and sculptures. One thing to keep in mind is that
Symbiotic Relationship of Education and Democracy

stories can be used as a powerful mechanism of mind control. An entire world of humankind’s

knowledge was locked and not accessible to the people at large. This was until a very important

event happened in the seventeenth century otherwise, the people would have been doomed to a

lifetime of struggle and ignorance. What was this significant event in the seventeenth century?

This event was the translation of the Bible into the common language of english which was

initiated by King James. Everyone wanted to read it, study it, and have it. It had a

transformational effect on the people during that time. The King James version of the Bible

became the official version and is still popular today. Now , this event did not all of a sudden

make the people equal to the so-called privileged elite. The elite continued to thrive as they

always had.; while the masses continued to lag behind economically and socially.
Symbiotic Relationship of Education and Democracy

II. The Perfect Vehicle For Mind Control

A. Suppression of Our Innate Desire To Learn

We are born with an innate desire to learn and somewhere along the line for many of us this

desire is turned off and forced into dormancy. Why is it that as a nation we spend more money

on jails and the prison system… I believe that a person cannot be forced to learn or study. Doing

this is counterproductive to the goal of learning. Children are forced to attend school from the

age of five to eighteen and during this time they are forced to memorize facts that may or not be

true, think in primarily logical terms and learn by rote. This has had the effect of making their

creative side shut down and make critical thinking skills virtually non-existent. This causes

children to rebel, give up, and sometimes become violent. Children are not taught to learn in a

way that's best for them; teachers are not truly taught how to teach in my opinion. We live

without really living and die without tapping into our greatest learning potential. Under the age

of five we are sponges for learning and pick things up at speeds we will never again achieve.

Learning new things gave us great joy and fulfillment.But for many of us learning is crippled,

stifled, and smothered in the home and then finished off by the school system. Our innate drive

for learning never truly leaves us, it just becomes dormant and we do what we’ve been trained to

do which is keep doing our best to stay in line with the status quo. There is a difference between

our innate desire to learn and motivation..Motivation is a byproduct of our innate desire to learn

and we do not learn because we are motivated to do so. Motivation is an outcome not a cause.

We are putting our children in mental straightjackets and allowing their minds to be manipulated

and controlled .
Symbiotic Relationship of Education and Democracy

B. Putting Children in Mental Straightjackets

Our children are subjected to an unjust educational system that forces students to wear learning

straightjackets. The ramifications of our broken education system are far reaching. The habits,

mindsets, and negative patterns programmed from five to eighteen remain imprinted on students

even through to adulthood. Many become mindless drones with their critical thinking skills

turned off just going with the flow. Countless hours are spent watching Netflix, playing video

games, and by engaging in many other diversions of no educational value. We watch the news

and are influenced to believe everything that is said without any research or fact checking. After

school is over many go into a vegetative state and this makes it easier for the self-appointed elite

to maintain their grasp over others, making certain that mediocrity is the norm, and that people

remain obedient citizens. Conformity breeds obedience and is the key to maintaining control of

the masses. Another consequence of the school system is that it is nearly impossible for students

after they are released from school to eliminate all of the bad feelings that were experienced in

the learning process spent in a mental straitjacket. Many schools are just “institutional

straightjackets” when they should be places of great inspiration and excitement. Usually after

school is finished the student feels like they have been released from bodage; and no real

learning takes place thereafter. When we stop learning we stop living and evolving to higher

levels of understanding and being. Learning is essential to life and what I think is the purpose of

life. Without it we coast through our existence never experiencing the true joy that learning can

bring. “We are dependent for whatever good out of democracy upon men who do not believe in

democracy>” (Notes on Democracy Mencken, p 116)

Symbiotic Relationship of Education and Democracy

III. What Is Democracy Really?

A. The True Meaning of Democracy

“Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.”

- ​H.L. Mencken

It took thousands of years for humankind to arrive at what we call democracy. As you probably

know, the word “democracy is from the Greek meaning “rule of the people''. Democracy does

not mean that the people are being ruled. With the emergence of so-called democracy

circumstances were supposed to change. The fact is that humankind has always been ruled in one

form or another and democracy was only another form in disguise. The shortcomings of the

educational system are directly linked to the downfall of any so- called democracy. H.L.

Mencken wrote in the 1920’s that the goal of public education is not to provide our youth with

knowledge or intelligence “nothing could be further from the truth. The aim is simply to reduce

as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry,

to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States… and everywhere else.”

(Mencken 1920) If a democracy is not by the rule of the people then it is nothing but a illiberal

democracy. How can you have a true democracy if the future leaders are institutionalized

without free will until they turn eighteen. Education and its connection to democracy are the key

to our future. “Democracy cannot flourish where the chief influences in selecting subject matter

of instruction are utilitarian ends narrowly conceived for the masses, and, for the higher

education of the few, the traditions of a specialized cultivated class.” (Democracy and Education,

Dewey pp 218-219) It is my belief that democracy has been and is in grave danger in the United

States and across the globe.

Symbiotic Relationship of Education and Democracy

B. How Lack of Education Erodes Democracy

The complicated world-wide challenges that we face today and their progressively

interconnected nature requires minds that can synthesize, problem solve, think, create, and

innovate. We need future generations of leaders, not followers. We must create leaders who can

think independently. We need those in power that are unwilling to play the power games that

control the masses. To have a true democracy it is important that the people have the right to

think independently as individuals, rather than be conformists who can be moved along by the

fickle wind of public opinion. An ineffectual educational system enslaves our minds in a time

where we need the ability to think critically and to communicate effectively with each other

more than ever. For democracy to be more than an illiberal democracy freedom of thought and

mind are a necessity. A non-thinking mind is necessary for western and illiberal democracies to

thrive. To keep the people in their places they must be kept ignorant, and ignorance breeds

conformity. After years in the diseducational system many people are only able to repeat or

imitate what they are told. “Common sense should tell you it isn't “difficult” to teach children

who don’t want to learn . It’s impossible. Common sense should tell you “America was

demanding nothing of the sort. But somebody most certainly was insisting on universal

indoctrination in class subordination. The forced attendance of children who want to be

elsewhere. Learning in a different way meant the short happy career of academic public

schooling was deliberately foreclosed, with “democracy” used as the excuse. The new inclusive

pedagogy effectively doomed the bulk of American children”. (The Underground History of
Symbiotic Relationship of Education and Democracy

American Education, Gatto p 93) This is why without proper education real lasting democracy is

non-existent and why democracy will erode every time.

Symbiotic Relationship of Education and Democracy

IV. Why So Little Has Changed Since Ancient Times

A. The Veil of So-Called Democracy

“Man’s mind must be free. This is the Alpha and Omega of everything. This is no slogan, but a
creed - a deep irrefragable conviction”
-Michel Thomas

With all of the intricate challenges facing society we should be concerned about the survival of

democracy. If we don’t take action to revamp the system we will have a repeat of atrocities of

the past. Thousands of years ago in the times of ancient Greece and Rome, they used superstition

and the power of the priests, minds were enslaved to the beliefs pushed upon them by those in

positions of power. It is my firm belief that very little has changed since ancient times in regards

to freedom of the mind despite the veil of so-called democracy that exist all around the world. By

keeping the masses ignorant and ruling them this makes democracy weak, vulnerable, and an

easy target to hit. An extreme example of the inherent weaknesses of democracy are the events

that occurred in 1942 in Germany and around the world. “The Nazi Newspaper Volkisher

Beobachter crowded in a headline: NOBODY WANTS THEM! Hitler himself, who had offered

to transport the Jews anywhere on luxury liners, gleefully drove home the point home. They

complain in these democracies about the unfathomable cruelty that Germany… uses in trying to

get rid of the Jews… But it does not mean that these democratic countries have now become

ready to replace their hypocritical remarks with acts of help. On the contrary they affirm with

complete coolness that over there, evidently there is no room! In short, no help but preaching

certainly. At this stage, the Germans still wished to remove the Jews from Germany and send

them elsewhere. There was even a half baked idea considered in senior Nazi circles to resettle

them on the French island of Madagascar. Michel found the world’s rejection a moral outrage.
Symbiotic Relationship of Education and Democracy

‘At the beginning the Germans would allow anyone to leave who had somewhere to go; their aim

was to have a Judenreign - Jew-Free Germany. But there was not one single country on the face

of the earth that would accept the Jews. They were undesirable. There was nowhere for them to

go, not a desert or a jungle, not the North or South poles. Nowhere! The worlds apathetic

response to the fate of the jews was a surprise to the Germans, an unexpected bonus that led

directly in 1942 to the policy of the Final Solution and mass murder. ‘The Nazis were given the

green light by the civilized world and decided to get rid of all the Jews through the Chimney.

The total indifference of the world was an unpardonable sin because it was more than the

physical destruction of human beings. It was the spiritual destruction of human beings - the

destruction of hope.” (Test of Courage Michel Thomas, 1999 10.3%) The United States, its

allies, and the rest of the world refused to step up during the brutal destruction and unthinkable

devastation unleashed on life that occured around them before World War 2 began. During this

time several so-called democracises fell as easily as dominoes in a very short period of time.
Symbiotic Relationship of Education and Democracy

B. The Consequences of Non Action

How was hitler able to convince the United States and the rest of the world to mass murder the

Jews? He appealed to those people most like himself. He tapped into the weak minds of the

uneducated masses without schooling. He mesmerized the people who were incapable of

engaging in critical thinking and who had not obtained any knowledge. He simply gave them the

answer to their problems and as if in a trance they followed him without hesitation. Hitler

avoided meetings because he knew he was not able to think and had little knowledge of anything

of importance. He prepared scripts for meetings and was like an actor preparing for upcoming

roles. Hitler was a puppet that was controlling all the other puppets around the world. Because

the uneducated masses didn’t know any better their non-action helped create one of the most

horrific events in human history. Democracies fell at the hands of the Nazis and non-action was

the culprit. This non-action was only possible and a direct result of a poor educational system

that catered to the so-called elite. The major consequence of non-action is the enslavement of our

minds so that we continue to follow leaders that use technology to brainwash our non-thinking

minds. Conformity to public opinion without thought creates non-action. Today we live in a time

of global openness and increased global travel and we are even more vulnerable to the spread of

evil that is comparable to the events that occured before and after World War 2. We are more

globally wide open than during the Nazi/Hitler spread of evil and there are even fewer borders

and limitations other than the use of our correct thinking that can save us from the non-action of

the past.
Symbiotic Relationship of Education and Democracy

C. Reform of The Educational System Worldwide

Without effective educational systems in the United States and worldwide in place to teach

people how to think I believe democracies are in imminent danger It is easier to unite people

against something rather than for a cause. It was invented hatred that was enough to collapse

well established democracies, along with ignorance and lack of education. It is of the greatest

importance that we take charge of educating our people. We must do this to avoid another

catastrophe which was a tragic consequence of inaction, indifference, and ignorance. We now

live in a global community and to improve international relations and education we need to

promote internationalism and not nationalism in schools and universities. Our schools and

universities tend to be excessively nationalistic; showing pride for ones country is natural and

sometime unavoidable. Our institutions reflect the customs, traits, characteristics - political,

social, economic - of the country These institutions become rigid and reactionary. We need

schools that provide a complete immersion for students about all countries and people of the

world. Learning about its people, their history, their traditions, etc,. Our current educational

system chokes learning, kills democracy, and promotes conformity rather than individuality. It is

now time for us together to take action and finally understand the importance of educating the

people of this planet. We must replace fear and anxiety with joy and fulfillment for learning. We

must bring more creativity into the learning process. We must come to understand the symbiotic

link between education and democracy. We need leaders who have freedom of mind and have

the ability to think critically, clearly, and concisely. The United States can be an example to the

rest of the world by completely reforming our education system and restoring the rule to the

people where it belongs. This is what a true democracy is; freedom of mind, body, and soul.
Symbiotic Relationship of Education and Democracy

References

Gatto, J. T. (2010). Weapons of Mass Instruction. New York, United States: Macmillan

Publishers.

Robbins, C. (2000). Test of Courage. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Amsterdam University Press.

Mencken, H.L. (1926). Notes On Democracy. Great Britain: Butler & Tanned Ltd

Gatto, J. T., Paul, R., Grove, R., & Ruenzel, D. (2017). The Underground History of American

Education, Volume I. Massachusetts, United States: Valor Academy.