Education Vs Indoctrination

The title of this article may be a little misleading.

The definition of indoctrination according to dictionary.com is to instruct in a doctrine, principle, ideology, etc., esp. to imbue with a specific partisan or biased belief or point of view.

The number one definition of education at dictionary.com is the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.

There seems to be a distinct difference in the two definitons on the surface. However, at a closer look the definition of education blends with indoctrination when you consider the phrase the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge. Genereal knowledge without bias is a very small spectrum of information. We often speak of the basics of education as being reading, writing and arithmetic but general unbiased knowledge is limited to mathematics. The basics of reading and writing are tainted with bias because once a person begins reading they are under the influence of the writer and when receiving instruction to write there is generally an undertone to express bias of some sort.

There is a movement today especially among libertarians and conservatives to try to abolish the Department of Education saying that it is the facilitator of liberal indoctrination in the public schools. I would not disagree with that because they have a direct influence on the agenda of the public school system. To expect anything else would be niave. Would elimination of the Department of Education stop the indocrination? No! Education and indoctrination cannot be separated. As a side note we existed as a nation until 1988 without the department, we definitely could do it again. Statistics show that achievement has not been improved by the additonal beaurocracy . According to dosomething.org America’s high school graduation rate ranks 19th in the world. (Forty years ago, we were number one.)

So is indocrtination a new phenomenon? Absolutely not. In colonial day the Bible was one of the primary books of education. When public education was instituted in the United States in the 19th century the McGuffey Reader was the most popular book. The readers were very moralistic in tone. Shannon Payne says: They presented the White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant as the model American. That is indoctrination isn't it? So indoctrination has existed from the beginning to the present.

So waht is my argument? Indoctrination is not the issue, it is the agenda. The agenda in America's early histroy was to promote an aboslute moral value system. The agenda now is just the opposite. It is to denounce moral absolutes and teach a value system with no absolute values. There definitely is a difference. Is one better than the other?

The current indoctrination has at its core the teaching of evolution. The teaching of evolution degrades human life to that of any common animal. Therefore abortion becomes not a moral choice but a woman's right. If one can justify an early term abortion natural progression (or should I say regression) gives way to abortion at any stage including partial-birth abortions. That lack of value on human life has now spread to the school house and school yards where we have kids killing kids for little or no reason. Then is it a surprise that we can justify assisted suicide? And are we surprised that the healthcare plan passed in 2010 includes a pathway to euthanasia?

How does that compare to the indoctrination of early American history? It was Bible based. It taught the ten commandments which teaches a respect for God and that human life has value. This type of indoctrination is engrained in Biblical teaching.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9

5. And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

I would to God that we would revert back to the indoctrination of our early history. Since we have now tried both types it seems obvious to me which one produces the better result.