Indoctrinate or Educate

By Don Jans

Indoctrinate is the current agenda of the Teachers Unions in the United States.

Indoctrinate means to instruct in a doctrine, principle, ideology, etc., especially to imbue with a specific partisan or biased belief or point of view.

Educate was the goal established for the primary education of our citizens in our early history as stated here.

"The objects of this primary education determine its character and limits. These objects are To give to every citizen the information he needs for the transaction of his own business; To enable him to calculate for himself, and to express and preserve his ideas, his contracts and accounts, in writing; To improve by reading, his morals and faculties; To understand his duties to his neighbors and country, and to discharge with competence the functions confided to him by either; To know his rights; to exercise with order and justice those he retains; to choose with discretion the fiduciary of those he delegates; and to notice their conduct with diligence, with candor and judgment; And, in general, to observe with intelligence and faithfulness all the social relations under which he shall be placed. To instruct the mass of our citizens in these, their rights, interests and duties, as men and citizens, being then the objects of education in the primary schools, whether privet or public, in them should be taught reading, writing and numerical arithmetic, the elements of mensuration...and the outlines of geography and history."

This definition of education follows what Thomas Paine said in “Common Sense,” which was the free citizen is one who will think and act for themselves. The purpose of education in our early history was to give the individual the tools to think and to act for themselves. Notice how often the personal pronoun is used as opposed to the noun community or state. Notice how the emphasis is on learning reading, writing, arithmetic, geography and history. I believe this would be an accurate account of history and not a convenient account of history. Is this what the current educators of our children are trying to accomplish?

In the book “Education and Capitalism” we are told what the modern educator believes his primary function to be. This book is a compilation of essays written by members of the teachers unions and advocates for the principles of those unions. Every concerned citizen and parent who wishes to know what is happening to our educational system should read this book. This is a statement from the Preface of that book talking about the purpose of the book and their idea as to what the purpose of educators is. “We focus on the role that teachers can play both inside and outside the classroom. On the one hand, we argue that teachers’ unions can and should be a key tool in defending public education and leading broader social struggles for economic, social, and racial justice. Our argument is rooted in a Marxist analysis of trade unions in general, as well as the idea that teachers are workers-not merely “professionals”-who need unions as much as any other section of workers in society. On the other hand, we argue that union activists need to engage in social justice and liberatory pedagogy too. “Liberation,” as a Marxist concept, means having control over conditions of one’s own life, both individually and as a community. It means that vital decisions-like whether resources are used for war or for developing renewable energy resources, how many hours people should work, how our work places and schools should run, and how to make and distribute healthy food-should be made by the people affected, not by a minority of elites. Knowledge is power only if it helps us to have more control over the resources of our communities.

This is indoctrination. The early idea of the purpose of our schools was education. This is why so many people are unable to read, write or think. This must be changed. People ask me what they can do. Change the school boards and get rid of teachers’ unions.

Don Jans, Author and Speaker www.mygrandchildrensamerica.com

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