The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Lost Verizon

8.12.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 7 of 7)

RiShawn Biddle's article about the state our schools in a global economy raises again the question of what exactly an education is.

The late Richard Mitchell (The Underground Grammarian) who spent years pondering this question, noted that all schools tend to have three purposes: socialization (keep quiet and pay attention), indoctrination (no smoking), and training (you need to know this to get a good job). Note that education in the sense of "know thyself" is not among these purposes.

Mastery of facts is not education. Nor is job training, acceptable behavior, or self-censorship in the face of social fads. This is conformity and docility.

An educated person can always find facts. Using facts, however, and understanding the difference between propaganda and argument while mastering one's actions and thoughts, these are more of what an educated person possesses. And, while they are entirely antithetical to the purposes of school, they are entirely relevant to the purposes of citizenship.

What is sad about many schools today is that they fail to achieve even their modest goal of job training. They are, however, astonishingly successful at turning out docile citizens.
-- William L. Roughton, Jr.
Washington, District of Columbia

ROUSH ROUGHED UP
Re: Mike Roush's letter (under "Give Him the Last Word") in Reader Mail's Family Traditions:

Don't believe I ever said no bid contracts are good or bad, you just kind of ran where you wanted to end up Mike. But in any case my intent on mentioning Halliburton and Blackwater in the same tome was to, (obliquely perhaps), mention that "bad public policy" is sometimes the only policy available. Blackwater is hired by State almost exclusively because they produce results, no dead State Department protectee. State will stab you in the back for political gain, but boy do they want their skins not perforated above all else! Halliburton was hired by both the Clinton and Bush administrations for the same reason; it was and is the only company in the world that can do what it does. In fact it lost huge amounts of money adhering to the contracts let by State, and when they (Halliburton) tried to sell the contracts through bids no other company would bid them. When there are no other bids possible to realistically get the job done typically government hires the company that can. Also typically true to form, Clinton who along with the MSM (and Mike) attacked them as greedy mercenaries after hiring them, this for political gain in domestic races pandering to the Marxist left. Interestingly the same false charges that were and are being thrown at Blackwater are near duplicates of the Halliburton "debate" aimed at Bush. Notice how the "debate" disappeared when Clintoon's hiring practices came to light? My point, and do have one, is that for all the caterwauling by the left (and Mike), in the real world some choices are forced on you by necessity, but only the left savages those that do the government a favor, loosing capital in the processes, for political gain at home.

Mike, you are entitled to your own opinion. You are not entitled to your own facts no matter what your "will" is.
-- Craig Sarver
Seattle, Washington

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Education, Trade, Vladimir Putin, Television, Business, Sports, Law, Military, Iraq, Iran, Russia, United Nations, NATO, Africa, Oil