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Apr 5, 2004 America, a cynic once observed, is what happens when peasants are allowed to own land. It is a harsh assessment, but an accurate one, too. Why do millions tune into “The Jerry Springer Show” to watch refugees from the wrong side of the tracks beat each other up over sex? Because those millions have no more education that it takes to push the “Channel” button on a TV remote control. America's free public education was intended to raise the intellectual level of the American public to a level that would allow the voting populace to make intelligent, reasoned decisions at the polls. Had the nation's early slow growth in population stayed steady, the idea may have come to fruition. A nation of educated citizens, as well-versed in Shakespeare and Mozart and Ptolomey as in agriculture and trade, would indulge itself in logical debate over public policy, ever mindful that appeals to emotion are the dangerous enemy of reasoned discourse. That has not been the case, however. The nation's explosive growth from immigration and westward expansion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries overtaxed the education system to the point that only the barest essentials could be taught in the one-room schoolhouses that dotted the prairies of the West. Literature, art, music and science — subjects that elevate the human mind above the level of mere creature comfort — were reduced to readin', ritin' and 'rithmetic; academic endeavor was replaced with colloquialism. To learn, however, is to question, and in the harsh environment of the American frontier, survival meant unquestioning obedience to lessons learned from the earth. Classical education was seen as frivolous, then as unnecessary. Pragmatism dictated that only the bare essentials were taught, and the goal was not an enlightened society, but to keep folks alive. Somewhere in the mid-19th century, Americans fell in love with “folksiness.” Unmindful of the fact that Abraham Lincoln was a self-taught scholar of the classics, common Americans became enamored of the idea of a “common man” as one of the greatest leaders of this great nation. Lincoln himself was reduced from the learned man and political genius he really was to an American icon: rail-splitting do- gooder. A century later he was held up as proof that any kid could grow up to become president. Never was a nation so deceived. The great experiment in democracy has become a nation of self-indulgent, under-educated peasants barely literate enough to read above the eighth-grade level, yet allowed to vote on their leaders. Lacking a classic education, most Americans base their public policy decisions on emotion wrapped in religious superstition. Anything abhorent to the uneducated mind is dismissed as elitist or simply contrary to “God's will.” This isn't to imply that only college- educated Americans should be granted full citizenship. It does mean, however, that the free public education once guaranteed to all Americans ought to be actually instituted, and must include studies that will cause students to closely examine and even question the conventional wisdom of their elders. Just because a kid grows up on a farm in the Nebraska sandhills doesn't mean he can't appreciate the grandeur of grand opera, or the essence of Socratic thought or the simple absolutism of Rene Descartes. Americans aren't stupid, but they are amazingly ignorant. They spout fractured folkisms in the mistaken belief that they they are citing their beloved Constitution; they confuse scripture with Old West adages; they confuse their own national history and heritage with a fictitious cinematic version in which the little guy always prevails. They believe justice can be attained if enough people can be persuaded to vote right, and that their civil rights were somehow handed down by a god they can't see and constantly fight over. The level of public discourse will rise only when the education level in America's public schools rises, at least to the level of the late 18th century. When Americans stop trying to force schools to teach their kids to drive and run computers and be nice to each other, and start demanding a classic education that teaches both the majesty of human thought and the humility of human endeavor, then the American experiment in democracy will begin to succeed. Until then, Jerry Springer will rule the airwaves and George Dubya will run the country. ------------ Email Jeff Rice: rice@kci.net Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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