Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Education — a ‘culture-killing weapon’?

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Education — a ‘culture-killing weapon’?

from Green Left. This is a review of Noam Chomsky's new book, New World of Indigenous Resistance, and the responses to the book by indigenous critics.

Chomsky then reflected upon the commentaries. The result is a book that could change the way its readers think about education forever.

Chomsky points out early on that education is used as a homogenising force. But his respondents pull no punches.

Under the control of capitalist ruling classes, education has both positive and negative features, and people must be aware of both. The negative side, as many indigenous critics have pointed out, is the destruction of indigenous language and thought that contain perspectives beneficial to the survival of the human race. Even Chomsky was surprised by some of the responses.