Click here to access article by Ann Pelo from Rethinking Schools.
In an advanced capitalist society like the US one finds that the system corrupts everything it touches. By "corrupt" I mean that everything is organized to serve the interests of those people who make up the capitalist class--the major "owners" of the economy.
All productive assets of any economy represent a sum total of all the wealth and skills created by people from the beginning of the human race about 150 thousand years ago. The system of capitalism was created largely by force about 300 years ago. The people who did this were called capitalists. Many were originally merchants, traders, and money lenders, and some were from the old aristocracy who had created their exploitative system largely by force. This new class took over nearly all the resources that were held in the remaining commons--lands and resources that everyone had access to. Today they are mostly taking away the lands of small farmers of 3rd World and Emerging countries.
Now, having had so much success in consolidating the productive resources of the world into this tiny class that comprises about 1% of the population, they are increasingly confronting opposition which they must put down. That is a major reason why the military establishment is so huge in the US. (The other reason is that it is a big source of profits for investors in weaponry.)
Ruling classes always like to use poor, desperate people to serve in their armies in order to crush all opposition to their rule. They also want them to be ignorant about social arrangements and working class history, and most importantly, to be obedient. Today they also need people who have been trained in technical skills, but not much else. Hence "educational" policies and programs are being shaped to provide more of the latter skills, but otherwise offer only courses that are essentially indoctrination. Thus, education is being replaced by skill and obedience training and indoctrination. "Military education" is an oxymoron.
