The conspiracy to reduce our analytical ability

The way in which the education system has changed makes for interesting study for those who are interested in social control through psychology. For a long time since education became a social norm for most people there was a clear and easily understandable structure to learning. It was done by rote, multiplication tables learned by heart, alphabet, spelling and grammar learned and remembered. History was a series of dates, monarchs and wars in order, categorised and regimented. Poetry learned by repetition and recital and so on. This worked well, and this may well be because it mirrors the way in which the young of most mammalian species have always learned. When we look at mammalian familial structure we see that, more so than other groups such as reptiles and amphibians, mammals invest considerable time and effort into raising and educating their young, passing on hunting and feeding techniques, information on safe foods, even swimming and climbing techniques and how to safely move around in their environment as well as how to avoid predators or track prey. This can take place over months or years, and in general takes the form of demonstration followed by practice, or in other words a form of rote learning.

Since the 1950's and particularly through the '60's and '70's there was a rapid shift in education theory and practice. My parents and grandparents were involved in education as teachers, so I had an ideal opportunity to discuss these changes with educationalists who were actively engaged in implementing and dealing with the effects of new theories. The work of educational psychologists and sociologists introduced ideas that rote learning was stifling to childrens creativity and that a better way of teaching was to allow children to express themselves freely and to learn by experimentation and by exploring on their own without a constraining framework. This was in large part based on the work of Steiner, and is sometimes known as learning through play. A great many researchers developed any number of competing and often conflicting theories to aid the development of the young mind and enhance learning, but there is something of an issue which is now beginning to be recognised in the main stream.

There have been questions raised for a number of years now into the standard and quality of examinations particularly in key subjects of Mathematics and science. Based on government figures there has been a year on year rise in the performance of pupils at both 16 and 18 years, yet there is a far higher drop out and failure rate at university level, literacy and numeracy issues reported by employers and a great deal of questioning of the reliability of these examination results to the extent that the governments independent schools inspectorate in the UK OFSTED has strongly suggested a complete and total overhaul of school examinations at GCSE and A Level. Concerns specifically expressed include the shift to multiple choice question styles, the removal of essay type questions, and the transition away from any question type that requires critical analysis.

If this were just a case of a few grumpy old people complaining about the “youth of today” it might be a different story, but it isn't, it is a consistent and almost unanimous agreement by groups with an interest in the results of education but not necessarily directly responsible for education, although even teachers are expressing concerns over current teaching strategies. But this does leave the question, “Why are we doing such a disservice yo our youth?” Taken in the context of an over-arching plan to create a subservient, non-questioning, non-analytic under class whose only purpose is to support the elite, the answer is obvious. So obvious it makes one wonder if there aren't other reasons as well. More to follow.