The Perils of Industry

America’s current system of education is in peril. If we can surpass or eliminate the industrialized mindset that the educational system has been built upon since the nineteenth century, we can once again realize the true nature of education – the acquisition of knowledge and skills needed for the betterment of ourselves and our society. As it stands now, the method of education is part of a hierarchical system, where the most useful subjects for work and those which will amass the most wealth are emphasized over all else. President Obama’s latest plea for education reform brought the call for an increase in funding for math and sciences. Granted, this will provide our country with the necessary skills to better compete internationally in an increasingly technologically focused world, however, what this call lacks is an emphasis on the cultivation of critical thinking which is only found in the humanities. The academic disciplines of philosophy, literature, history, and the arts which have for centuries been the key to the progression of our civilization are becoming merely supplementary to the insular approach toward the expansion of capital. This is most troubling because what we are taught is inevitably what we will become.

The persistent problem is that our industrial society continues to marginalize the system of education, placing focus not on intellectual growth, individual thought or intellectual stimulation but quantifiable results. A mold has been cast whereby “success” in terms of an individual’s education is measured not by knowledge attained but by the calculable results. Without the humanities, students are taught to simply task instead of analyze; to ask how and to never question why. The American education syste...

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...t. The balance between personal and civic, between private gratification and public duty has been skewed in our educational system and needs to be redressed. The intellectual currency afforded by education should allow for more than the ability to function as part of a larger process and instead allow us to think critically, create actively and pursue our individual happiness. While distinct in its individuality, happiness is a personal endeavor which should align itself with the true nature of education, enabling a person to become a unique part of society, not merely a manifestation of it.

Works Cited

* Slouka, Mark. “www.harpers.org”. Harper’s Magazine. December 27, 2009 .

* Stevenson, J. (2005) The Centrality Of Vocational Education and Training’. In Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 57/3, pp. 335-354.