I was reading this article by Rothbard today "http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard33.html" and the following sentence gave me pause for thought:
"under the guise of “democracy,” education has become mere mass drilling in the techniques of adjustment to the task of becoming a cog in the vast bureaucratic machine."
Our education system here in Ireland, and in the Western world in general, appears to be almost completely geared towards producing workers and not producing thinkers. As it stands we need both, and the absence of the latter is a big reason for the failure of our democracy here in Ireland.
Surely one cannot have democracy without an educated, informed and thoughtful electorate? It appears to me that our education system should be the first thing that we change in our drive to secure the foundations of our democracy. Or is it expecting too much that a national education system can ever teach people the art of independent thought?
"under the guise of “democracy,” education has become mere mass drilling in the techniques of adjustment to the task of becoming a cog in the vast bureaucratic machine."
Our education system here in Ireland, and in the Western world in general, appears to be almost completely geared towards producing workers and not producing thinkers. As it stands we need both, and the absence of the latter is a big reason for the failure of our democracy here in Ireland.
Surely one cannot have democracy without an educated, informed and thoughtful electorate? It appears to me that our education system should be the first thing that we change in our drive to secure the foundations of our democracy. Or is it expecting too much that a national education system can ever teach people the art of independent thought?