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    Ch 5 - The Crisis in Education

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    CH 5 - The Crisis in Education

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    2 a THE CRISIS IN EDUCATION “Ticker din cnt crery seo i catly Ineach country, involving différent area cent forms, In Ame the recurring criss in education that, during the has become a polical problem: ef she frst magninude, reported on alizost dally fa tht aewspapers. To be ims atry, oil afer the Fire World War, and extermination comps, or oven with the pro- found malaise which, appearances of prosperity t0 the contrary not 1 gghout Europe ever since the ond af omowhat dificult to take 2 crisis io i ced to tegerd edacation as seouly a it deserves Te enptng indeed so eset jt as a local phenomanon, uzeormected wi ges ia fo be Diamed on cettaln peculiaitics of Sed Sates which ae no key to fide counterpart f2 er parts of the world. “Yor, if this were tm, the eri tical issue and u have become a politica is shores woul not have keen unable to deal wt ane, Ceily tre is walked bese than tho zing quesn af why Zohany cat eal Moreover, there is alays¢ epson so elene bat neo Sa ing wit tenis 0 ing with specific prod! in our school system woulk not eduestional authorises would ties and of importance only co those immediately affected. it as @ general role in this century that whet- Toiesecable faite be 5 GPARVAT TEANOAS that would make i seem 2- ese eRe TERUG that viol forthe Taya tobe concerned wit tube iz felis apaut hich, in the spelt’ suse be may now nothing (and thi nce Lam ao pofosional edocs, is of curse my case When T deal wit a ess eda er even more cogent eal with ars in edoaton), thao is anoter ves move cogent he I pou inseintely fold. And tats the oppor, pro ed by te very Tet of anse~hich ten eway fagndee end dtitectes peuies—to explere and ingie into whetert: as ia c — bare of ibe esrence of the water, an Pea seam aoa ae Wet he spaces prj sly ems tet we lost the answers on which we ordinarily rely calnng shay were cng arava to quetos, ert forces as back emselves and reqeites from us citker new oF fasveos bain ea te st gent, Ae Ccomes “disaster only when we respond 10 It widh preformed jadgments, thot is, with prejudices. Sich an attitude not only sharpens the The Crisis in Education 75 criss but makes us forte the experience of reality and the op- fot it provides. oblem may present itself in a impostible ever to isolate completely the ‘niversal element from the concreie and specite citeamtances ia ‘hich ft makes its appearance, Though the crisis ini education may affeet the whole world, it is charactezistic that we find its me ‘sre fost in America, the reason being thet perhaps only in America could 4 crisis in education actually become 2 factor in Politics. In America, es a matter of fact, education plays a differ. ext and, politcal , of course, the explenation lies in the fact that America has abvays been a land of immigrants; it i¢ obvious ‘hat the encrmoualy dificult melting wgether of the most diverse ethole groups-—never fully successful but contimoudly succeed ‘ng beyond expectation-can only be accottplished through the Schooling, education, aad Americanization of the itnmigracts' chil. Grex, Siace for most of these children English is not theic mother fongue but has to'be learaed In school, schools must obviously assume functions which in a nation-state weuld be periormod es a matter of course in the home, More decisive, however, for out considerations is the role that continaous immigration plays in the country’s political conseions- ness and frame of ming, aaerica i¢ not simply a colonial country ‘n need of immigrants to populate the land, though independent of them ia its polidcal stcucture. For America the determining factor has always been the motte printed om every doltar bill: Novus Ordo Sectorwon, A New Ordee of the Wond. The immigrants, the Bewcomers, are a guarantee to the country thet it represents the nev order. The meaning of this new order, this founding of a new world fgalnst the old, was and is the doing away with poverty and opores- sion. But at the same time its zaagnificence consists in the fact that from the beginaing this cew order did not shutiteel off from the ont. de workd—as has elsewhere teen the custom in the founding of Mepias—in order to confront it with 2 pesiect model, nor was its Potpose to enforce impericicleims or to be presched as sa evengel = re Sec rete ik aan ‘ih heirs i one wishes "D proite sev cock oe , maine ven the earth, Ta the words spoken. by John ‘dams Lestat b anal en eh whee mmetemnen, meer st en 9 MeO Tacoma | yeu ttt toy fad rae espn . and cm * cad can play u9 part in polities, hecause i wot Nineteen oO accor miso ts | Galt ninety ont Whe nao ic Jaw in accordance with which America began her bom plea ecg Since one came ao | fom Political activity. Since one canner ecocate dt the Syed “educaton ‘has an evi! sound ia polit ere ie a tees fatlon, whe the real purpose is cocscion with ihe ose stfore who setiously wants to create a new pclitical ont on amen sara seh hey Sc en Esivzs Tad meen | Remi must aw ae cred Platonic conclusion: the banish. actu: cir own future role in the body lh grown gad were about fo enter the community of Suits ax young poople. the Grocks simply called a vx, the new gros ‘Thaveis the additonal fac, bowoves, a feet that has become decisive for the meaning of ecueation, that tls pathos of the new, though I: is considerably older than the eighteens century, oolY developed conceptually and pottglly ia that comtary, Prom thie = sere thre vn dev athe Sa cecatonl ses aiged feat ee means be coin Aete, sean, in: iadge diese g which education became n ent of pottics, and poliical The poled role thet eereain tually lays fe Pelee ree ot tusaion npr theft thatthe schools not only serve to Am caine "The role played by education nical woplas from ancient i chldien but alc their pants as wel, tha here in et ove times onward shows how natural 8 to start. a new world with . those wiho are by birth and nature new. So far as politic is eon nvelvos of comrse a serious misconception: instead of ‘i astuuming the effort of persuasion nd ictatoria intervention, based rity ofthe edalt, ead the attemp™ 0 pro ; 2 though the now alady ‘upon the absclute supe duce the new as a fait accom 178 Benwcen Past and Fuuure that a new order can be founded, and what is more, founded wit: foll consciousness of a historical continua, for the phrase “Now World” gains its meaning from ‘World, which, however admirable on other scores, was rejected becanse it could find no solution for poverty znd oper ‘Now in respect to education itself the HMlusion arising from the pathos of the new has produced its most sesiows consequentes only Jn our own contery. It hos fist of all made it possible for that com- plex of modem educational theories which originated in Mile Burope and consits of an astounding Lodgepodge of sense and nonsense to sccomplish, under the’ bancer of progressive aduca- ‘ion, a most radical revolution in the whole system of education. ‘What in Europe kas remained an experiment, texted out here and there in single schools and isolated educational iostitations and then graduully extonding its inf ences in certain quarters, io Amer jea about twenty-five years ago completcly overthrew, 9s though from one day to the vext, all traditions and all the established sgnethods of teaching and Irecning, I shall not go into details, and T jecve ou: of ascount private schools ané especially the Roman Catholic parochial schoo! system, The significant feot is that for the sake of cortain theories, good or bad, all the zules of sound fu ‘pian reason ware thrust aside, Such a procedure is always of great aed pernicious significance, espgcially in a country that soles so extensively on common sense ip 1 political life, Whenever in political questions sound! huunen reason fails or gives up the attempt to supply answers we are faced by a Gris; for ths ‘iad of reeson ig really that comsuon sease by virtue of which we and our Five in dividual senses are fitted into a single world common 10 us all and by the ald of whish we move about in it, The disappearance of common sense in the present day is the warest sign of the present- clay osis. Ia every evisis a piece of the world, something comucn, 4o us all, is destroyed. The failure of common sense, like a divining, rod, points 0 the place where such a cave-in has occurred. ‘mn any cese the answer to the quastien of why Johnny can't read or to the more general question of why the scholastic stondards of the average American sebeol Tag a0 very far bebind the average The Crisic in Education 179° standards in actually all the i counties of Europe ie not, Nt, Sin ara un you ands nye og og uaneregeeente County in this paiiar Feld ie the moet “dv DP aud sost modern in i a Tet me inte worl: An thi 1 ue in 8 double ese: 2 ‘hes ave the edveiton problems cf a mass society brooms tev od aes elishave We most moder theo nthe ral of pagpy bet w wettealy and sey seeped. Tae che in American eduection, on the one ik Roan ho wend, amovncet the f ¢ education and, on t obi finmene dchy tein ean wa eo fens anda pone to the eminds of amass sce. on sal is cotton we must bea i mind acter sore general = which did not, to be sure, ca iis bat whi dager tw cent epee ges heme ef ety lis 2d aires br Hed Ame Mic ved in this than equal mare too thant reg of clr stactonn nie tes tan what ie expressed in he pliase “equality of opporunity.” though © rusty.” Re has 8 ere spire in thi comecton beste in te rican view a right to education is one of iv ngs. Ta ahs bea die oh are or pote sto sen tt snr ws Ean en ily septa, Se conpabory ath stnfane exes to She eof ste, every cil mentee ig coon high school thesore is baelly 2 Kind ct continuation of prim Set0ol Ads of his nk fa tony schol to Proper Soo forthe sollgs cuts bs 0 be supple by he elles tha selves, whose cuticle therefore sue frm a ehroric eveoad Heh ste ects de quay ofthe work dane thre “ apt ance one might poe thnk that this snomsly en he very nate of massa in wich edaion i ao ager a Benes: of Gs weil cst leer at England ‘where, at reyes knows, senda edvetion he also ben mode avlabic cot years to all classes of the population, will show that thi not che ease. For-there at the end of primary school with studemas 180 Berween Past and Future at the age of eleven, has been instituted the droaded examinction tha: weeds out all but some ten ger cent of the scholars suited for trigher education, Lhe rigor of this selection was rot accepted event in England without protest; in Americe it would nave been simply impossible, What if aimed at in England is “mecitoeracs,” which is clearly once more the establishment of an oligarchy, this time not of weak or of birth batof telant. But this maeans, even though peo ple in England may not be eliogether cleat abouts thet she coun: tty even under a socialist goveczmert wil continue to be governed asit hes deen from time out of mind, that's, neither as a monarchy nor a3 a democracy but a8 an oligarchy or aristoccacy—the latter in case one tates the view that the most gifted are also the best, ‘which is by no means a certainty. In America such an almost phys joal division of the children into gifted ond ungifted would be con- sidered intolerable. Meritocracy contradicts the principle of equal- ity, of an equalitarion democracy, no less than any other oligarchy. “Thus what makes the edscational cxisis ia American so expetially acute is the political tempes of the ooutry, which of itselt stragples to equalize of to erase as fer as possiole the diifeseace herween {young ané old, between the gifted and the ungitted, nally between ‘Zhilaren and adults, pertioularly bevween pupile and teachers. It is clavione that such an equalization can actualy be accomplished only a the cost of the teacher's awtority and at the expense of the gitted among the students, However, it is equally obvious, at Teast to anyone vio hat ever efme in contact with the Amiesican educa tonal system, that this diffcley, rooted in the pelidoal attitade of the eountry, also bas great advantages, not sizply of 2 human kind ‘but educationally speaking as well; in aay case these geneval factors cannot explain the esis in which we presencly find ourselves zor jstfy Wie imeasures through which that erisis has been precipitated an ‘Phete reinows measures can be schematically traced back to three basic assumptions, all of which are only too femillat. The ; ‘The Crisis te Eduoction, 181 first is that there exist a child's world an Given ha oe Si Srl ar a sity fonned amerg ‘what pt to do rests with the child a the cd group iselt—~and this ame other consequences, a situation in which the sire besles efor the india site and ou of eontst with him, He 23 nly call fom to do what he kes and shea prevent ho wart ftom bappesing. The weal and noma relations between children to adalslsng tom the fet tht peopl ofall ages ace akg Simultaneously together ia the word ae thos becken oft od so f sumption thet it tl cout ony the group and aot the india ci Her a ac «for the child in the group, be ls of course ret rather w tio orev ofa gp ees sl gap ange cofsidersbly stronger asd more tyzanni ever more tyrannical than the Sov of a nd! po sever bole om \standpoin: ofthe individual child, hi chances vo iebel or ws de isting ox his ova book ate praciealy ai; eno longer nds himself in a very unequal contest wih aperoa who he, tobe sae, shsslote superiosty over him. bat fm contst with whom be can nevertheless count onthe oldanty of other chien, that is, of Bis nm ind athe bo i inthe postin, hopeless by deilto, of @ nicocity of one contented ay the absolute majority of all the hers, There ate very few grown people who can eure such a atloa, even when i is not supported by external means of come paler iis are simply and utterly incapable of i. erefore by being emancipated from the authority of t rity of adult ‘hid his not Seen eed but has been subjected co's mush ony feriving and uly tyrannical avthonty, de iyanny ofthe majo O Peel se the result i thatthe children auve teen to speak Dunithed trom the world of grownups, Toty aze eer thrown spon themselves or anwled over to the ‘yramay of their ro it i can a ee Set rebel, wih vik boase thay ae eaten they amnot rex and out of which they cannot flee to any otter world because Between Past and Future 182 she woe of ads sta to tm, Th encton ofthe cides t this pressure tends te be either conformism or juvenile ueey, ands treuentye mts ef Both The second basic asumpion which hs come to queston i he rena eis ha todo ith teaching, Uader te infers of mode cru paychology andthe tenets of pragmatism, potognsy hes dex veloped into a tcience of teaching in general in such 2 way tobe iy emrcipted trom rhe seal mate to be tughts A pas thong. is @ man who an digly teach anything: caching, aot in the mastery of any partieular sa nall presently see, is naturally very closely samption about leasing. Moreover, it hat “ in a wost serious neglect of the cralning of teachers in this own subject, especialy in che pe High seach, inert tater does 20 eed wo kao hb owe sb at snteguety happen athe eae ons hour aed of Ht turn means not only thet the students are smyth a ees ut eo an 1 of the teacher's authority as the parsoa who, torn it what cern don wl il eaows wore and ean 0 tore than esl er Miecive, Thus the noa-authoritarian teacher, wl jority, can no Tonger exist able to rely on his own anthorify, can n0 se catepa "ut ths perilous rls hat pedagogy end he feck cotege are playing in the presente crisis was only possible because ct ts “This was, quite simply, the logical assumption it oor COREXt, an licati ‘the rhird bas ‘i @ he eee it tio conceptual expression ic pragoaliso. This Ct A ea ey tk primitive is obvious: to substirete, insofar as possible, oing for eaing, Te et atm inaranse wes aed to teacher's mastering bis own subject was the wish to compel hin 10 - s . . ‘that he fe cusreseof the contiauods aed of leaning to a as they said, pass on “dead Knowledge” but, instead, would ‘The Crisis in Edueation 183 constantly demonstrate tow itis produced. The conscious iateation ‘Was not to teach knowledge but to inouleate a skill, and the res Was o kind of tausformnatioa of institutes for learning into voe ‘oual itstitusions which have been as seceessful in teaching how to Giite a car or how to use « typewriter of, even more important for the “art” of living, how to got along with othe: people and to be Dopular, as they have been unaite to make the childzen acquire the normal prerequisites Of a standard curtienior, However, this description is et faul:, not ouly because it ob ‘Viously exaggerates ia order to drive hore a peint, but because ie fails to take into acccnt how in this process apscial importance was atthchod so, obliterating.es far a6 possible the distinction berween Play and work~-in favor of the former, Play was leoted upon as te liveliest and most appropriate way for the child to bebeve jn (uo world as the only fort: of activity that evolves spontancously ce at & chile, Only what can be Feared through The child's characteristic activity, aring ia he old sonse, by forcing de of passivity, compelled him to give up his ive, The clove connection between these two things —the substitu: {fod of dotag Zor leaming and of playing for werking.—ic directly ‘lustrated by the teaching of languages: the child is to learn BY Speaking, that Is by doing, not by studying grammar and syntox; fn other vonds he iste leam a foreign language in the same way that #8 an infant be learned bis own language: as though at play and in {he uninterrupted continuity of simple existence, Quite apatt fom the question of whether this fs possible or net—it is possible, to 2 Lanited degree, only when oue caa keep the child all day loog ia the foreign-speaking eavironwent——it is periecly clear thet this pio- ‘cedure consciously attempts ta keep the older child as far as pos. sible sit the infant level. Tho very thing that should prepare the child for te world of adults, the gradually acquired habit of work and of notplaying, is done away with in favor of the axtonomy of the world of childhood, ‘Whatever may be the conection betueen doing and knowing, or | 6) 18h Benveen Past and Farare whatever the validity of he progmetic Jomaula, {ts epplication to education, that is, to the way the tends to make absolute the world of childhood in for the essence of educetion—not flecting oa the role that educ can be called a world, This holding back of the child is artificial destructiveness of these basie assumptions and a desperate atemy the entire educational system, to wansfomn It com- ing this what 'e actually being atempted—except for teaching will once more be concusted with authority: ple , and serious work is ence more to be done; e. ‘emphasis ft from extracurricular skills to knowledge pre- and t doesnot apply to the anim sotibed by the curriculum; fmally there is even talk of wanstorming doutle relations, th the prosent curricula for teachers so that the teachers themselves ‘will have to eam something before being tmmed loos oa the children, © “These proposed refer and ase of purely Artest can I discuss the more cation would, a fence in nothing save tha: concern up 10 the entirely new requ cof importance to our arguroest is a twofold question. Which aspects of the modem workl and fs cclsis have actually revealed themselves jn the educational crisis, that is, what are the trae reasons that for ‘Human parents, however, have nct 01 Susesbings cll bod we denincu gsngeomonicen dios a Be aa eee ee to common sense? And, second, what can we leara from this crisis

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