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Tuesday, December 9, 1980.

 

The Other Press

 

page fifteen

 

What does education mean?

by RALPH BARTLETT

What does the word ‘Edu-
cation’ mean to you?

Encyclopedia _ Brittanica

defines education as: ‘an
attempt on teh part of the
adult members of a human
society to shape the devel-
opement of.the coming gen-
eration in accordance with
its own ideals of life.’ The
Doubleday Encyclopedia de-
fines it as: ‘what is done
deliberately by one genera-
tion to pass on to the nest all
it has gained in the way of
knowledge about how to
‘make the most of life.’ The
_latter is more liberal than
‘the former but it is still
‘incomplete when we consid-
cer the surplus material mix-
ced in with the essential, in
tthe form of dead languages,
éancient history and supers-
ttition.

A modern definition would
include: ‘the development
of the human being to such
an extent and in such a way
that it can grasp and cope
with social change rather
than rebel against it’ (as we
are doing today). We wil
have to adopt this concept
because technology is forc-
ing social change so fast that
convential education is en-
tirely inadequate for the up-
coming generations.

Teachers and leaders of
Galileo’s day were teaching
Aristotle’s theory of gravita-
tion - that a ten kilogram
weight would fall ten times
as fast as a one kilogram
weight. Galileo refuted this
statement and demonstrated
his point successfully from
the top of the Leaning Tower
Of Pisa. Despite the physical
proof of his argument, he
was scorned by the learned
men of the time; they con-
tinued to believe - and teach
- what they wanted to be-
lieve. But, you'll say, that
was a long time ago; it could
not happen now; and how
wrong you would be! The

perpetrated today.

Another obstacle in
path of education has been
our economic system. As

demand for education grew
it attracted the attention of
big business, and the very
nature of the business sys-
tem is such that any new
system must show a profit;
so the school system of
North America became a
‘billion dollar’ concern. Big
Business is not concerned
with the lack of facilities,
accomodations and educat-
ors that exist; it is concerned
only with how much profit
can be squeezed out of the
sequence of education.

During 98 per cent of
man’s 7,000 years of civiliz-
ed existence on the earth,
his technological progress
was so slow that the distur-
bance of the general ecolog-
ical balance was only local in
is effects. But the last two
per cent of that time - the
last 140 years - tells a
different story. During this
time, man has become a
plague upon the earth. He
has exterminated or exhaus:
ted many species which once
roamed the earth, flew the
sky, or swam the waters by
the hundreds of millions. He
has plowed up the sod and
slashed away at the plant
growth, until many areas
which were once verdant
with forests and grass are
now desolate. The ecological
environment in which man
as a species could flourish is
now shrinking because of his
own careless behavior.

The road is long .and
rough. Against science are
arrayed all the traditional
forces of the Price System.
They can be heard over the
radio and television and read
about in the press and on
billboards. These purveyors
of non-science speak out of
both sides of their mouths
with reference to science.
One side praises science for

enforced ignorance of the producing something they

actual law of gravity is in no
way different from the en-
forced ignorance of immin-
ent social change that is

can use in their business,
while the other side de-
nounces science as_ being
materialistic.

Dangerous uses of scient-
ific knowledge are being
promoted by agencies out-
side of the field of science.
Scientists are inclined to be
opposed to, to human re-
pression, to neglect of social
advances, and to unequal
treatment of their fellow
man. But none of these
scourges are alien to the
practices of politics, busi-
ness and moralism.

The physical equipment of
North America is already
being operated by the tech-
nical people of the. area, and
they are doing their job
very well considering the
handicaps and. deadweight
imposed upon them by the
overburden of business, pol-
itics and superstition. Think
how much easier and sim-
pler it would be for the
technical people if this over-

 

burden was removed .and
they had full responsibility.
A functional government of
a technological society would
not be like any of the many
varieties of government that
have flimflammed the citi-
zenries of the world so many
centuries. Let there be a
GOVERNANCE of function,
not an authoritarian regula-
tion imposed upon the peop-
le by the institutions of non-
science.

Technocracy -invites the
technical men and women of
North America to become
forthright and aggresive in
their insistence that a gov-
ernance of function, admin-
istered by people of tech-
nical training and achieve-
ment, be instituted to re-

place the predatory gang-
sterism now imposed upon
our society under the name
of ‘‘government for the pe-

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ople, by the people and for
the people.’’ There is no
question about the scientists
of North America being able
to organize a governance of
function.

What is now needed is a
modest amount of favorable
publicity for science. This
job could be accomplished
by the scientists and tech-
nologists of North America
courageously acting together
through the associations
which they have already
established. Timidity, hesi-
tancy and subservience are
not becoming to scientists.

If the organization of sci-
ence and technology do not
provide adequate vehicles
for social expression, the
scientists of North America
are always welcome to join
and make their collective
views known through Tech-
nocracy Inc.

 
 
  
  
  
   
 
     
    
   
  
  

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