System Constraints

Principle One: IF the constraints of a system impede the accomplishment of it's stated goals, THEN either the system must be modified, replaced or ignored OR it's goals restated to more accurately reflect it's actual purpose.

Example One: Public Education. The stated or implicit goal of public education in the U$ is to educate our youth and prepare them for life in this society, to make U$ competitive in a global economy. The constraints of segregating each class by age, of discouraging original thought, of encouraging conformity and compliance to rules, regulations and an authority figure arguably constitute training rather than education (how do you define education?). The drugging of an increasing number of students who dare to learn differently than the "sit quietly in class and regurgitate the Standards of Learning goals established by a state and federal board" does not encourage critical thinking (a goal of a true education?) The abrogation of basic rights (freedom of speech, freedom of expression, reasonable expectation of privacy; innocent until proven guilty) within the public schools encourages dependence on government and authorities, arguably not the optimum preparation for a rewarding existence in any society.

If these constraints impede the accomplishment of acquiring an education, one must conclude that the very system of public education as it exists today (2011) must be radically altered. Classes comprised only of students the same age, conducted in buildings very similar architecturally to prisons or industrial enterprises, in which creative thought is discouraged to the point of medicating those most imaginative individuals who dare express themselves differently do not and will not produce free-thinking people capable of evaluating for themselves the efficacy of any given choice or opportunity they may encounter. Failing a complete "overhaul" of this system, or any insistence that spending more and more funds (demanded coercively by the government, by the way) will eventually correct the system of public education in the U$, a restatement of its actual purpose is in order. To wit: the goal of public "education" is to produce compliant, obedient consumers who will not question the authority of government and corporate entities, and who will remain dependent on these entities for their perceived happiness, comfort and security. Either, or.

Radically reform education, or state its true purpose.