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Education in the Global Envirnment 4/24/2007 10:50:31 AM
Education is a significant factor in societal development The heart and soul of the nation-state is education. An educational system can determine how effectively and successfully an individual nation will be in the modern world. This is the great strength of nations and perhaps their greatest weakness. In the early development of mankind, organized education came from three distinct areas: the military, the church, and labor guilds.
The rise of organized militaries has been in continuous evolution since the very early stages of human existence. The creation of military units and their organization was of critical importance in stabilizing and controlling surplus. There was little purpose in growing food if it was to be taken away from you immediately and given to someone else. In this regard, the creation of military forces was essential to protect surplus even in the age of agrarianism. As humanity progressed into city-states, kingdoms, and eventually nations, this concept of the military as a necessary tool evolved as well.
Another major institution concerned with education was the church. Religious organizations often founded schools to train the next generation to carry on their religious teachings. This would often entail various degrees of technological advancement. The earliest scribes came from religious organizations. Much of the historical record of early human development comes from religious writings.
The final group, the labor guilds, came into being as specialized professionals in the trades. They were largely responsible for creating and maintaining the quality of their individual professions and acting as a screening mechanism to keep out un-qualified persons.
The interesting thing about each of these groups is that they were primarily designed to exclude people and to restrict the flow of information. These human creations were opposed to the natural flow of Capitalism. In the earliest days, because human groups were scattered and poorly organized, they represented little of an impediment to the dissemination of memes, which are critical to the survival of the natural system. As these human-created systems became more numerous and well-developed, they began to entrench the concept of control of technology and information into their governing structures. Adam Smith was one of the first to place this concept in writing when he described mercantilism. Nations must restrict and control the flow of material and information within and without their borders. This need for restrictions served nations very well in the beginning. As cities evolved into nation-states, they saw the practical use of formal education as not only a way to educate and maintain a sufficient labor class, but as a political tool for indoctrination and control. Educational systems were a way of ensuring the loyalty of populations to the state. In every nation, a form of a pledge of allegiance to the state is required in the education system.
In each of the systems we just talked about (the military, the church, and labor guilds) the fundamental principle is to control and restrict information and the types of people allowed access to that information. This is at the heart of the education system as it exists today in the modern world. Each country creates an educational system which works within strictly controlled parameters designed to further the political goals of an individual nation. This creates a sort of educational box within which only certain kinds of information are disseminated. Some information is deemed beneficial to the state and will be allowed mass dissemination; other information is detrimental and will be prohibited. We've seen these types of prohibitions come into play throughout human history. There have been prohibitions against certain types of religions and certainly prohibitions against military education which seeks a different path than that of the established state. Trade unions often placed restrictions on their members to ensure quality and competence of the profession. By restricting the type and manner of the dissemination of information, we limited our perspectives of the world as we know it.
