I'm currently reading The WikiLeaks Files: The World According to US Empire https://a.co/d/9qp8ugt.
This should be required reading in every high school, along with works by Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Audre Lorde, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Howard Zinn, Cornell West, Chris Hedges, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, Murray Bookchin, Fritjof Capra, Winona LaDuke, Derrick Jensen, Daniel Quinn, Paul Hawkin, and similar authors who expose hidden, vitally important truths that most powerful elites would rather not be known, as this truth threatens exploitative power and the cultural systems that make it possible.
Now that's real learning.
In fact, public school should be institutions that foster critical thinking, emotional intelligence, problem solving skills, and real-world skills. Instead, schools primarily serve to:
keep youth locked away, out of the labor pool of adults
supervised so that adults can continue mostly senseless work that maintains the systems of exploitation upon people, communities, and ecologies
indoctrinate children into the senseless work they are expected to do upon graduated
teach children obedience to authority in service to the indoctrination
provide a system of corrupt games such as rote memorization of mostly irrelevant facts and performance testing of that store-and-dump to create a tiered hierarchy, which is more dependent on families' and communities' resource than natural talent
teach children ways to "game the system" that will be useful for "getting ahead" in the world economic order based on corruption and exploitation
sanction the psychological and sometimes physical punishment by those with more power or authority, to include high-performing staff and students, upon those who do not conform to the mores, norms, and expectations of an exploitative culture
Thus the innate curiosity and thirst to learn is diminished, if not completely deadened, in most children in most public schools. Homeschooling carries the risk of religious indoctrination, which betrays reason for irrational faith, and should therefore not be considered unless that risk can be mitigated or eliminated.
Charter schools merely exacerbate the already grotesque wealth inequality, when they even provide any education at all. Despite what capitalists tell you, privatization generally increases the disparity of power and wealth, which is why we are indoctrinated by the cultural system they control to believe, errantly, that privatization is good. It is only good for those who already have power and can exploit for more.
Instead, public education should:
include free preschool for all
be equitably funded, and not based on the property tax such that wealthy communities fund better schools
pay educators much better and treat them with same level of respect as currently afforded military, law enforcement, and fire fighters
reduce military expenditures an immense amount (I recommend 90% cuts!) and increase overall education spending substantially
be democratically run; see Sudbury Valley School
offer tailored and innovative learning; see Montessori
include free higher education trade school, community college, or public university in exchange for intern service such as AmeriCoprs, but not the military; such service could be a part of a Green New Deal Civilian Conservation Corps
For more information, I recommend: A Place to Grow by Daniel Greenberg, Free at Last by Daniel Greenberg, The Montessori Method by Maria Montessori, Teaching to Transgress by Bell Hooks, Real Lives by Grace Llewellyn, Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Llewellyn, How Children Fail by John Holt, How Children Learn by John Holt, Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto, Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto, Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich, and Democracy and Education by John Dewey.
In reading The World According to US Empire, it is clear to me from Wikileaks that the US State Department (which essentially includes the CIA and related organizations) is nothing more than a mafia for US-based corporations, and the CIA is essentially the hitmen.
This is what our taxes go to: promoting the interests of the US wealthy elite around the world through often brutal means.
There is no such thing as a free market. It is all an massive, corrupt system that chooses the winners and losers, and chooses poorly.
The world market is so competitive that it endorses cheating, which eliminates fair competition in favor of anti-democratic monopolies. The United States is an evil Empire, and trans-national corporations have bought the Empire right out from under itself. The only way for a truly free and fair world is to eliminate transnational corporations and monopolies, nationalize key industries, and severely restrict what a corporation is and can do.
It would be much wiser and much more ethical if instead both US business and US diplomacy adapted themselves to a multilateral and evolving world, rather than attempt to impose its will upon resistant players. The current strategy is not only immoral, but inefficient and ineffective.
World leaders are including stupid, and the United States of America among the stupidest.
I woke up in Idiocracy. This is a dystopia.
America is like the world's fastest, highest performing supercomputer...
... with internet trolls at the keyboard.
The book details some of the CIA's torture, terrorism, and regime change tactics. But besides that, it's flabbergasting to read how the State Department bullies other countries into military or economic treaties or business deals. They are worse than used car salesmen.
Walking through the unfolding plot in selected case studies reminds me of the time when the my family met Katy, the kids, and me at Disney World. The time share we were staying at offered Katy and me $100 if we sat through their 30 minute sales pitch. I obliged. My time is not often worth $200 per hour.
The pitch was everything I expected it to be. At 30 minutes I asked for the money they promised, and did all sorts of manipulative tactics to stall, plead, and strong arm us into their contract. It would be comical if it wasn't so offensive. They were so disrespectful of us by not acknowledging our decision. I finally had to resort to threats in order to leave, taking their money with me.
One thing was kind of funny. At 30 minutes they weren't even through with their pitch. That was obviously intentional. Part of their scam is to keep you kidnapped until you sign.
But right at 30 minutes, in the middle of their presentation, I got up and declared their time was up and that I wanted their money. They looked shocked, as if no one had the nerve before to actually hold them to their word.
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