So, What is the Education Institution’s Strategy?
“Power is the Ultimate aphrodisiac.” Henry Kissinger
Education Strategy Gone Amok showed a dissonance between what the education institution does and the stated purpose to prepare students for life. It is failing, yet it takes time and resources away from 21st century skills and allocates them to social justice endeavors that lower overall productivity and performance. The blog entry asked what is going on with this dissonance? What do the people in the education institution hope to gain?
Power
Firstly, power. For some, that is the only objective. People that are powerless in other areas of their lives often exploit power where they can find it. Think of the person in the local Homeowners’ Association that thrives on the power they wield. Power they cannot get anywhere else. I have seen them make people tear down perfectly good fences for minor deviations from HOA guidelines. I have seen them approve something for one homeowner and deny another homeowner permission for the same project. Some people just get off on power and migrate to areas that many avoid to get the power they crave. Like Kissinger said, it is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
Control
But for most, the power becomes a tool. They seek control. This is not unlike just being able to exercise power over others. The difference is they seek to control and shape behavior, not simply get a thrill from using power. Many see those that disagree with their world outlook as Neanderthals, reavers, racists, and psychopaths. Those that stop at the control motive seek to either curtail or change behavior to meet their view of acceptable behavior. They spin Goldwater’s “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.” To “Extremism in defense of social equity is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of social justice is no virtue.” With this mindset, their ends justify virtually any means to achieve it.
Social Order and Governance
Teachers and local administrators focus on controlling the local governance. Given their numbers and funding, they have considerable clout in many localities. Until the Virginia revolt and other localities in the Fall of 2021, the teachers and education administrators controlled school boards and content. That fight continued in Wisconsin and California. In April 2022 elections, republicans captured at least to school boards and earlier in 2022, San Francisco recalled three members of the school board. The Wisconsin election results were mixed and may point to more battles ahead as liberal educators seek to maintain their control to push their social justice agendas.
The same issues play out on the national level as well, with an interesting addition. Many large multinational corporations (MNC) support the social justice agenda. The social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook also support these efforts, as do Hollywood and TV productions. Social justice messages saturate the airwaves and internet to control the social order. Whether corporations and media believe the social justice messaging is moot. The social justice messaging along with the corporate, education, and even government willingness to suppress counter-opinions, it sets the stage for broad control of the social order and governance.
Control Government Policy and Resources
“The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded. Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientifictechnological elite.” President Eisenhower’s Military-Industrial Complex Speech.
The primary target of the strategy is control of the federal government. While state governments are important, most state constitutions require balanced budgets. Therefore, the focus at the state is often on the policy function in education. At the federal level, the opposite is true. The Department of Education can set policies, but the resources are far more important. The federal government, thanks to 16th Amendment to the Constitution (“The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”) can spend money without regard to a balanced budget as long congress will raise the debt ceiling.
The government-corporate-academic mix Eisenhower warned us about is here. But he did not anticipate social media and its power. We can expand his concept to include unions and corporatism. We get the web of influence and control in the adjacent figure. Controlling this web is a key strategic objective. Control allows:
- Control of information and messaging.
- Control of government policy and resources, which provides the ability to print money, reduce regulation, and add new programs that provide more contracts.
- Control over the technical debates with academia on your side.
- Control over foreign policy and military actions.
- Control over the citizens and how they think and act.
Education is at the heart of this web. It programs students to think the way the complex wants them to think and provides the academics that set and control the discourse in both technical and social venues.
Do “We the People” have much control? As long as we allow the education system to indoctrinate rather than teach, the answer is a resounding NO.
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