An interesting reflection on the value of education:
"Dear Teacher,
"Dear Teacher,
I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness:
Gas chambers built by learned engineers.
Children poisoned by educated physicians.
Infants killed by trained nurses.
Women and babies shot and burned by high school and college graduates.
So I am suspicious of education. My request is: Help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns.
Reading, writing, arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more human.”
- Haim Ginot, 1972
After reading this I think about our own education system, as well as the violence, drugs, and sex portrayed in our"harmless" popular tv shows. Friends, Two and Half Men etc etc. Are we educating our children to be human? It seems like the goals we create for our children are more to do with making money, getting a sexy spouse, being "successful".
Does popular culture and education incline us to think of other people, or only ourselves? Where in popular culture is empathic capacity fostered?
This is perhaps one thing we may learn from other cultures. I recently watched a documentary on Bhutan which showed the effects that globalization has had on the countries happiness and well being. Prior to opening up their borders Bhutan had one of the highest Gross National Happiness ratings in the world. Since the introduction of the western media and values, this status has deteriorated. Despite benefits to the wealth of the population, inequality has increased, crime has increased, environmental degradation has increased, diseases such as cancer and heart issues have increased, television sets are replacing choeshums (altars) in Bhutanese homes, Chortens (buddhist shrines) have been vandalized time and again, graffiti and litter have increased dramatically; corruption, drugs and AIDS have become a reality. In onset of the western culture of capitalism always creates rural-urban migration, a problem which manifests itself in the disintegration of family and community. The family cohesion and support system are fading away. Bhutanese people are increasingly becoming deprived of the social safety net traditionally provided by the extended family. More people are becoming disconnected as evidenced by the increase in suicide rates and drug abuse although the numbers are negligible at the moment. Bhutanese peoples material aspirations are soaring, thus providing a formidable foundation for consumerist society.
Now, i don't want to romanticize the way the Bhutanese people lived before they opened up their borders, and i don't want to romanticize their religion or suggest in any way that their religion has any claim to truth (being a fundamentalist Christian myself). However, it is clear that their religion and traditions, if nothing else, provided both community and an ethical fabric for their society which is now under threat as capitalist globalization promotes the adoption of the same consumerist culture that we (as well as every other highly industrialized country, and increasingly developing countries as well) live in. I'm not saying that we should combine religion with state (our history has shown what a disaster this is), but my point is more to point out the destructive nature of a consumerist capitalist culture which is based not on community, family, ethics, or religion, but is based on what sells. Sex sells, violence sells, lascivious indulgence sells, the instant satisfaction of all our most base desires sells, and these things are what is shoved in our face every day.
However, not only has this consumerist, profit driven, capitalist culture ravaged our own society, but it is also to blame for the mass exploitation of the environment and the Third World. As companies drive for greater profits they search for new ways to cut costs, new sources of cheaper labour and resources, new markets, and more efficient and thorough exploitation of old markets. Big transnational corporations are becoming the most powerful actors on the world stage and, facilitated by institutions of global governance such as the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank, transnational corporations continue to find new ways to further exploit the Third World.
Despite all this the system continues. Why? Has television, advertising, and other media really brainwashed us into thinking this is a healthy way to live? That is really benefits us and makes us happy? Are we really blind to the injustices inherent in this system? Even if the system really did benefit us, can we really accept those benefits when they come at the cost of others? Why are we not questioning the system more? Why are we accepting the status quo? Why aren't we trying to change a system which exploits the majority of the world for the "benefit" of the minority? Especially when we can clearly see that it isn't a benefit to minority at all? Is our culture so powerful as to create in us an apathy and complacency so strong that we cannot be galvanised to serious action?
It stupefies me to think that a system that exploits most people and leaves everyone unsatisfied could possibly last, and yet it does.... Oh how much we need Jesus.
Sorry for ranting for so long. If you actually read all of this then thanks and well done!
Love you'z
Chris
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