Education in Capitalist society and Historical Materialism.

[Art Vandelay]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jZHNjc4Xk0&feature=related

I honestly think that this (particularly referring to when the speaker talks about how education is organized on industrial lines) is an example of historical materialism unfolding before our very eyes. The social superstructure is now fettering the development of the economic base; while obviously you all know this, I have shown this to some anti-capitalist (in the moral sense, not actually marxists or anarchists) and it helped me explain historical materialism to them.

Anyone else agree?

[Hit The North]

Yep, it's always best to use concrete examples.

This (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schooling-Capitalist-America-Educational-Contradictions/dp/1608461319/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341951341&sr=8-1) is a classic Marxist study on education in capitalist society.

[Tim Finnegan]

an example of historical materialism unfolding before our very eyes.
...Pardon?

[Teacher]

As a teacher, I find it interesting how so many people on this board seem to be high school students who come to leftist thinking in part out of their resentment of their situation at school.

Then again, I went through pretty much the same process and that is part of the reason why I decided to become a teacher.

[Art Vandelay]

...Pardon?

An example of the social superstructure fettering the development of the economic base. Our current education system (a part of the social superstructure) was set up along industrial lines, ie: around the time of capitalism exerting its class hegemony; after all the ruling ideas of any epoch are merely the ideas of the dominating class. Our education (in fact our entire social superstructure) is now beginning to hinder the development of society; this is what I meant by historical materialism unfolding before our eyes.

[Art Vandelay]

As a teacher, I find it interesting how so many people on this board seem to be high school students who come to leftist thinking in part out of their resentment of their situation at school.

I haven't seen this at all, unless you are confusing members of the board rightfully attacking the education system as a bourgeois institution for being the reason they came to radical politics. :confused:

[Book O'Dead]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jZHNjc4Xk0&feature=related

I honestly think that this (particularly referring to when the speaker talks about how education is organized on industrial lines) is an example of historical materialism unfolding before our very eyes. The social superstructure is now fettering the development of the economic base; while obviously you all know this, I have shown this to some anti-capitalist (in the moral sense, not actually marxists or anarchists) and it helped me explain historical materialism to them.

Anyone else agree?

I think that in vol. 1 of Capital Marx discusses the evolution of universal public education as a result of industrial capitalist economic development. He saw it when it was first happening in Western society, especially in America.

Marx was a fucking genius!

[ckaihatsu]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

[Book O'Dead]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology))

This is an interesting and possibly edifying piece of information.

[ckaihatsu]

Yup.

[Psy]

An example of the social superstructure fettering the development of the economic base. Our current education system (a part of the social superstructure) was set up along industrial lines, ie: around the time of capitalism exerting its class hegemony; after all the ruling ideas of any epoch are merely the ideas of the dominating class. Our education (in fact our entire social superstructure) is now beginning to hinder the development of society; this is what I meant by historical materialism unfolding before our eyes.
Assembly lines requires workers to have little knowledge as it was the result capitalist class struggling against skilled workers, yet the problem is the capitalist class still need skilled workers as capitalists know nothing about engineering. The The Twilight Zone episode Of Late I Think of Cliffordville did a good job pointing out, where a capitalist from the 1963 (the present from when the episode aired) made a deal with the devil to go back to 1905, the time travelling capitalist assumed his knowledge of the future would allow him to be rich by extracting oil off cheap land but it turns out even the capitalists of 1905 also knew about the oil the problem was a lack of means to extract it and the time travelling capitalist realizes he has no practical knowledge. While not mentioned in the Twilight Zone episode, a engineer with experience in drilling from 1963 would have been able to get the back in 1905 and extract that oil though it still have been a issue dealing with a proletariat with less productive knowledge.

Thus bourgeois education as has a contradiction where it has both provide the knowledge base for bourgeois society so capitalists have the means to produce while indoctrinating unthinking workers, these functions of education are in conflict with each other.