Purpose of Education part 4

Researching on the Road: What is the purpose of education? Part 4.

Consider the concept of Imperialism. AI says, “Other words for imperialism include colonialism, hegemony, expansionism, domination, empire-building, and neocolonialism. These terms all relate to a country extending its power and influence over other territories or people, whether through direct territorial control, economic influence, or political dominance.” 

“Extending its power and influence over people”. Education is Essential to imperialism. There can be no army- direct territorial control. Economic influence is self-evident in hierarchical disparity among local counties, states and nations. Again, take it AI:

Settler colonialism in schools refers to the way educational systems perpetuate settler-colonial structures by centering the perspectives of colonizers, disrupting Indigenous ways of knowing and being, and sometimes including the physical and cultural removal of Indigenous peoples to assimilate them into settler society. This includes a focus on settler histories and experiences, the imposition of Western knowledge systems, and the erasure or marginalization of Indigenous cultures and languages within curricula. Critics argue that schools can perpetuate colonial legacies, erase histories, and serve the interests of dominant cultures rather than fostering liberatory, decolonized education that addresses the needs of all communities. 

How education systems can reflect imperialism:

  • Cognitive Imperialism:
    This concept describes how colonizers impose their knowledge systems, languages, and worldviews on colonized peoples, suppressing indigenous ways of knowing. 

  • Eurocentric Curriculum:
    Many educational institutions have historically promoted knowledge and theories originating from Europe, leading to the exclusion and marginalization of diverse perspectives and the histories of Black, Indigenous, and other communities, as noted by scholar Marie Battiste. 

  • Economic Imperialism:
    The framework of a market-driven education system can serve as a form of economic imperialism, prioritizing outcomes that serve neoliberal globalization rather than decolonized approaches. 

  • Perpetuating Colonial Structures:
    Schools can function as sites for disseminating colonial logics, employing dominant discourses and curriculum that uphold existing power structures, erase histories, and perpetuate white supremacy and ethnocentrism.

Now, here is where it gets tricky. If the purpose of education is essential to knowledge and conversion, and imperialism dominates knowledge and conversion (in compulsory-mandatory education), then how can one have discourse or any critical thought? The domination of language, thus the domination of conversation is inherent. If one were to even casually mention “imperialism,” say a faculty meeting, and as a betting gal- I would bet that topic would get shut down and quick. In fact, any genuinely critical critique will be met with swift opposition. That IS the tool. Ironic, considering most school web sites claim to “enhance critical thinkers.” Example, “Be critical thinkers or problem solvers. Be people of great character."

First, school actually discourages criticism, especially when it comes to school. Secondly, how can we help develop problem solving skills if we don’t give time nor space to allow students to solve their own problems? Problem solving skills are diminished by school. School dictates time and curriculum, no problem. When kids sleep, what classes to take, how long to be in school, breaks, holidays, daily bells are dominated by the education system. Thirdly, the expectations to develop ‘people of great character,’ is questionable. According to whom? Obedience or self-sufficiency? Great could mean a great deal of things when it comes to programers of education. Tricky! Because if one questions, if one is critically thinking out-loud. Remarks about education that does not follow the daily memos, makes one a pariah instead of courageous. Threats of “not being a team player” may get on record. And that is how colonization functions. Through the very language taught in schools.

Ask this: How many people do you know that went through public schools considers themselves good at math? What percentage of grads, would you imagine- even after 5, 10, 20 years after high school talks fondly and confidently about mathematics? Compared to those who cringe? Generations of math literacy or ill. How about reading? Pre-prescribed and annotated novels make students passionate about reading? How about historical literacy? I went to school in the 1980’s when there was a civil war in El Salvador and the Contra War in Nicaragua. Not once did I learn about what was happening in central America while it was happening. Not in any history class. Fast forward to 2001. Teaching World history. I was explicitly told not to teach the middle east. Not even after 911. The Iraq war, while it was happening, was blocked in social studies curriculum. Overshadowed by standardized testing, data collecting and the same historical timeline, used for the past fifty years: The American Revolution, Civil War, WWI (barely), WWII (mandatory), and up to the Cold War carefully selected scripts. Biased. Any Colonial mindset must be biased. Canadians are going to teach the Provences. The US, the states. Cabot to Columbus.

What was it all for? These classes, this time spent learning math, English. The three R’s (which never made sense to me because two out of three- reading, writing and arithmetic, don’t even start with an R. It’s confusing). And if the purpose of education was to focus on the three R’s- let’s give it a grade. Reading- who likes it? Who doesn’t, and why? Writing. Reading and writing are communicative skill. How is our communication working out? Number one reason for poor relationships? Communication. How is math and financial budgeting going for the lot of us? So, if the mega-giant institution of educations responsibility is to help citizens with communication and math literacy, and those two things are transparently failing, who is to blame?

Education? Nope, can’t criticize that, remember. Communication falls on the students. Kids. “Kids don’t focus, don’t read, can’t do basic math.”

Right.

Focus the narrative on kids, parents and one another for those failures. Focus on those subjected to compulsory education instead of the invisible tiny tiny top triangle orchestrating the economic and political manifestations of education. What was it all for?

What is the purpose of education? Part 4. How to take time and change the narrative is the challenge to answer this very important question.