Control and more control
Control and more control.
“The great mistake we educationists make is to suppose that schools are about education. It is not so…they are about control.”
So said RF Mackenzie, and they are words I have quoted before on this blog and many times in talks around the world. Anyone who harbours any doubts about the truth in his words should think about the events this week around the demise of Al Upton’s miniLegends blog and the resignation of Jabiz Raisdana, both of which I wrote about yesterday. It seems I’m ending the week on a series of negatives - that is a pity. From an education blog by John Connell
Negatives.
Hmm.
Realism.
An understanding of the world we live in.
Politics is control.
Not to be forgotten.
Needs to be taught.
Lessons from history.
Many and various.
Democracy only useful when you've got control.
Oaths of allegiance.
Stifle dissent.
More recently.
Fingerprints.
Acceptable now, just to borrow a book from a school library.
More recently
CCTV Cameras in schools.
DNA databases.
Primary children from 5.
ID Cards.
Public sector workers get them first.
19 pieces of information just to get on a plane.
Masquerading as keeping people safe.
Keeping Control.
Global Warming.
A war over oil.
The concern is the breakdown.
But they hope they've go it covered?
It's the real politic.
Will it work?
Democracy could be summed up as the freedom
to be controlled I guess.
But the ongoing battle is the freedom v the control.
While we have a voice.
One is reminded of this
It's the word that shouldn't be spoken these days.
Originally produced for the iWW in 1911 by Nedeljkovich, Brashich and Kuharich.