Saturday, February 13, 2010

John Holt quote

Education... now seems to me perhaps the most authoritarian and dangerous of all the social inventions of mankind. It is the deepest foundation of the modern slave state, in which most people feel themselves to be nothing but producers, consumers, spectators, and 'fans,' driven more and more, in all parts of their lives, by greed, envy, and fear. My concern is not to improve 'education' but to do away with it, to end the ugly and antihuman business of people-shaping and to allow and help people to shape themselves.

3 comments:

S. Schwandt said...

This is an admirable notion IF one is content to be a hunter-gatherer and is not called upon to invent anything more complex than a hammer.

Lesa said...

Replied to well by one who's been 'educated'.

Kris Speed said...

Most of the greatest "inventors" of our time existed long before the institution of education. My fear is that their genius was due to freedom from the authoritarian system. If this is true, as I believe it is, current generations are desperately short of people who can think independently and be the creative force we need to survive joyfully.