Education Policy -- Social Forces

Education Policy -- Social Forces and Educational Philosophy In principle, educational philosophies are not supposed to be influenced by outside social forces; however, in practice, it is almost impossible to avoid substantial influence in that regard. Social critics have long criticized the usurpation of educational processes and institutions for the express purpose of inculcating young minds with ideas that have nothing to do with academic learning.

Albert Einstein wrote passionately of his hatred of the militarism infused into German and Austro-Hungarian educational systems making them production lines for automaton soldiers willing to kill and die for petty feuds between ruling powers or to protect monetary concerns of aristocrats who allowed their subjects to live in relative squalor compared to their own extravagances.

Other intellectual contemporaries of Einstein, such as the prolific philosopher Bertrand Russell, echoed his sentiments, going even deeper into the manner in which educators of his era deterred any natural educational interests of many students by (essentially) terrorizing them. According to Russell, this was typically as a means of overcompensating for their own personal inadequacies and residual anger at their formative experiences from their socialization that also reflected social learning of excessively rigid societal norms and values.

In the contemporary United States, the inevitable connection between social forces and educational philosophies has produced tremendously beneficial results, such as in connection with the promotion of positive social changes in American society in general. For example, the Civil Rights movement of the second half of the 20th century led to comprehensive changes in American society that have, ever since, also been incorporated directly into the social learning aspects of modern public education.

It is not that societal concepts of racial equality and civil rights necessarily drive substantive teaching; however, they are reflected both in the way that modern educational opportunities are made available without prejudice as well as the clear messages of tolerance and social equality that are made explicitly clear. The exact opposite message and other noxious concepts can be spread and normalized just as efficiently through national education systems.

In that regard, the use of the education system to teach philosophies of racial hatred and to encourage persecution was demonstrated by the Nazis from 1933 on and throughout the pre-war period. More recently, the student (and parent) demonstrations against desegregation in several southern American states after the Brown V. Board of Education decision in 1954 demonstrated how much students absorb perception and form fundamental beliefs by social learning.

That is not to say that social learning should not occur within the realm of education; in fact, it is inevitable and unavoidable that it would. The issue is that education systems must be insulated from the undue influence of specific beliefs and philosophies. The purpose of modern education must be provide students with the best possible opportunities to explore their interests and abilities and to become productive members of society in the way that best matches those interests.

Because one of the most important goals of modern education is (or should be) to encourage intellectual independence and objectivity, educators have an ethical responsibility to refrain from injecting any personal beliefs or perspectives that might conceivably interfere with the appropriate focus on promoting intellectual freedom among students. Typical examples of contemporary problems in the U.S. In that respect would include efforts to promote specific religious beliefs through changes in curricula and educational materials, most notably by the state of Texas.

Likewise, educators in many states have attempted to misuse the.