Recent Issues in Education - Essay Example

ROLE OF EDUCATION AND THE IMACT OF MEDIA AND CULTURE ON EDUCATION By Student Name Course code + name University name City, name Date Education is an important art of human life due to its ability to impart skills and knowledge and cognitive ability in an individual (Siegel, 2009. P.26). Through training, teaching and the guidance of counsellors and educators, a person is able to develop skills and knowledge able to help them successfully navigate through life. However, recent education has been affected by numerous factors sunning from the media and cultural context under which the learning institutions are based (Siegel, 2009. P.27). This has affected the quality of education being offered in these institutions and biasness has kicked in to change the paradigms of education as an element of exposing the truth to that of propagating falsehood from one generation to the next. This research article is intended to identify and provide insights into the recent issues in education brought about by the media and culture discipline. As Bertrand Russell reiterated, education should develop a student into an independent person whose development is insusceptible to brainwashing (Chomsky, 1966. P.20). It is the role of educational institutions to impart knowledge and skills to a student to nurture their freedom to exercise individual judgment on moral and intellectual questions free from biasness and indoctrination (Hare, 2001. P.17). One central purpose of education, as Russell explains, is to prepare students to be able to develop and form reasonable judgment on issues that are controversial in our societies and independently ponder on media information without the influence of biasness and propaganda expressed in them (Hare, 2006. P.10). Beyond access to this type of knowledge, students should also be able to develop skills that will help them critically analyze the information given to them by teachers and media sources without passively accepting them together with the dogma that has dominated the society. The whole set of these critical thinking abilities developed in a student should transcend to intelligence of the mind (Hare, 2001. P.17). These critical skills that can develop a student into an intelligent person are well emphasized by Bertrand Russell in his philosophical writings. Firstly, the student should develop the ability to form an opinion for oneself. The student should be able to information that is intended to mislead and listen with complete eloquence without being lied to or carried away by propaganda made by the media or society for selfish gains (Hare, 2001. P.15). The ability of the student to ask and determine the underlying reason behind our perceptions that our beliefs are actually true is fundamental in equipping the student with critical thinking skills and education in general. The second critical skills for a student to be regarded as intelligent is the ability of the student to find impartial solutions to various challenges (Hare, 2003. P.7). Impartiality is derived from the ability of a person to recognize and control their own biasness when contemplative on a particular situation (Hare, 2006. P.15). For instance, intelligent students are those who can view their own culture with the same approach they would view other peoples culture and beliefs. Issues should be judged based on their merit and arguments should be weighed with impartiality. In other words, the student has to ascertain the relevant facts, as they appear, before making a judgment (Chomsky, 1966. P.20). Finally, a student who possess critical skills is able to identify and question assumptions without being credulous. When confronting unexamined beliefs and assumptions, a student ought to apply a constructive doubt to identify the underlying details that led to arrival to the assumption (Hare, 2006. P.16). Students should desist from notions that some authority behind the assumption, a philosopher perhaps, captured the whole truth and that there is no point in pondering on the already determined truth. Education institutions are mandated to impart these three fundamental skills to students to make education complete and successful (Hare, 2003. P.10). Possession of additional skills such as certain critical habits of mind and dispositions helps a student become an all-rounded critical thinker and hence intelligent. As Sternberg (1987. P.13) reiterates, Schools have gone against Russell’s idea of independent judgment and critical habit of the mind and instead embarked on encouraging radicalism and narrow-mindedness among students developing them into individuals with herd mentality. In effect, the skills and attitudes which crafted students’ intellectual and moral aspects to prevent prejudice and dogmatic vices in our communities have been replaced by these narrow-mindedness and bourgeois teaching environments which only help to propagate negative media propaganda and cultural underpinnings (Scheffer, 1969. P.764). The open-mindedness that was to be crafted in the students has been masked by dogmatic cultural ideologies and political propaganda propagated through the media making a big chunk of what students are taught in education institutions (Chomsky, 1996. P.484). As a result, the intellectuals being produced today are indisposed to expose the lies told by our governments (Siegel, 2009. P.27). They are unable to analyze actions according to motives and causes behind them and instead focus on approaching a situation based on their own hidden intentions. Contrary to the 1933 pro-Hitler declaration of truth as “the revelation of that which makes a people certain, clear, and strong in its action and knowledge”, the people we have entrusted with the responsibility of championing for the truth, justice and protecting human rights have failed us (Scheffer, 1969. P.765). Our media and culture has been restructured in such a way that it is of no particular interest that today’s leaders can publicly lie on behalf of issues that are outrightly unjust without provoking any significant reaction from the intellectual community. This aspect was well illustrated by The New York Times in 1967 when Arthur Schlesinger was asked to exonerate himself from the contradiction between what he had told the press during the attack and what he had presented in his published account of the Bay of Pigs (Chomsky, 1996. P.486). Astonishingly, Schlesinger told the press that he had lied. In addition to this, no one finds it strange when a historian finds it in order to persuade the world that there is no such thing as an American-sponsored military invasion of another country (Durham and Douglas, 2009. P.312). Numerous lies has also been told by the government about the negotiations with Vietnam for a ceasefire (Siegel, 2009. P.28). The facts are well known to all the people who care to know but very few intellectuals raise an eyebrow on the matter. The goal of education, according to Dewey, was to people the sense of value of things other than control (Scheffer, 1969. P.766). Education will have served its intended purpose when it created wise citizens able to develop a free community that is cognizant of important issues in the society and approach them with utmost impartiality. Education should help nurture a combination of liberty, individual creativeness and good citizenship in students (Chomsky, 2003. P.319). Contrary to the current status, the community should compare a school going children to young tree with an intrinsic nature and with proper soil and light will develop into an admirable form. Russell and Dewey reiterated the need to conduct education as a fundamental enlightenment with a humanistic conception. The collapse of a society is as a result of viewing education as something which operates like filling a vessel with water (Scheffer, 1969. P.768). On the other hand, a society which views education as a flower and imparting this notion into their generations in an effort to “assist the flower to grow in its own way” ensures development of a free-thinking society able to effectively respond to different situations (Chomsky, 1996. P.486). The ideas of classical liberalism and enlightenment was revolutionary in the sense that retaining them can produce free human beings in the society (Siegel, 2009. P.26). Free human beings are characterized not by the character of domination and accumulation but by the ability to enhance free association and demonstrate equality in cooperation and sharing. In addition, a free thinking society is one which participates on equal terms in order to achieve democratically conceivable and equal goals. As opposed to Adam Smith’s contempt of “Vile Maxim of the masters of mankind” where he encourages approach life with a perspective of “all for ourselves and nothing for other people” (Chomsky, 1995. P.2), the society should embrace equality (Hare, 2003. P.4). However, nowadays we are being taught to embrace Smith’s concept and forget about the very people who complete our understanding of what life entails. What we consider as traditional values that make up of culture are nothing but the lies and deceit build up to bar our broader thinking of the issues that affect us as a people (Siegel, 2009. P.28). For media and culture to be seen to play its mandated role, it should exposé students to the field that interests them. The discipline should experience students deepen their insight on pleasures of self-discovery to make their own contribution to contemporary culture without the influence of biasness (Giddens et al., 2000. P.22). The media has been portrayed as a medium for propagating lies and ideologies that only favor a particular group and condemn others based on their own selfish interest. For instance, when America detonates tons of explosives on the rural population of Vietnam, the media is filled with content and documents to justify the heinous act (Siegel, 2009. P.30). As Jean Lacouture argued, American leaders regard themselves as the guardians of the world and the only ones who have the right to strike any place in the world whenever they wish to do so. Based on what is represented through the media, the world is an American preserve which can be organized and governed and controlled in accordance to the “superior” American power and wisdom (Durham and Douglas, 2009. P.402). As American technology is currently being used to violate the sovereignty and privacy of the Southeastern Asia, American schools can hardly dispute the fact that they are used as grounds for training troops that impose terror on other countries just to maintain the status quo of America on the global map (Durham and Douglas, 2009. P.353). The American intellectuals are making a significant effort in providing the ideological justification for the various acts of barbarism their country commits on other countries (Jenkins, 2009. P.84). To the few intellectuals who find this intolerable and see things differently, they are branded as irresponsible people who lack the sophistication to help the country in ending terror in the world to make the world “a better place” for all humanity (Chomsky, 1995. P.10). The crushing of the popular Spain revolution thirty years ago proved the change of counter-revolution techniques of using technically and intellectually inferior technology with more modern machinery (Siegel, 2009. P.30). The United States responded by employing the most ruthless and efficient war fares which have never been witnessed before. All this is to ensure that their own laws still hold and their own concept of justice and civilization will prevail, no matter the forces at play (Hare, 2003. P.7). Media and culture have some stereotypes which when incorporated into education, they could seriously compromise the quality of facts (Giddens et al., 2000. P.28). This is clearly evident in the case of America which has been stereotyped as the guardian to the entire world (Durham, Gigi, and Kellner, 2009. P.62). Media has portrayed the United States a country which protects human rights all over the world and any action they undertake in foreign countries is for the good of the citizens of that country (Siegel, 2009. P.30). This notion has been integrated into education and made it difficult for intellectuals to critically analyze the situation and facts to determine the veracity of such actions. The facts have been mutilated to a point that it no longer matter what the United States does to other countries because every action is justifiable. It is heartbreaking to observe the indifference of American intellectuals and how quickly they are willing to be the ones to implement the barbaric policies imposed to other countries (Giddens et al., 2000. P.28). It is indisputable that they have been brainwashed into believing that America always acts in the best interest of everyone and the fact that the fact that they engage in other countries’ affairs in order to protect their own selfish interest is nothing but an act or radicalization (Siegel, 2009. P.33). Development in media technology and the complexity in culture has made it even easier for the content and justifications to be distributed all over the world. Only marginal groups of American free thinkers and academics have reiterated the fact that the United States stands in the way of any meaningful negotiations between the countries that have been fighting for decades (Jenkins, 2009. P.84). The South and North Vietnam war could have ended decades before were it not for the US intervention. Secretary Rusk openly admitted that the US could not accept the proposals by the North Vietnam, many American academics argued that it was a strategy of US’ persistence in its pretense in order to maintain their interest in a “negotiated settlement”. Such comments do not attract any public denunciation because it is assumed that the facts are just right (Siegel, 2009. P.34). Press reports continue to give deceitful and hypocritical comments about many issues that have a negative impact on the education system (Durham and Douglas, 2009. P.312). Since American intellectuals have access to the facts, they are willing to tolerate and approve such deceitful comments thus contravening the basic foundations upon which education is built upon. In conclusion, it is evident that education plays a significant role in a person’s life. Possessing the relevant type of education that is able to make a person reason with open-mindedness is critical in ensuring a free society. However, media and culture has shaped our education system to that which is filled with deceit and narrow-mindedness. Many of today’s intellectuals can no longer control their biasness when engaging their minds and this has created a society which cannot freely think for itself. Due to this situation, countries such as the United States continue to impose barbaric policies and control to other countries of the world with less or no criticism from the intellectuals. As a matter of fact, the same intellectuals who are supposed to denounce the actions are actually justifying them. They have lost their ability to critically analyze a situation before making comments. The situation has put the current and future education in great jeopardy. Bibliography Chomsky, N., 1995, "Democracy and education," Metro Magazine: Media & Education Magazine, 102: 1-13. Chomsky, N., 1966, "Some Thoughts on Intellectuals and the Schools," Harvard Educational Review, 36, no. 4: 484-491. Chomsky, N., 2003, “American power and the new mandarins”, Penguin Books, India, 319-387. Durham, M. G., and Douglas M. K., eds., 2009, “Media and cultural studies: Keyworks”, John Wiley & Sons, 312-402. Giddens, A., Mitchell, D., Richard P. A., and Deborah, C., 2000, “Introduction to sociology,” New York: WW Norton, 8-384. Hare, W., 2001, "Bertrand Russell on critical thinking." Journal of Thought: 7-16. Hare, W., 2003, "The ideal of open-mindedness and its place in education," Journal of Thought: 3-10. Hare, W., 2006, "Why open-mindedness matters," Think 5, no. 13: 7-15. Jenkins, H., 2009, “Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century”, Mit Press, 18-189. Scheffer, I., 1969, “Reflections on Educational Relevance: The Journal of Philosophy,” American philosophical Association Eastern Division, pp. 764-773. Siegel, H., 2009, "Open-mindedness, critical thinking, and indoctrination: Homage to William Hare," Paideusis 18, no. 1: 26-34. Read More

As Sternberg (1987. P.13) reiterates, Schools have gone against Russell’s idea of independent judgment and critical habit of the mind and instead embarked on encouraging radicalism and narrow-mindedness among students developing them into individuals with herd mentality. In effect, the skills and attitudes which crafted students’ intellectual and moral aspects to prevent prejudice and dogmatic vices in our communities have been replaced by these narrow-mindedness and bourgeois teaching environments which only help to propagate negative media propaganda and cultural underpinnings (Scheffer, 1969. P.764).

The open-mindedness that was to be crafted in the students has been masked by dogmatic cultural ideologies and political propaganda propagated through the media making a big chunk of what students are taught in education institutions (Chomsky, 1996. P.484). As a result, the intellectuals being produced today are indisposed to expose the lies told by our governments (Siegel, 2009. P.27). They are unable to analyze actions according to motives and causes behind them and instead focus on approaching a situation based on their own hidden intentions.

Contrary to the 1933 pro-Hitler declaration of truth as “the revelation of that which makes a people certain, clear, and strong in its action and knowledge”, the people we have entrusted with the responsibility of championing for the truth, justice and protecting human rights have failed us (Scheffer, 1969. P.765). Our media and culture has been restructured in such a way that it is of no particular interest that today’s leaders can publicly lie on behalf of issues that are outrightly unjust without provoking any significant reaction from the intellectual community.

This aspect was well illustrated by The New York Times in 1967 when Arthur Schlesinger was asked to exonerate himself from the contradiction between what he had told the press during the attack and what he had presented in his published account of the Bay of Pigs (Chomsky, 1996. P.486). Astonishingly, Schlesinger told the press that he had lied. In addition to this, no one finds it strange when a historian finds it in order to persuade the world that there is no such thing as an American-sponsored military invasion of another country (Durham and Douglas, 2009. P.312).

Numerous lies has also been told by the government about the negotiations with Vietnam for a ceasefire (Siegel, 2009. P.28). The facts are well known to all the people who care to know but very few intellectuals raise an eyebrow on the matter. The goal of education, according to Dewey, was to people the sense of value of things other than control (Scheffer, 1969. P.766). Education will have served its intended purpose when it created wise citizens able to develop a free community that is cognizant of important issues in the society and approach them with utmost impartiality.

Education should help nurture a combination of liberty, individual creativeness and good citizenship in students (Chomsky, 2003. P.319). Contrary to the current status, the community should compare a school going children to young tree with an intrinsic nature and with proper soil and light will develop into an admirable form. Russell and Dewey reiterated the need to conduct education as a fundamental enlightenment with a humanistic conception. The collapse of a society is as a result of viewing education as something which operates like filling a vessel with water (Scheffer, 1969. P.768).

On the other hand, a society which views education as a flower and imparting this notion into their generations in an effort to “assist the flower to grow in its own way” ensures development of a free-thinking society able to effectively respond to different situations (Chomsky, 1996. P.486). The ideas of classical liberalism and enlightenment was revolutionary in the sense that retaining them can produce free human beings in the society (Siegel, 2009. P.26). Free human beings are characterized not by the character of domination and accumulation but by the ability to enhance free association and demonstrate equality in cooperation and sharing.

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