In Part #1 I touched just a brief moment on age old saying about sending our children to Caesar. Then In Part #2 I talked about the ‘Father of Public Education in America’ being a radical socialist and Marxist. In Part #3 I wrote about his predecessor, who was also into socialism and authoritarianism. Here, in Part #4, I will talk about the origins of public education back about 300 years ago. It is interesting to say the least…and it is still applies just as interesting today, 300 years later.

In the Middle Ages (600AD – 1600AD+/-) the European political system was essentially ‘feudalism’ with a few kings and/or lords…then peasants/servants (including soldiers) being the vast majority of people. Total and absolute fealty to the king/lord was required of everyone. The principal lessons that children had to learn early on were obedience (pretty much to everyone), suppression of their own will, and the show/pledge of loyalty toward kings, lords, and masters. A rebellious spirit in an adult or child could well result in death for them…and their whole family.

Note: Yes, the ‘European Renaissance’ started about 1450 but many include that period in the overall Middle Ages. And for the purpose of discussing politics and education I can easily make the case that it is in-fact included in the Middle Ages.

As the Middle Ages faded away a new period arose; referred to by some as ‘The Enlightenment’ or by others as the ‘Early Modern Period.’ Within that time frame was the ‘First Industrial Revolution’ (1760 – 1840). Feudalism gradually subsided with the rise of industry and of a new bourgeoisie class of businessmen and land owners. The labor of children was moved to a great degree from farm fields into dark, crowded, dirty factories. So you could rightly think that children were educated to make good workers for factories. But it didn’t end there.

By the early 1800’s the Kingdom of Prussia funded their school system with taxes, rather than charging students, allowing all citizens to attend for free. Shortly thereafter, they made attendance at their government schools compulsory. This is called the Prussian Model and included subjects such as mathematics, writing, and reading as well as teaching things like obedience and duty to country. The Prussian education model was set forth upon the ideas of Johann Gottlieb Fichte who was a philosopher whose main concern was nationalism. Why nationalism?

The Emperor of Prussia was concerned about the previous and terrible defeat of the Prussian army by Napoleon Bonaparte’s forces in 1806. He was not so much worried that Prussian forces had been beaten badly but that Prussian soldiers had acted as individuals and not as a single coordinated and committed unit. The new education system (Prussian Model) would create the army he had in mind. In this new educational system there would be two tiers of students; 1) the 1% ‘elite’ who would be trained to educate and lead the country, 2) the 99% of others would be trained to subserviently work in the lower sectors of industry, agriculture, and serve in the military…nationalism.

Here is where it gets interesting…after the American Revolution the Industrial Revolution really began to blossom. Business and industrial leaders in the U.S. embraced and adopted the Prussian Model of public education. Horace Mann actually introduced the Prussian Model of education to America but John Dewey really expanded it to be the mainstream public education standard.

The Smith-Towner Bill in the early 1920’s was the start of school attendance being mandatory by law…and ironically, would establish the National Education Association, the radical leftist teacher’s union. And again oddly, public education became mandatory nationwide…after World War 1.

The Prussian Model was designed to educate children to mostly become really good workers and trained soldiers…with the exception of the very few elites who would educate/control/lead the country. The Prussian Model was originally made mandatory by an Emperor who wanted better workers and better soldiers, America 100 years ago did the exact same thing…by law.

So what does that have to do with today’s public education in America?

Before I touch on that, let me digress almost 200 years if you will allow me. Just as the whole concept of public education, Prussian Model (Germany), was becoming mainstream in the US and there arose a group of men who enthusiastically supported public education; Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan. Ring a bell?

The newspapers of the day, before they were bought out by these same men, referred to Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan as ‘German Barons’. And that term rather quickly morphed into ‘robber barons’. Do you see any coincidence there? What are your thoughts on that oddity?

Okay, back to today’s world…

Critical thinking is no longer a mainstream subject taught in schools, neither is history or civics. Why do you think that is?

But we’ve seen a long list of ‘woke’ subjects now being forced on our children. Everything from Critical Race Theory to classes on how to change your gender. We even have sexual perverts reading to children as young as 6, telling stories that are pure pornography. Ever think through ‘why’ that is? Why would these adult pervert men, dressed as women, want to be around little children?

On to something completely different…As of 2019 polls showed that 40% of college and university undergraduates nationwide favor socialism over capitalism. Why do you think that is? And what do you think that percentage has grown to in the last 4 years.

I am going to stop now. You know that many of society’s problems, maybe most, are originating from public schools. You know that public schools are not that at all…they are government schools pure and simple. And now you know why the federal government and the state governments control the schools NOT parents. And now you know why school attendance was made mandatory…by law under penalty of imprisonment. And now you know why every national teacher union is controlled by radical left-wingers, some are outright socialists and communists.

What do you truly think of the public education system in the United States?

Are you willing to accept truth and fact…or are you simply willing to buy into the propaganda that has been spoon fed to us for the last 130 years. Oh, oddly enough, the same propaganda being pushed on us since the beginning of the Progressive Movement 130 years ago. Surely there is no coincidence there!

Now, as I close this article I will leave this with you…I would like you to really grasp this.

US literacy rates:

• 1780’s: long before the Prussian Model was introduced to the USA – 80% of men and 50% of women were literate in the majority of populated America.
• 1840’s: before public education in the US – 91% literacy rate
• 1920’s: 30 years into widespread public education system implementation – 70% literacy rate
• 2020’s: 130 years into a mandatory public school education system – 46% literacy rate (According to a 2020 report by the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of adults in the United States have literacy below the 6th-grade level.)

So how is that public school educational system working out for you?

< click here to read Part #5 >

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Articles in this series –

• Public Schools – Part #1
• Public Schools – Part #2
• Public Schools – Part #3
• Public Schools – Part #4
• Public Schools – Part #5
• Public Schools – Ann’s Comments

 

 

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