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. In Part #4, I talked 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 much today, 300 years later. In this Part #5 I will wrap it all up.

For a very long time I have had my mind open to exactly what the public education system was in the United States. And yes, that is why we home-schooled our kids for awhile. As I began to learn history, through my own reading and research, it became painfully and obviously aware of what was behind the American educational system. Hence, my changing the reference from ‘public’ education/schools to ‘government’ education/schools. As time has passed it has only made me more convinced of what was happening. Problem was…so many people still bought into the whole concept of public education and that apparently entire wonderful system. Facts and truth would not support those emotions/feelings, that propaganda, that these wholly misguided folks were experiencing.

I think it maybe 10 years ago or so when I came across the quote from the early 1800’s where one of the founders of the Prussian Model of public education said their goal was to create good workers and instill in them the right political beliefs and opinions. That clarified so much for me that it took my breath away. I then connected the public education system and Communism/Socialism that arose shortly after the Prussian Model was refined. But was I right?

There was a conflict that I was having a hard time resolving…I believed that the public education system was closely tied to Communism and Socialism. The two main players that brought that public education system to America were both Communists and Socialists…or believed heavily in those principles. But the Prussian Model came from a country that run by a Monarchy with a strong nationalist leaning. The conflict?

That same Prussian Model of public education was whole-hardheartedly welcomed in the USA and adopted by force of law through threat of imprisonment. And I viewed the US, especially then, as a Democracy. It just didn’t seem to match up right…a conflict indeed!

Note: Yes, I know that the USA was established as a Constitutional Republic. However, by the 1920’s when the Prussian Model of education was forced by law upon America, America was no longer a Constitutional Republic and had become a Democracy…a precursor to what was to come…and is now.

And if there every was an enthusiastic adopter of public education it was Hitler who was 100% committed to it. But then again so was the Soviet Union…and they went to war with each other over a number of factors including political ideology…fascism vs socialism. Then there was Canada, the United Kingdom, but also Communist China. What the heck was up with all of this conflict mixed so deeply with the common thread of instituting a public education system?

Ahhhhhh…all you have to do is swap ‘public’ with ‘government’ and then it becomes absolutely crystal clear…government education system…government schools. Now think about it…ALL governments want what? Good workers, nationalism creating good soldiers, and a few controlling/educating elites. The Prussian Model of public education gives them all just that!

Confused on what nationalism is, especial nationalism vs patriotism, you might want to stop and figure that one out.

Nationalism is the extreme love of country and loyalty to it…a virtual unwillingness to question it or challenge it. Patriotism however means love of the founding principles of the USA (i.e. the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights), and being dedicated/committed to protecting those founding principles against corruption and tyranny.

I want to go back and ask this question from Part #4 in this series…”Critical thinking is no longer a mainstream subject taught in schools, neither is history or civics. Why do you think that is?”

Where would you find the ‘founding principles’ of the United States? Yup, in history classes and in civics classes! Now you know why those are no longer taught.

I practice what I preach…so I applied ‘principles vs politics’ to this whole concept as well. If I dropped the political aspect of each country previously named (Nazi Germany, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, Communist China, Canada, and the USA) and looked only at the principle of public education adoption…whoa!

ALL of the countries did so for the same reasons…better workforce, strong military, and a nationalist fever. Adopted whole-hardheartedly by Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan in the 1930’s it resulted in WWII. The Soviet Union and the USA resulting in the 1950’s and 60’s resulting in the Cold War. Virtually all European countries in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s resulting in WWI.

But let’s touch on this for a minute…

• In just the 1900’s the US has overthrown the countries of Hawaii, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, Iran, Cuba, Lebanon, the Philippines, Ukraine, and the Dominican Republic.
• Since the beginning of the US adopting the Prussian Model of public education the US has been involved in 46 medium to major wars and military conflicts, along with another 40 or so minor military conflicts.
• The CIA has assassinated a long list of sovereign foreign government leaders and public officials.
• The US State Department, the FBI and the CIA, along with other government agencies have directly and indirectly interfered with hundreds of elections in foreign countries as well as here in the US…including the Presidential elections of 2016 and 2020.

So who has the most ‘nationalistic’ view of themselves, the strongest/skilled workforce, and the strongest military in the world at this point in time? Come on…take a guess!

So let’s do a little test, some thinking slightly outside of the box, shall we? Let’s talk about the STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) initiative in public education.

• The originating report “Charting a Course for Success” was released during Trump’s second year in office, 2018. However, the report was mostly penned prior to Trump’s Administration.
• Those who wrote the report were appointed under Barack Obama.
• The report was begun after the US Department of Commerce and US Department of Labor released reports that the US was deficient in specific areas of education; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Those reports were released in 2013 – 2015. The departments producing those reports were under the Obama administration.

Now read this from the government report “Charting a Course for Success”…

“Since the founding of the Nation, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have been a source of inspirational discoveries and transformative technological advances, helping the United States develop the world’s most competitive economy and preserving peace through strength. The pace of innovation is accelerating globally, and with it the competition for scientific and technical talent. Now more than ever the innovation capacity of the United States—and its prosperity and security—depends on an effective and inclusive STEM education ecosystem.”

Did you pick up on anything specific in that paragraph?

1. “…preserving peace through strength…” – Where does that ‘strength’ come from? The military. And where does the technology come from to make the US military the strongest? The military-industrial complex.
2. “…its prosperity and security…” – Where does ‘prosperity’ come from? The economy, and that comes from workers employed by big business…such as the tycoons of yesteryear…Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan. Where does the money come from to buy all those weapons? Private banks who are part of the Federal Reserve. Where does ‘security’ from? A strong military…via the military-industrial complex. And who owns the ‘industrial’ part of that complex?
   

And what was the Prussian Model all about? Better workers for industry, a strong military, and a strong nationalistic fervor.

And what does STEM do within the US public education system? Exactly!

So you might say it benefits the people of the US through better jobs and higher incomes!

Let’s consider this:

• According to a report from Forbes in 2019…less than 50% of U.S. workers feel that they are in good jobs. Ironically, there is a nexus between the quality of one’s job and the overall quality of a person’s life.
• From that same report…results show that despite a perceived strong economy, most people self-report that their job quality has stagnated or gotten worse in almost every aspect.
• People who reported they were ‘very satisfied’ with their job has dropped 22% in just the last year. While both the ‘somewhat dissatisfied’ and ‘very dissatisfied’ categories are up sharply.
• Average student loan balance at graduation in 2004 was under $20,000. In 2019 it was well over $33,000…a 67% increase.
• In 2006 the total student loan debt was $500billion, in 2022 it was $1.75billion. More than triple in 16 years. Almost all of that debt is owed by the students to the US federal government.
• And the middle class has been shrinking since the early 1970’s…as the lower income and super rich categories have grown.

Enough is enough!

I’ve given you facts, truths, and history. I’ve painted the picture as clearly as I know how. Now, it is time for you to form an opinion…to establish your principle in this regard of so-called public education.

Once you do that…then act!

I leave this one last tidbit of information…

“Free education for all children in government schools and abolition of children’s factory labor in its present form – combination of education with industrial production, etc.”

Let’s see now…where does this concept come from that the USA has so enthusiastically and entirely adopted? What is the source of this idea that millions and millions of American parents love and support? Oh, that’s right! It comes directly from the Communist Manifesto. The Communist Manifesto that was written in 1848…just as the so-called public education system was maturing in Europe and being introduced in the United States. Hummmmm…I wonder why it’s in the Communist Manifesto and adopted by every authoritarian government in the world for the last 150 years?

Some last food for thought…

< click here to read Ann’s Comments on Public Schools >

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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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