Standardized education, for all of its benefits, also has dehumanizing drawbacks, a glaring one of which is the subject of this article. Education that mass produces standardized subject matter produces logic that trivializes facts that fall outside of its perimeter. The resulting behavior of educated people, values the popularity of what is learned above both, the harm that can be ignorantly encountered, and the benefit of what must necessarily be learned for the safety of humanity.
Before explaining how mass education detaches facts from reality, let us examine the harmful effect of giving credence to detached facts, when, in fact, truth detached from reality is about as useless as ignorance. Bright educated people often learn facts, detach them from reality, and become popularly empowered at the expense of the human environment.
Popular educational empowerment presents a threat. Education evolves into superstition when fact is detached from reality. That causes information to turn into propaganda with an educational stamp of approval, albeit an unauthorized one. People tend to believe, and repeat what is popular, and institutionalize it.
Reality exists. Education is a direction, not an amount. Functional education illuminates reality. People don’t create reality. It just exists. Survival, as well as the quality of survival depends on cooperating with it. Reality is the environment that must be protected for human habitation. Confidence in the unsinkability of the Titanic was insufficient evidence. Reality rules, and a great ship unnecessarily shares its grave with fifteen hundred and three unfortunate souls who failed to recognize the importance of that fact. Humanity either learns from reality, or pays the consequences.
A plague has infected humanity. Its symptoms are WIP (war, injustice, and poverty). There is a cure. Its symptoms can be alleviated. Ultimately humanity can be free of the depression, and the despair that turns people against themselves, and against each other. Symptoms of the plague are real. Each person, and all of humanity need to confront the plague to keep it from decimating humanity.
Education that applies facts in a manner that increases the incidence, or the severity of symptoms of the plague fails its mission, to educate. Harm is toxicity that has no antidote. Curing the plague begins by learning how to eliminate harm, or when that is not possible, learning how to avoiding it.
No amount of harm is insignificant. Just as a surgeon must insure sterility, education must insure reality, economic reality. Greater good does no harm. Neither does lesser good. Good does no harm. Education does no harm. Its legitimate purpose is to eliminate harm. Allowing education to do harm detaches the facts from reality, economic reality.
One World, One People, One Future 