The American Education System: Where it Went Wrong and Why it Matters (additional post)

Most people can agree that the American Education System has its flaws. But why is that? I've often wondered what I've been missing in my classes. The main subject that seems to be missing quite a lot is History. So I decided to do some research as to why.

To start off, I went back to the root of the issue. The American Education System itself. To start off I needed to go way back. It’s the late 1700’s in Prussia. Fredrick the Great lays out his model of public education. Great idea, right? The U.S. decides, why shouldn’t we adopt this ourselves? We have kids, they need to be educated. But the funny thing was the industrial revolution kind of changed everything in the U.S.

Fredrick the Great

Adults wanted children to be educated in a way that would produce a good workforce. And they all knew factories. So, that’s what school became. We all know the basics of a factory, don’t we? Raw materials are used by workers in a factory to create a final product. The raw material is children, the worker's teachers, the factory a school, the final product functioning, educated members of society. A great thing to look at for more information on this is Alvin Toffle’s 1970 book Future Shock. He explains it a bit more in-depth than I do. 

So, the history of the education system isn’t the point of this post. Well, not entirely at least. The real thing is, the American education system is flawed. Of course, it is, I mean it’s run by humans. And as humans, we have an agenda. It’s not even our fault sometimes. But miseducation is rampant in this country right now.

Let me ask any reader right now to think about something: how far did you get in history classes back in school? WWII, right? In elementary school, you would start with the Revolutionary War just about every year. Then restart. In high school maybe you had a Western Civ class and learned about Rome. If you went to a Catholic high school like me, maybe you learned a bit about Jerusalem, but not really. 

In college, you probably took a few history courses, but you mostly focused on the world pre-WWII. Maybe took a Holocaust Studies class. But honestly, did you ever learn about the 1980s in your history class? And I mean really learn, not just skim over. Sure on September 11th we always have a memorial lesson. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day we learn a bit about civil rights. But can you honestly say that before college you really learned about United States history past the 40s or 50s?

My guess, probably not. So now the question becomes, why have we not been taught these things? Everyone knows about Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence. But ever heard of President Truman and the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948, you know, the act that the government used to create and spread propaganda to foreign territories? Did you also know that in 2012 the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act made it so that the same propaganda would be spread domestically as well? 

Truman signed the Smith-Mundt Act

So, how do we learn about these things? Why is there so much information in the U.S.? I believe it's because the moment schools teach people about things that activity affect them and their political views, people will change how they feel. People are fickle and the more they learn about a subject, the more likely they are to change their views. 

Like knowing about the Pro-Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden back in 1939 with more than 20,000 American’s in attendance. Or the American Committee on Public Opinion, yet another fine example of American Propaganda. But the issue is, people don't know these things, so they are unable to form true unbiased opinions on their views about life and the U.S. government. 

The Smith-Mundt Act AKA The Propaganda Act (EOTO 2)

What is the Smith-Mundt Act? That was the first thought I had upon starting this project. It took a lot of research to fully understand it. The Smith-Mundt Act was signed into law by President Truman in 1948. It was designed to regulate broadcasting for a foreign audience. This pretty much means it allowed the U.S. State Department to communicate to people outside of U.S. borders through broadcasting, face-to-face exchanges, magazines, literature, and other media of communication and engagement. Its funding came from different legislation called appropriations. What it actually did was stop the government from being to spread propaganda domestically. 

President Truman signed the Smith-Mundt Act in 1948

It has often been described as a propaganda act. This is because of what the communication from the U.S. to these foreign audiences said. It was very standard 'this is why the U.S. is the greatest country on earth' type of media. It is something that many citizens of the United States do not know about. Mostly because it was focused outside of the country for so long. 

But then, in 2012 U.S. Congressman Mac Thornberry introduced the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act. It was made to amend certain parts of the Smith-Mundt Act. It allowed for modern platforms like the internet and satellite broadcasting. It also allowed the media produced for foreign audiences to be released in the U.S. which effectively got rid of the distinction between foreign and domestic audiences. Many news sources claimed that this act was a way to bring propaganda intended for foreign countries would now be shown to the American people. 

Mac Thornberry, Former United States Representative

Something interesting about this act is the lack of information surrounding the original act from 1948. Understandably, there is less information than the Modernization act because of how old the original act is. But the lack of information is monumental. I could barely find anything outside of Wikipedia about the original act. 

Even on congress.gov a website that has bills and acts from the government, I could only find the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012. I believe this to be another example of what the act truly is, propaganda from the United States Government.