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. 

Some Rocky Art (EOTO 1)

There are two main forms of rock art: petroglyphs and pictographs. Rock art was created before the more modern sense of writing and was how people communicated. Petroglyphs are a type of ancient rock carvings. They are made through incising, pecking, carving, and abrading the surface of a rock. They are different from pictographs, in that a pictograph is a painting done on a wall. Petroglyphs are usually associated with prehistoric people and are found all over the world. However, my research mostly focused on North American petroglyphs. 

 

The oldest Petroglyphs in the U.S. were found in Nevada and date back 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. This is significant because there is very little leftover from the earliest settlers of North America. Petroglyphs are thought to mean a number of things. They could represent religious symbols, warnings, pre-writing, and even symbols for musical instruments. 

A strange phenomenon is that many nations across the world have similar petroglyphs. Researchers have many different theories as to why this is, ranging from migration patterns to the shared use of hallucinogenics among shamans. Overall, no one really knows why so many petroglyphs across the world are the same. It's one of the great mysteries of ancient humans, and always will be. 

Eight Values of Free Expression

Within the United States, the first amendment protects multiple human rights, including the freedom of speech. As a nation,  this freedom has guided the U.S. for decades. Scholars theorize that there are eight theories as to why this right of free speech is so important to Americans. 

Marketplace of Ideas - This is pretty much the idea that when a group of people come together and some lie while others tell the truth, the truth will win out.

Participation in Self-Government - This is the idea that voters want to know everything a candidate says in order to have a real opinion on who they support.

Stable Change - This is the idea that the more people are able to rant about their emotions and grievances, the less violence there will be. 

Individual Self-Fulfillment -  This is the theory that when allowed to freely express yourself, you began to form an identity as an individual. 

Check on Governmental Power - This is the theory that citizens along with the press are able to be a part of the checks and balances ingrained into our government. 

Promate Tolerance - This theory states that through freedom of speech, hate speech can make us more tolerant. We are able to recognize hateful speech and see that it is not acceptable, and therefore find tolerance and norms in our society, 

Promate Innovation - This is the idea that a society with free speech and expression is one where ideas can flow and people can collaborate and find new ideas and theories.  

Protect Dissent - This is the theory that minority opinions are protected. The U.S. isn't meant to be made up of one overarching opinion or ideal, and all ideas and opinions are protected. 

Of these eight, two stood out to me: Stable Change and Individual Self-Fulfillment. 

With Stable Change, I have an issue. I think that to a certain extent ranting out negative emotions is helpful, however after a certain amount of time it becomes an unhealthy coping mechanism that leads to verbal fighting. I find that venting about things or people who upset you becomes addicting and that it can become toxic very quickly. The other issue is that people tend to rant or vent to like-minded individuals which only makes the whole experience more addicting to them. After spending years of ranting to people who feel the same way, finding someone with different opinions leads to awful, toxic, verbal fights. I believe that having the right to vent or rant is important, but that it does not decrease violence or false opinions. 

With Individual Self-Fulfillment, I completely agree with this theory and find it very compelling. I think that the ability to freely communicate is what makes an individual themself. When someone is taught to hide themselves and not to communicate how they feel or what they think, they cannot form a personality or identity. One of the greatest things about the United States, despite all its faults, is that we are able to freely express ourselves. While at times this leads to fighting and disagreements, it is worth it. I believe that free speech is a basic human right that should be available to all. Without the ability to express ourselves, who are we? Luckily, as American's, we are able to not only find ourselves but to explore ourselves and find self-fulfillment. 

The Supreme Court of the United States

I have never known much about the Supreme Court. I knew that it was one of the three U.S. branches of government, the Judicial and that it is the top legal source in the country. I knew that there are three levels of courts; district, appellate, and Supreme. The Supreme Court typically has nine justices that are appointed by the President and confirmed, or in cases denied, by the U.S. Senate. The amount of justice's originally was six, but was changes in 1869 to nine and has stayed there ever since. I learned that the Supreme Court is a branch that interprets the U.S. Constitution and has the ability to deem things as constitutional and unconstitutional.

I think the most surprising thing I learned was that the Supreme Court has the power to check the other central government branches. I knew that the U.S. has its branches set up as a system of checks and balances, but I never knew the Supreme Court was the primary check for the other branches. The video made me realize how powerful the Supreme Court actually is. I always thought of it as a slightly more authoritative court, never as the interpreters of the constitution. This video and the article have given me a new perspective on the Supreme Court and it's role in my life and the rest of the country's. 

News and Diversity

Being up to date on current news is one of the most important things a person can do. While I tend to listen to some sources over others, I have found the best way to get the full story is to look at multiple sources. Many news sites now are biased, so I like to look at a variety of left and right-leaning sources. 

 National Public Radio- NPR is a privately and publicly funded source. It is non-profit and my go-to news source. It was founded in 1970 and is based in Washington D.C. with its western headquarters in Culver City, California. NPR does have a website with articles and with transcripts of radio shows, but I prefer to listen to the station. Very few news stations are mostly radio-based, and I prefer to listen to the news rather than watch it.  

British Broadcasting Corporation - BBC is a news source that was established in 1997. It is a British public service broadcaster. It has a center bais although it is left-leaning at times. It has a large number of websites. It won the Prix Italia for Web - Broadcasters Portal award in 2000 and the Peabody Award in 2012. I like listening to BBC because it is interesting to me to learn about what is happening in other countries, as well as to learn about U.S. news from the perspective of another country.

Baltimore Sun - The Baltimore Sun was founded in 1837 and is Maryland's largest circulated daily newspaper. Being from Maryland I grew up with a new issue of the Sun every week. It has a left-center bias, and many sources find it to be highly factual in all reports with the left bias coming in at editorials. I have always enjoyed the Baltimore Sun and always will.

Fox News - Fox News is a multimedia news source that is right-leaning. It is highly considered as the go-to conservative news source. It is based in New York City and is owned by Fox Corporation. It was founded in 1997 by Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes. The segment Hannity was ranked number one in Cable News/Talk Shows by Fullintel. I listen and watch Fox news to hear from a source with a conservative bias.

Cable News Network - CNN is a left-leaning multimedia news source based out of Atlanta, Georgia. It was founded in 1980 by Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld. It is considered to be in America's top three news sources (along with Fox and MSNBC). CNN is one of America's top liberal news sources. I listen and watch CNN to hear news from a liberal bias.