Dare the School Build a New Social Order? Book

WOW.

If this is what progressives are reading I am deeply worried, but not shocked. I picked this up from AU when they were giving away old books for free.

This book, contains open praise for the "democratization" of the New Deal and the Soviet system, especially it's education system. Counts advocates that schools intentionally reform society by inculcating kids into socialist/progressive/democratic values. Democratic economic regulation is required to protect the public interest, and children should be tought this as a fact from an early age. Teachers unions should be crucial in spearheading this change.

What he calls "child centered" schooling is bad. We should instead have social or community centered schooling. He treats the possibility that he is advocating indoctrination as a non-issue. "Molding" is the softer word he uses. He believes that we should mold our kids into Socialists because our time requires it. We mold our kids into baseball fans and people who clean their rooms, this is just the same thing. If we didn't mold our kids into anything, they would be dull and mediocre he claims. Besides, we have always molded our children according to what the social needs are. We previously molded them into hunters, farmers, etc. Today's social needs require a population of collectivists, hence we should mold them into collectivsts. This is opposed to the current scenario where our kids only learn to participate in "the struggle for private gain" which leads to a feeling of isolation, and the continued degradation of society.

I am amazed by the ability of Counts to pack an ungodly number of logical and economic fallacy into a mere 53 pages.

He is explicitly anti individualist, anti laissez faire, anti-anarchism, and anti-emergent order. Capitalism is "faith in providence" which must be replaced by "careful planning". Individualism is already dead, and we must choose between either fascistic collectivism or democratic collectivism. He believes that we live in a post-scarcity society, so that capitalists have no excuse for gross wealth inequalities. It is government's job to eliminate economic inequalities. Right now we are being "victimized and molded by the machines of industrialism". We need socially minded people commanding that machine, not people interested in private gain. Again he is open about all of this and open about the viewpoint that schools should teach it from an early age.

Worse yet, Counts realizes and acknowledges that what he is proposing entails vast curtailments of personal freedom--- and supports it anyway!

He cant really make up his mind on the early American republic. sometimes he says that their ideals of individualism and laissez faire are outmoded and need to be discarded in favor of collectivist (his word, not mine) ideas fit for an industrial age. At other times he contrasts the democratic principles of the early republic with the environment raping, society destroying neo-feudalism of laissez faire capitalism that has recently emerged with the industrial era.

The one thing I agree with him about is that schools inherently teach with an ideological slant. Instead of pretending this doesn't exist, teachers and schools should be open about their biases. (Gonzo pedagogy anyone?) However this is not nearly enough to make up for the absolutely dreadful ignorance of the rest of it.

One star. Shelved as humor.