Nervous Energy

(Pencil on canvas 16"X20")

"...To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet..." - T.S. Eliot 

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The modern system of American education was established for the purposes of homogeny and standardization. It is a system conceived in the sin of aristocratic lore - the underlying idea that the masses must be managed, controlled, subordinated. Despite the sincerest efforts of meaningful professionals and educators, they are confined within a system that scorns innovation and rewards conformity.


With the advent of standardized testing, this condition has worsened to the point of critical mass. Creativity of thought has been replaced by the mental management of sanitized bits of information. Abstraction of thought has been replaced by linear and contained processes which limit the ability to make insightful connections across disciplines. 


Random dots. Zero pattern recognition.


Because the teenage years are characterized by the overt dominance of the pleasure-principle, the easy homogenization of modern education is perfectly suited for a generation of people who have had everything pre-imagined for them. 


From 3D-Imax-seat-rumbling-hi-tech-special-effects-driven-cinema (which can even make redundant, unimaginative plot lines bearable), to total-immersion-graphics-enhanced-high-powered-intuitive-interactive gaming systems, to the inherently narcissistic Facebook/Twitter/social networking cites which gobble-up the limited attention of a drama-prone teen, to High Def television and high-speed smart phones which have replaced actual interaction with virtual interaction - we can see Aldous Huxley's distraction-based society come into being. We are living in the Brave New World of centralized social management and control. Soma is our everywhere.


The institutional inclination of modern public schools is to take the inherent hallmarks of youth (curiosity, creativity, authenticity, imagination) and remove them from the equation. A nation of critical and independent thinkers is antithetical to the pre-ordained paradigm envisioned by the global elite and the hidden oligarchy financing this unsettling reality.


The only solution is a complete systemic change.


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Today I learned to respond to bells, sit in rows, be still, memorize bits of data, and not question the methodology of the state agent charged with my mental development nor the design of the standardized curriculum. 


Because my brain has been rewired by highly interactive video games and other facets of modern technology, I am easily bored by lecture and classical modes of instruction. This boredom manifests in a variety of ways and can often be medicated into submission. Regardless, I would much rather update my Facebook profile while texting my girlfriend and playing Temple Run on my iPhone than listen to one of my classmates struggle to read aloud.  


Sadly, my culture has made me the ultimate materialist and the empty pursuit of shiny objects and meaningless celebrity is my greatest ambition. In reality, my level of intellectual development (which has been vigorously restrained) has prepared me for the life of cubicles and taxes and repetition and drudgery. But I'll never notice. 


And I will still update my Facebook daily.   


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Above is the first part in a rather extensive interview with John Taylor Gatto. The actual interview begins around the 17 minute mark (there is an overly lengthy intro by the interviewer). The entire series covers a variety of topics. You can read his amazingly thorough and eye-opening book, Underground History of American Education, here. Highly recommended. 

Until we do something about the way in which the young of our nation are being educated, the future is truly lost.