10-16-2024, 10:59 AM
The Hedgehog Review, which is usually worth reading, has published a non-paywalled version of Matthew Crawford's recent essay from his substack, which is also usually worth reading.
The essay is about the role of conformity in education, and I found it fascinating, although I disagree with much of it; he presents his points well.
Here is the link to the essay in full:
Why Individualism Fails to Create Individuals: Independence of mind requires sustained submission to authority.
I'm of the opinion that the evolved education system actually works in two ways. First, for those with the temperament, it creates either useful conformists or scholars who can build upon and propagate knowledge within the established system. Second, for those it fails, it inspires a rejectionism and desperation that forces the non-conformist to find their own, unique path. These institutions are the fingers squeezing the watermelon seed, so it squirts the hell away from all the established baggage and finds its own arc.
This reminds me of Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, where he discusses "going up the mountain" of individual communion with truth, and the subsequent act of "coming back down", carrying what was learned back into the realm of everyday life. If we don't have at least some grasp on the vocabulary, semantics, and trends of the current authority, how can what is learned be used to affect change? It would remain merely immiscible mercury.
I am posting this here because I think this is a somewhat unique venue of individuals for whom established educational channels and traditional authority has "failed". What are your experiences with traditional education and pedagogy?
The essay is about the role of conformity in education, and I found it fascinating, although I disagree with much of it; he presents his points well.
Quote:The paradoxical thesis I wish to consider is this: Real independence of mind can be won only by a sustained process of submission to authority. There is a related paradox: A democratic society, precisely because it requires such independence of thought if it is to be something other than mob rule, requires education conducted with an aristocratic ethos.
...
According to the new liberalism that Locke helped to articulate, political freedom requires intellectual independence. This is the anti-authoritarian mindset Tocqueville was struck by as he traveled around America. He said that Americans were Cartesians without having read Descartes. Descartes, like Locke, insisted on a kind of epistemic self-sufficiency, rejecting all established customs and received opinions. I myself should be the source of all my knowledge; otherwise it is not knowledge. This is the positive image of freedom that emerges when you pursue far enough the negative goal of being free from authority.
But this brings with it a certain anxiety: If I have to stand on my own two feet, epistemically, how can I be sure that my knowledge really is knowledge?
Here is the link to the essay in full:
Why Individualism Fails to Create Individuals: Independence of mind requires sustained submission to authority.
I'm of the opinion that the evolved education system actually works in two ways. First, for those with the temperament, it creates either useful conformists or scholars who can build upon and propagate knowledge within the established system. Second, for those it fails, it inspires a rejectionism and desperation that forces the non-conformist to find their own, unique path. These institutions are the fingers squeezing the watermelon seed, so it squirts the hell away from all the established baggage and finds its own arc.
This reminds me of Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, where he discusses "going up the mountain" of individual communion with truth, and the subsequent act of "coming back down", carrying what was learned back into the realm of everyday life. If we don't have at least some grasp on the vocabulary, semantics, and trends of the current authority, how can what is learned be used to affect change? It would remain merely immiscible mercury.
I am posting this here because I think this is a somewhat unique venue of individuals for whom established educational channels and traditional authority has "failed". What are your experiences with traditional education and pedagogy?
