“Respected Professor of Education”
Posted by ReactionaryWho Wrote This (reminiscent of the dormant ‘Daily Dixie’):
When the aim of education is the absorption of facts, learning becomes exclusively and exhaustively selfish, and there is no obvious social motive for learning. The measure of success is always a competitive one—it is about comparing results and sorting people into winners and losers. People are turned against one another, and every difference becomes a potential deficit. Getting ahead of others is the primary goal in such places, and mutual assistance, which can be so natural, is severely restricted or banned.
Unlike Dan, I’ll go ahead and give you the answer: “respected” “mainstream” “distinguished professor” “school reform activist” William Ayers (also known as Marxist terrorist William Ayers, who is “friendly” with Barack Obama). Note that all those glowing descriptions of Ayers are from Obama’s ‘Fact Check’.
Who knew that learning “facts” is “selfish” and that “winners and losers” are unnatural? I’ll go ahead and answer that too, Antonio Gramsci. Gramsci is credited with the idea of “cultural hegemony“, which addressed the failure of socialism to ignite communist revolutions in capitalist states:
Gramsci therefore argued for a strategic distinction between a “war of position” and a “war of manoeuvre”. The war of position is a culture war in which anti-capitalist elements seek to gain a dominant voice in mass media, mass organizations, and educational institutions to heighten class consciousness, teach revolutionary analysis and theory, and inspire revolutionary organization. Following the success of the war of position, communist leaders would be empowered to begin the war of manoeuvre, the actual insurrection against capitalism, with mass support.
Understanding Gramsci helps explain the mess that is public education, the leftism extant in many institutions, and the bias of the media.
To bring this home, consider this from a “News” article in the UAH Exponent:
…you could always try red: the Socialist Party of America has also announced their nominees. Far from hazy images of Cuba or the former Soviet Union (both of which were communist, not socialist), the party’s Statement of Principles asserts that “The Socialist Party strives to establish a radical democracy that places people’s lives under their own control—a non-racist, classless, feminist socialist society … where working people own and control the means of production and distribution through democratically-controlled public agencies…
It’s obvious to most people that facts weren’t important to that reporter… It’s interesting to me that communism has such a bad reputation among today’s socialists that they feel compelled to rebrand their beliefs. Anybody here think that communism isn’t a form of socialism? Anybody here think that people like Gramsci and Ayers have impacted US education?
Related content:
September 15th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Speaking of kooky dems. You guys should check out the tennessean.com story today on Al Gore’s houseboat.
September 15th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Here is a worthwhile video about Obama’s connection to the “distinguished professor.” He cited his “philanthropic” work on the Ayers board as a qualification for US Senate.