Indoctrinating Our Children

I recently heard an elected representative complaining that our schools need to "get back" to teaching "math, English, science, and history," and "stop indoctrinating our children."

Novelist Doris Lessing believed that every school child should be told this:

"You are in the process of being indoctrinated. We have not yet evolved a system of education that is not a system of indoctrination. We are sorry, but it is the best we can do. What you are being taught here is an amalgam of current prejudice and the choices of this particular culture. The slightest look at history will show how impermanent these must be. Those of you who are more robust and individual than others will be encouraged to leave and find ways of educating yourself -- educating your own judgements. Those that stay must remember, always, and all the time, that they are being molded and patterned to fit into the narrow and particular needs of this particular society."

I understand when a parent or politician is upset about "indoctrination." The word has come to be an epithet for whatever it is we don't want our children to know or think. But Lessing is right: it's all indoctrination.

Math might be an outlier, but English, science, and history -- especially history -- are all amalgams "of current prejudice and the choices of this particular culture." The choices made about what we will teach children are inherently selective, political, and beholden to the status quo. What we are going to teach children about, say, the Civil War, and (more importantly) what we are to leave out, means eliminating an infinite number of perspectives. The result of an institution (or any power for that matter) choosing what to "teach" is always an attempt at "indoctrination" if only because there isn't time in the day to offer every perspective on every subject. Even deciding what is foundational and what isn't is an act of indoctrination.

Humans have always been indoctrinated, even if doing it through mandatory schooling is relatively new. Every child has always been indoctrinated into the ways of their family, their village, and even their wider culture, although for most of our existence this happened via the process of life itself. Much of what was learned by children was through example. There was little need for direct instruction because they grew up in a world in which their culture was something they could see, touch, and take part in. It emerged before their eyes as their elders foraged, hunted, cooked, procreated, and played. Of course, all bets were off if they found themselves in the next culture over . . . where things were done differently . . . For better or worse.

Lessing advocates for self-education as a counter to, or bulwark against, indoctrination. I talk about play based preschool as self-directed learning. In public discussions about indoctrination, you can be sure that someone will, often in frustration, say something like, "Educate yourself. Don't just swallow what the media feeds you." Good advice, although, sadly most of what passes for educating oneself involves scrolling social media feeds until something tells you what you already believe. I'm not saying that the internet can't be a good way to educate yourself, only that social media isn't the proper medium: it's algorithms essentially silo users by selectively feeding them a perspective that more or less jibes with what they already think they know, sprinkled with "outrageous" examples of the opposite. I'm not cynical enough to think that there is some cultural mastermind intentionally trying to indoctrinate me, but it is in the nature of algorithms, created by humans, to coalesce around one status quo or another. If I'm to use the internet for self-education, I must go out of my way to find a variety of trustworthy sources, which is hard to do, but not impossible. 

Perhaps the worst way to educate yourself on the internet is to rely on so-called artificial intelligence. AI is a fantastic tool for getting certain things done, but when it comes to education it cannot help but indoctrinate us, even as it creates the cheery illusion that its responses are comprehensive. It will invariably eliminate results that don't fit the status quo, it will always round the corners, and sand down the parts that stick out . . . Unless, you know enough to ask it to do otherwise. And even then, it remains a relentless servant of current prejudices and choices. People insist that there is a future in which this isn't true, but I don't have a lot of faith in that.

Lessing's suggestion is to read literature: "People who love literature have at least part of their minds immune from indoctrination. If you read, you can learn to think for yourself." She's not entirely wrong. I say that as a devoted reader of literature. Sadly, I'm likewise aware that the gatekeepers of literature -- publishers, critics, professors, and so on -- choose what is available to me. We only know about Doris Lessing because she was one of the lucky few who were deemed worthy to have her work on the shelves of libraries.

As an educator, I don't want to indoctrinate children. I am genuinely motivated to allow them to educate themselves, even as I know that at some level I am taking part in molding them to "fit into the narrow and particular needs of a particular society." We all are.

The important thing, as Lessing cautions, is to always remember that this is what we are doing. I want the children in my life to know that I'm sorry, but this is the best I can do. And I want them to always be aware of the prejudices and choices that have created the culture in which they live. I will never tell them "Because I said so!" Doubt is healthy. Pushing back is the right thing to do. I want them to know that they should not blindly trust the status quo, especially when it doesn't serve them or those they care about. And I hope that when they find themselves at odds with society, they are capable of educating themselves in ways that help them self-actualize. 

This is why I choose play over direct instruction. At least the kids get to choose what they will learn from the culture that surrounds them, and they will know that it's always on them to become educated, not the institution or the "teacher."

To indoctrinate is human. To know we are being indoctrinated is how we set ourselves free.

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