To Understand, Reflect, and Judge

In his book Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, Jacque Ellul writes: 

People used to think that learning to read evidenced human progress; they still celebrate the decline of illiteracy as a great victory; they condemn countries with a large proportion of illiterates; they think that reading is a road to freedom. All this is debatable, for the important thing is not to be able to read, but to understand what one reads, to reflect on and judge what ones reads. Outside of that, reading has no meaning (and even destroys certain automatic qualities of memory and observation). But to talk about critical faculties and discernment is to talk about something far above primary education and consider a very small minority. The vast majority of people, perhaps 90 percent, know how to read, but do not exercise their intelligence beyond this. They attribute authority and eminent value to the printed word, or, conversely, reject it altogether. As these people do not possess enough knowledge to reflect and discern, they believe — or disbelieve — in toto what they read. And as such people, moreover, will select the easiest, not the hardest, reading matter, they are precisely on the level at which the printed word can seize and convince them without opposition. They are perfectly adapted to propaganda.

A child begins developing their capacity for understanding, thinking, and judging long before they learn to read. From the moment of birth, from the moment the familiar world of the womb gives way to the bright, noisy world outside, children are faced with the lifelong reality that what they thought they knew, the status quo, is nothing more than a temporary condition and that to understand life, they must, often radically, completely revamp their perspective on truth. I'm not saying that baby's do this as an overt intellectual process, they don't yet know they know, they don't know they are learning, but their entire being is taken up with making sense of the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings that now comprise their world.

No amount of instruction will help them. We hold them, keep them warm, feed them, love them: these are the things that babies are born "knowing" they need if they are to have any chance at survival. These are the things that form the foundational levels of the famous Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: physiological needs, safety needs, and love and belonging needs. 

This is why it's so important that our youngest citizens be allowed to play, not just for an hour or two per day, but as the core of their day-to-day life. When we are spoon-fed our education, told what we must learn, there is no room for applying or developing our critical faculties and discernment which opens us up to those who would manipulate us. We are learning skills, like reading, but because they are abstract from critical thinking, they are rendered meaningless except for those who would now use those minimal skills to manipulate, even harm, them and their loved ones.

When we play, we make everything we do meaningful, relevant. When we play, we play with the status quo, any status quo, until we break it, revealing something new that can stand in its place. That's what learning is. Reading is a wonderful thing. At its best, what we read is the product of a human who has upset the order of things, who is inviting us to see the world in a new way, and who inspires us to do the same. A reader is exposed to the author's ideas. A critical thinker, one who knows that the world is their's with which to play, turns those ideas over and over, looking at them from every angle, comparing them with what they thought they already knew, feeling curious and outraged and inspired to contemplate something entirely new. In today's schools, the student who can most accurately summarize a story's plot receives the highest grade. In a school committed to critical thinking, it's the student who doubts, wrestles, experiments, and invents who is doing the real work of learning.

These are also the people who are most immune to propaganda and other manipulations.

Long before we learn to read, if we are permitted to play, we have learned the most important aspect of reading -- or math or science or history or art -- which is to understand, reflect, and judge. 

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Hi, I'm Teacher Tom and this is my podcast! If you're an early childhood educator, parent of preschoolers, or otherwise have young children in your life, I think you'll find my conversations with early childhood experts and thought-leaders useful, inspiring, and eye-opening. You might even come away transformed by the ideas and perspectives we share. Please give us a listen. You can find Teacher Tom's Podcast on the Mirasee FM Podcast Network or anywhere you download your podcasts.

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