The NEW Purpose of School
(This is Not a Trick)
Joe Moncarz (July 2022)
Just kidding. It IS a trick! The purpose of school is still the same as always: turning your happy, healthy, vibrant child into a stressed, bullied, neurotic, obedient, screen-addicted, and ignorant member of society who will just shut the hell up and do exactly as they're told, always, about everything, while the elite destroy life on the planet in pursuit of more and more wealth. Same as always! (Gatto 2002, 2010; Mwanzia 2013) (Of course, teachers don't do their job with this purpose in mind, much like soldiers don't view themselves as tools of imperialism, but rather believing that they're “spreading democracy.” They're all pawns and tools of the elite – like most of us.)
But if the human world was a healthier, more rational place, then the purpose of schools would be very different. Actually, if society was healthy, then schools would not even exist. But, hypothetically, if we had to have schools, and we could give it a new purpose, what should it be?
Well, it depends on your values and the kind of world you want. If you want relatively peaceful, healthy, and egalitarian cultures living within the Earth's limits, then the purpose of school right now would be for revolution and rebellion. Because you see, there's only two ways to go from the way we now live (endless violence and war, greed, inequality, hierarchy, overpopulation, destroying life on the planet, etc.) to living within the Earth's limits – either through an extremely painful and extremely violent complete societal breakdown and civilizational collapse – our current trajectory – or, through a thoughtful, ethically-grounded, ecological, de-civilizing revolution and rebellion. (“De-civilizing” means to remove the pathological social arrangement known as civilization from the planet, including all of its institutions, along with the pathological mindset and values that come along with it. It's similar to decolonizing and the process of decolonization, though with much greater scope. See Frantz Fanon's 1961 classic Wretched of the Earth.)
I bet those words scare you. “What does he mean by 'de-civilizing revolution and rebellion'? Oh dear. He's trying to take away my Netflix!” That's right, I am. You don't need Netflix. (Just remind yourself: Netflix = a very violent, very painful, civilizational collapse.)
Okay, let's back up, because I can see you're starting to sweat. So let's forget about school and revolution for just a sec. Let's talk about something else which you're familiar with: Climate Change. The majority of people on the planet accept that climate change is real, it's dangerous, that measures need to be taken, that fossil fuel use should be dramatically reduced, and that if we don't take steps, that all of life on the planet is at risk, and that eating ice cream outside in summer will become very tricky. We don't need to talk about the climate change deniers, as delusional, callous, psychopathic, and grubby as they are, because they're in the minority (although they are often members of the elite, with enormous power and influence, so we'll talk about them later.) So, my point is, that most of us are already facing reality.
Or are we? At least it looks like it, on the surface. Only in comparison to the deniers. But that's not a helpful comparison. That's like comparing the ongoing Israeli genocide of Palestinians to the colonial British who killed hundreds of millions of Indians. Yeah, okay, the Israelis haven't killed that many people. But that doesn't make the Israeli occupation an episode of “The Muppet Show,” either. Genocide is still genocide.
In the same way, climate change deniers may be delusional, but so are we. Compared to climate change deniers we may look more intelligent, aware, and thoughtful, but in actuality, the majority of us who accept climate change are also very delusional. Yes, we're delusional, too! And much worse than the benign delusions of say, flat-Earthers, or of sasquatchers, our delusions about climate change will be as deadly, and already are as deadly, as climate change deniers.
How are we delusional? Okay, take a big breath, because it's a long list: We carry on each and every day, failing to do anything meaningful about climate change. We think that buying an electric car will help. We think that recycling will help. We think that buying solar panels will help. We think that solar panels and wind turbines can power industrial civilization. We think that solar panels and wind turbines are not also reliant on fossil fuels. (Jensen 2021) We think that covering half of the Earth's landmass with solar panels and wind turbines is acceptable. We think that nuclear power is an option. (James Lovelock, James Hansen, and George Monbiot may be very intelligent, but not about everything.) We think that a “Green New Deal” is what we need. We think that we can continue living in the same way and have it powered by something other than fossil fuels. We think that some new technology will save us. (Huessemann 2011) We think that we need computers, we need the internet, we need cars, and that we need airplanes. We think that climate change might not be as bad as they say. We think that we just need to elect the right President or Prime Minister. We think that we just need to elect the right officials. We think that anyone we elect will do anything beneficial. We delude ourselves by thinking that governments are even capable of doing anything other than serve the needs of the elite. We think that governments exist for our benefit. We think that we just need to pressure our governments. We think that somehow, the elite will allow governments to do anything effective against climate change. We think that capitalists will allow us to take meaningful action. We delude ourselves by thinking that effective action will be legal. We delude ourselves by thinking that we won't have to break the law to “stop” climate change (i.e., mitigating the disastrous effects). We delude ourselves by thinking that we can keep on multiplying and reproducing, and that the Earth can sustainably support billions of people (regardless of their carbon footprint.) We delude ourselves by ignoring overpopulation. We delude ourselves by thinking that we can stop climate change while capitalism still exists. We delude ourselves by thinking that any civilization can be sustainable. We delude ourselves by thinking that a sustainable way of life can include computers, high tech, cars, and the internet. We delude ourselves by thinking that there can ever be a civilization, no matter what its energy source is, that will ever be sustainable, and won't always end up with ecological destruction, endless war, and mass misery and suffering. We delude ourselves by thinking that collapse has not already started. We delude ourselves by not accepting that the only way to stop climate change will include worldwide revolts and rebellions, and the total shutdown of the global economy. We delude ourselves when we refuse to accept that the only way to stop climate change is to live a simple, localized life, close to nature, with little if any electricity, and little if any modern technology, which can never be sustainable. (Moncarz 2019)
Which brings us back to school.
We delude ourselves by sending our kids to school. I mean, what the heck are we sending kids to school for? To “learn”? Kids don't need schools in order to learn! (Gray 2015) To get a job? There is not one single job out there that will help overthrow this system that is ending life on Earth. In fact, just about every single job is part of the sick, twisted social arrangement known as civilization, and just about every single job reinforces and perpetuates the destruction of life. Just about every single job will just make everything worse. Why would we want to spend our days making things worse?! (The possible exceptions are jobs like small-scale organic horticulture, raising free-range animals, re-foresting, natural midwifery, massage, physiotherapy, care-giving, and similar jobs. Not classroom teachers, sorry.)
The proof of our delusions about school is this: Fifty years ago, fossil fuels accounted for about 75-80 percent of our energy sources. Today? Exactly the same! All that school education hasn't made a damn difference. Instead, things have gotten much, much worse. Even with all your Jesus-like solar panels and wind turbines, and all the climate change conferences and conventions. Not only that, but oil, gas, and coal companies are planning on 1.5 trillion dollars in new production over the next ten years. (Hunziker 2022) They're not planning on stopping, and who's going to stop them? Governments?! (Another delusion.) Always remember, they own the government. Oil companies have made 2.8 billion dollars in profit each and every day for the last fifty years – and what do they do with all that money? They buy every single politician! (Carrington 2022) Similarly, the plastics industry (remembering that plastic is made from oil, as well as thousands of toxic chemicals) have been increasing plastic production every year, and only plan to continue increasing plastic production as well. (Brigham 2022; Glaun 2021; Qualmann 2017) In other words, our school education has made fossil fuel use worse, which means schools have made climate change worse, which means schools have helped to destroy life on Earth.
Further proof: The world now has more people in poverty and more slaves than ever before in human history. (And that's not including the rest of us, all wage slaves.) Inequality is at extreme levels and getting worse. The U.S. today has greater inequality than 150 years ago. (Scheidel 2017, p. 284) The concentration of wealth into fewer and fewer hands is only increasing. In 2016, the richest 61 people owned as much as the poorest half of all people on the planet. Two years later, that number was the richest 26 people. (Elliot 2019) In the U.S., the three richest Americans own more than the poorest half of Americans – that's 160 million people. (Kirsch) And the Covid pandemic has made it even worse. During the two years of the pandemic, the wealth of the world's roughly 2,000 billionaires grew by 5.5. trillion dollars (68%), while most everyone else lost money, lost jobs, and got poorer. (Collins 2021) During the first year of the pandemic, 100 million people were pushed into extreme poverty, with another 150 million people being pushed into extreme poverty in 2022 – also in part because of the West's ongoing pointless proxy war against Russia and the resulting global inflation, petrol shortages, and food shortages. (Martin 2022) In other words, our school education has made global poverty and inequality worse.
Speaking of war, has schooling done anything to stop war? No! All the officials, generals, and policymakers who declare war all were “very well-educated” in schools. In fact, more people have been in killed in wars during the 150 year history of compulsory education than ever before in human history. After all, the main reason for creating schools was to create a population obedient and compliant to the State! To go to war when told, to kill when told, to drop bombs when told, to hate certain groups of people when told, and to bury people in mass graves when told. Obedient! And it's worked like a charm.
Meanwhile, that much-celebrated education has raised generations of scientists who use their school-gained knowledge to create ever-deadlier ways of killing people! Atomic bombs, poison gas, biological weapons, nuclear weapons, depleted uranium shells, and deadlier and deadlier guns. The parents of these scientists must be so satisfied. “My little Timmy designed the bomb that killed 150,000 people in Hiroshima. I'm so proud of him. And to think he's still a bed-wetter.”
Other scientists use their school education to make our food itself deadly. All food, not just Skittles. (Steinberg 2022; “Study” 2021) Yes, most of our “food” is deadly – including the food packaging. (Fox 2019) What else would you expect? Our food contains dioxins, GMOs, BPA, Roundup, BHA, BHT, hexane, arsenic, lead, sodium nitrite/nitrate, just to name a few of the toxins we eat every day. Our bodies are full of toxins and microplastics. The average mother's breast milk is full of toxins. Thanks to science, newborn babies begin their lives already full of toxins:
According to a study by the Environmental Working Groups, blood samples from newborns show exposure to over two hundred eighty-seven toxins, including mercury, fire retardants, pesticides and Teflon—exposure that occurs even before they are born. Of these, one hundred eighty cause cancer in humans or animals; two hundred seventeen are toxic to the brain and nervous system; and two hundred eight cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests. (Onusic 2013)
Toxins, toxins, toxins. Everywhere! That's why we're living through a global cancer pandemic. In other words, school is poisoning us all.
Or those other scientists, creating ever deadlier ways of killing any life on the planet. Pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, vivisection, animal experimentation, factory farms – you name the life form, there are scientists devising ways to kill them. “Johnny was always such a bright boy. He used to kick our cat clear across the backyard. Now he works at Monsanto helping to wipe out life on the planet. Parenting is very rewarding.”
One hundred and fifty years of compulsory schooling has resulted in one hundred and fifty years of the most ecological destruction, most inequality, most extreme poverty, most brutality, and the deadliest wars in human history. (Though the previous 2000 years were already pretty damn horrific.) Wow, that's quite a record!
A lot of good education (and the governments which run them) has done us.
In fact, school is one of the main reasons why we're all delusional. Thirteen years of brainwashing with a curriculum approved by the State and their billionaire overlords. Schools delude kids into thinking that if they study hard that they'll get a good job and that everything will be fine. They become delusional with the idea that it's healthy to spend nearly their entire youth sitting in a classroom. Delusional that science, writing, and math has helped humanity. (It's helped the elite, the military, and governments, that's for sure.) Delusional that modern technology is good for us. Delusional that they need to be forced by teachers in order to learn. And delusional in all the other ways I already listed above. The delusions are endless, but you get the point. School reinforces all our delusions.
If we were take into account the actual state of the world, the new and better purpose of schools would be clear: for a de-civilizing revolution and rebellion, and to prepare for global societal and ecological collapse.
The fact is, there will be no chance at “stopping” climate change or of creating a healthier world without a de-civilizing revolution and rebellion. Because there has never and there will never be a peaceful way to take power from the rich. Are you kidding? We're deluding ourselves if we don't see how the rich would rather start a world war and use nuclear weapons than lose any of their power and wealth. We can't legislate a healthier way of life. We can't protest our way to the end of poverty. We can't vote our way to stop climate change. It really should be obvious by now.
Frederick Douglass, in his famous 1857 speech, said, “Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow.”
Ending slavery required rebellion. Women's rights required rebellion. Black civil rights in the U.S. required rebellion. Ending South African Apartheid required rebellion. Ousting the genocidal British colonial control of India required rebellion. Kicking the colonial French out of Algeria required rebellion and fighting. Kicking the colonial Spanish out of Cuba (and then later removing the U.S. puppet dictator Batista) required rebellion and fighting. And the only successful modern slave revolt took 13 years of fighting by Haitian slaves to oust the French in 1804. This is a short list. The main point is, there is no getting rid of an oppressor without rebellion.
In fact, a small number of young people are already starting to see this. Youth activists from the organization “End Fossil: Occupy!” just released a new open letter (which was published on a very mainstream British news website) calling for the occupation of schools and universities, saying:
The bottom line is: we can’t keep pretending everything is all right, studying as if the planet wasn’t on fire...From Lisbon to California, from Peru to Germany and from Madrid to Ivory Coast, we call on young people to get together and organize an international revolutionary generation that can change the system. (“End” 2022)
So we're delusional if we think we can make the world a better place by being passive and obedient. The elite don't want a healthy world, and they will use unending violence against us to make sure of it (in addition to the endless violence they already use.) In fact, the consequences of climate change include making the human world even more murderous and violent. (Parenti 2011) A 2004 Pentagon report on climate change states, “Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life. Once again, warfare would define human life.” (Schwartz and Randall 2003)
James Woolsey, a former CIA director, wrote in a 2007 report:
All of the ways in which human beings have dealt with natural disasters in the past...could come together in one conflagration: rage at government’s inability to deal with the abrupt and unpredictable crises; religious fervor, perhaps even a dramatic rise in millennial end-of-days cults; hostility and violence toward migrants and minority groups, at a time of demographic change and increased global migration; and intra- and interstate conflict over resources, particularly food and fresh water. Altruism and generosity would likely be blunted. (Campbell et al 2007, p.85)
In other words, if we keep doing things the same way – including sending our kids to school – then the picture for the future is one of increasing violence, war, social breakdown, misery and suffering.
And hey, like most people, I'm a pacifist. I never go looking for a fight. Sure, I'd love it if we could all just sit down around a campfire, eat a freshly-roasted wild pig, and be reasonable and people would then do the right thing. But that's not reality. The elite are psychopathic and never, ever do the right thing. (If they did, they would not be the elite.) We're delusional if we don't see how law-abiding approaches have gotten absolutely nowhere. (Churchill 2017; Gelderloos 2007) So we have a choice. It makes sense to prefer the thoughtful, measured, and non-violent tactics such as mass civil disobedience and sabotage, rather than the total disintegration of global societies into thousands and thousands of extremely violent, desperate, brutal, warring, murderous factions, many with access to nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons – which is where we're quickly heading. (Jensen 2011; Parenti 2015)
Taking into account the new reality, and how youth actually learn (hint: it's not in a classroom), the purpose of school should be to allow young people to learn to see civilization as pathological, to learn how to survive, how to survive on little, how to grow food, hunt and raise animals, how to care and how to be empathetic, and how to overthrow our current overlords and all the billionaire psychopaths and greedy wetiko monsters who are destroying life on the planet. (Forbes 2008)
Actually, this is misleading. There can never be a good purpose for school. Schools should not exist at all. All of the basic design features of schools are pathological. (Moncarz 2019) Schools only need to exist if parents are forced to be slaves in the offices and factories and mines, and if money exists. But in order to stop climate change, to end poverty, and to bring about a healthier way of life, there would be no offices, no factories, no mines, and no money. (Or would you be happy to have your kids work in the mines?)
The best education we can provide young people is for parents and adults to work together to take down the fossil fuel industry, to take apart the military, and to rip the wealth away from the rich and destroy it, so that there is no more wealth. In short, the best education for youth is to watch their parents ending industrial civilization and replacing it with a healthier way of life.
We can cling to delusions of doing things peacefully, of playing the voting game, playing the “good worker” game, and playing the schooling game, but these will get us nowhere. Collapse has begun. Collapse will end your fantasies. Collapse will get as bad as we allow it to. If we do nothing, collapse will include nuclear war, nuclear meltdowns, global panic, global unrest and widespread civil wars, the widespread rise of fascists and dictators, widespread starvation and famine, the spread of infectious diseases, the extinction of most wildlife (they will be eaten by starving people), the deforestation of all remaining forests, widespread cannibalism (worse than in “Soylent Green” - also, see the long history of famines in China), the end of women's equality (which was only “allowed” because of fossil fuel economics), the return of widespread chattel slavery, child slavery, and debt bondage, as well as extreme climate upheavals, whether extreme heat (with wildfires, drought, and famine) or extreme cold due to the collapse of the Gulf Stream ocean currents and nuclear winters (with global famine and a lot of shivering).
To not be delusional would be to fully recognize the situation in front of us now, and to know that without effective action, things will get much, much uglier – for your kids especially.
The only worthwhile education is to prepare youth for collapse and to educate for a thoughtful, ethically-grounded, ecological, de-civilizing revolution, rebellion – and the only way to do that is to role model it.
To deny that is to remain just as delusional as climate change deniers. We'd be much better off just searching for Big Foot.
There has ever only been one purpose for school: delusions.
But if the human world was a healthier, more rational place, then the purpose of schools would be very different. Actually, if society was healthy, then schools would not even exist. But, hypothetically, if we had to have schools, and we could give it a new purpose, what should it be?
Well, it depends on your values and the kind of world you want. If you want relatively peaceful, healthy, and egalitarian cultures living within the Earth's limits, then the purpose of school right now would be for revolution and rebellion. Because you see, there's only two ways to go from the way we now live (endless violence and war, greed, inequality, hierarchy, overpopulation, destroying life on the planet, etc.) to living within the Earth's limits – either through an extremely painful and extremely violent complete societal breakdown and civilizational collapse – our current trajectory – or, through a thoughtful, ethically-grounded, ecological, de-civilizing revolution and rebellion. (“De-civilizing” means to remove the pathological social arrangement known as civilization from the planet, including all of its institutions, along with the pathological mindset and values that come along with it. It's similar to decolonizing and the process of decolonization, though with much greater scope. See Frantz Fanon's 1961 classic Wretched of the Earth.)
I bet those words scare you. “What does he mean by 'de-civilizing revolution and rebellion'? Oh dear. He's trying to take away my Netflix!” That's right, I am. You don't need Netflix. (Just remind yourself: Netflix = a very violent, very painful, civilizational collapse.)
Okay, let's back up, because I can see you're starting to sweat. So let's forget about school and revolution for just a sec. Let's talk about something else which you're familiar with: Climate Change. The majority of people on the planet accept that climate change is real, it's dangerous, that measures need to be taken, that fossil fuel use should be dramatically reduced, and that if we don't take steps, that all of life on the planet is at risk, and that eating ice cream outside in summer will become very tricky. We don't need to talk about the climate change deniers, as delusional, callous, psychopathic, and grubby as they are, because they're in the minority (although they are often members of the elite, with enormous power and influence, so we'll talk about them later.) So, my point is, that most of us are already facing reality.
Or are we? At least it looks like it, on the surface. Only in comparison to the deniers. But that's not a helpful comparison. That's like comparing the ongoing Israeli genocide of Palestinians to the colonial British who killed hundreds of millions of Indians. Yeah, okay, the Israelis haven't killed that many people. But that doesn't make the Israeli occupation an episode of “The Muppet Show,” either. Genocide is still genocide.
In the same way, climate change deniers may be delusional, but so are we. Compared to climate change deniers we may look more intelligent, aware, and thoughtful, but in actuality, the majority of us who accept climate change are also very delusional. Yes, we're delusional, too! And much worse than the benign delusions of say, flat-Earthers, or of sasquatchers, our delusions about climate change will be as deadly, and already are as deadly, as climate change deniers.
How are we delusional? Okay, take a big breath, because it's a long list: We carry on each and every day, failing to do anything meaningful about climate change. We think that buying an electric car will help. We think that recycling will help. We think that buying solar panels will help. We think that solar panels and wind turbines can power industrial civilization. We think that solar panels and wind turbines are not also reliant on fossil fuels. (Jensen 2021) We think that covering half of the Earth's landmass with solar panels and wind turbines is acceptable. We think that nuclear power is an option. (James Lovelock, James Hansen, and George Monbiot may be very intelligent, but not about everything.) We think that a “Green New Deal” is what we need. We think that we can continue living in the same way and have it powered by something other than fossil fuels. We think that some new technology will save us. (Huessemann 2011) We think that we need computers, we need the internet, we need cars, and that we need airplanes. We think that climate change might not be as bad as they say. We think that we just need to elect the right President or Prime Minister. We think that we just need to elect the right officials. We think that anyone we elect will do anything beneficial. We delude ourselves by thinking that governments are even capable of doing anything other than serve the needs of the elite. We think that governments exist for our benefit. We think that we just need to pressure our governments. We think that somehow, the elite will allow governments to do anything effective against climate change. We think that capitalists will allow us to take meaningful action. We delude ourselves by thinking that effective action will be legal. We delude ourselves by thinking that we won't have to break the law to “stop” climate change (i.e., mitigating the disastrous effects). We delude ourselves by thinking that we can keep on multiplying and reproducing, and that the Earth can sustainably support billions of people (regardless of their carbon footprint.) We delude ourselves by ignoring overpopulation. We delude ourselves by thinking that we can stop climate change while capitalism still exists. We delude ourselves by thinking that any civilization can be sustainable. We delude ourselves by thinking that a sustainable way of life can include computers, high tech, cars, and the internet. We delude ourselves by thinking that there can ever be a civilization, no matter what its energy source is, that will ever be sustainable, and won't always end up with ecological destruction, endless war, and mass misery and suffering. We delude ourselves by thinking that collapse has not already started. We delude ourselves by not accepting that the only way to stop climate change will include worldwide revolts and rebellions, and the total shutdown of the global economy. We delude ourselves when we refuse to accept that the only way to stop climate change is to live a simple, localized life, close to nature, with little if any electricity, and little if any modern technology, which can never be sustainable. (Moncarz 2019)
Which brings us back to school.
We delude ourselves by sending our kids to school. I mean, what the heck are we sending kids to school for? To “learn”? Kids don't need schools in order to learn! (Gray 2015) To get a job? There is not one single job out there that will help overthrow this system that is ending life on Earth. In fact, just about every single job is part of the sick, twisted social arrangement known as civilization, and just about every single job reinforces and perpetuates the destruction of life. Just about every single job will just make everything worse. Why would we want to spend our days making things worse?! (The possible exceptions are jobs like small-scale organic horticulture, raising free-range animals, re-foresting, natural midwifery, massage, physiotherapy, care-giving, and similar jobs. Not classroom teachers, sorry.)
The proof of our delusions about school is this: Fifty years ago, fossil fuels accounted for about 75-80 percent of our energy sources. Today? Exactly the same! All that school education hasn't made a damn difference. Instead, things have gotten much, much worse. Even with all your Jesus-like solar panels and wind turbines, and all the climate change conferences and conventions. Not only that, but oil, gas, and coal companies are planning on 1.5 trillion dollars in new production over the next ten years. (Hunziker 2022) They're not planning on stopping, and who's going to stop them? Governments?! (Another delusion.) Always remember, they own the government. Oil companies have made 2.8 billion dollars in profit each and every day for the last fifty years – and what do they do with all that money? They buy every single politician! (Carrington 2022) Similarly, the plastics industry (remembering that plastic is made from oil, as well as thousands of toxic chemicals) have been increasing plastic production every year, and only plan to continue increasing plastic production as well. (Brigham 2022; Glaun 2021; Qualmann 2017) In other words, our school education has made fossil fuel use worse, which means schools have made climate change worse, which means schools have helped to destroy life on Earth.
Further proof: The world now has more people in poverty and more slaves than ever before in human history. (And that's not including the rest of us, all wage slaves.) Inequality is at extreme levels and getting worse. The U.S. today has greater inequality than 150 years ago. (Scheidel 2017, p. 284) The concentration of wealth into fewer and fewer hands is only increasing. In 2016, the richest 61 people owned as much as the poorest half of all people on the planet. Two years later, that number was the richest 26 people. (Elliot 2019) In the U.S., the three richest Americans own more than the poorest half of Americans – that's 160 million people. (Kirsch) And the Covid pandemic has made it even worse. During the two years of the pandemic, the wealth of the world's roughly 2,000 billionaires grew by 5.5. trillion dollars (68%), while most everyone else lost money, lost jobs, and got poorer. (Collins 2021) During the first year of the pandemic, 100 million people were pushed into extreme poverty, with another 150 million people being pushed into extreme poverty in 2022 – also in part because of the West's ongoing pointless proxy war against Russia and the resulting global inflation, petrol shortages, and food shortages. (Martin 2022) In other words, our school education has made global poverty and inequality worse.
Speaking of war, has schooling done anything to stop war? No! All the officials, generals, and policymakers who declare war all were “very well-educated” in schools. In fact, more people have been in killed in wars during the 150 year history of compulsory education than ever before in human history. After all, the main reason for creating schools was to create a population obedient and compliant to the State! To go to war when told, to kill when told, to drop bombs when told, to hate certain groups of people when told, and to bury people in mass graves when told. Obedient! And it's worked like a charm.
Meanwhile, that much-celebrated education has raised generations of scientists who use their school-gained knowledge to create ever-deadlier ways of killing people! Atomic bombs, poison gas, biological weapons, nuclear weapons, depleted uranium shells, and deadlier and deadlier guns. The parents of these scientists must be so satisfied. “My little Timmy designed the bomb that killed 150,000 people in Hiroshima. I'm so proud of him. And to think he's still a bed-wetter.”
Other scientists use their school education to make our food itself deadly. All food, not just Skittles. (Steinberg 2022; “Study” 2021) Yes, most of our “food” is deadly – including the food packaging. (Fox 2019) What else would you expect? Our food contains dioxins, GMOs, BPA, Roundup, BHA, BHT, hexane, arsenic, lead, sodium nitrite/nitrate, just to name a few of the toxins we eat every day. Our bodies are full of toxins and microplastics. The average mother's breast milk is full of toxins. Thanks to science, newborn babies begin their lives already full of toxins:
According to a study by the Environmental Working Groups, blood samples from newborns show exposure to over two hundred eighty-seven toxins, including mercury, fire retardants, pesticides and Teflon—exposure that occurs even before they are born. Of these, one hundred eighty cause cancer in humans or animals; two hundred seventeen are toxic to the brain and nervous system; and two hundred eight cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests. (Onusic 2013)
Toxins, toxins, toxins. Everywhere! That's why we're living through a global cancer pandemic. In other words, school is poisoning us all.
Or those other scientists, creating ever deadlier ways of killing any life on the planet. Pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, vivisection, animal experimentation, factory farms – you name the life form, there are scientists devising ways to kill them. “Johnny was always such a bright boy. He used to kick our cat clear across the backyard. Now he works at Monsanto helping to wipe out life on the planet. Parenting is very rewarding.”
One hundred and fifty years of compulsory schooling has resulted in one hundred and fifty years of the most ecological destruction, most inequality, most extreme poverty, most brutality, and the deadliest wars in human history. (Though the previous 2000 years were already pretty damn horrific.) Wow, that's quite a record!
A lot of good education (and the governments which run them) has done us.
In fact, school is one of the main reasons why we're all delusional. Thirteen years of brainwashing with a curriculum approved by the State and their billionaire overlords. Schools delude kids into thinking that if they study hard that they'll get a good job and that everything will be fine. They become delusional with the idea that it's healthy to spend nearly their entire youth sitting in a classroom. Delusional that science, writing, and math has helped humanity. (It's helped the elite, the military, and governments, that's for sure.) Delusional that modern technology is good for us. Delusional that they need to be forced by teachers in order to learn. And delusional in all the other ways I already listed above. The delusions are endless, but you get the point. School reinforces all our delusions.
If we were take into account the actual state of the world, the new and better purpose of schools would be clear: for a de-civilizing revolution and rebellion, and to prepare for global societal and ecological collapse.
The fact is, there will be no chance at “stopping” climate change or of creating a healthier world without a de-civilizing revolution and rebellion. Because there has never and there will never be a peaceful way to take power from the rich. Are you kidding? We're deluding ourselves if we don't see how the rich would rather start a world war and use nuclear weapons than lose any of their power and wealth. We can't legislate a healthier way of life. We can't protest our way to the end of poverty. We can't vote our way to stop climate change. It really should be obvious by now.
Frederick Douglass, in his famous 1857 speech, said, “Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow.”
Ending slavery required rebellion. Women's rights required rebellion. Black civil rights in the U.S. required rebellion. Ending South African Apartheid required rebellion. Ousting the genocidal British colonial control of India required rebellion. Kicking the colonial French out of Algeria required rebellion and fighting. Kicking the colonial Spanish out of Cuba (and then later removing the U.S. puppet dictator Batista) required rebellion and fighting. And the only successful modern slave revolt took 13 years of fighting by Haitian slaves to oust the French in 1804. This is a short list. The main point is, there is no getting rid of an oppressor without rebellion.
In fact, a small number of young people are already starting to see this. Youth activists from the organization “End Fossil: Occupy!” just released a new open letter (which was published on a very mainstream British news website) calling for the occupation of schools and universities, saying:
The bottom line is: we can’t keep pretending everything is all right, studying as if the planet wasn’t on fire...From Lisbon to California, from Peru to Germany and from Madrid to Ivory Coast, we call on young people to get together and organize an international revolutionary generation that can change the system. (“End” 2022)
So we're delusional if we think we can make the world a better place by being passive and obedient. The elite don't want a healthy world, and they will use unending violence against us to make sure of it (in addition to the endless violence they already use.) In fact, the consequences of climate change include making the human world even more murderous and violent. (Parenti 2011) A 2004 Pentagon report on climate change states, “Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life. Once again, warfare would define human life.” (Schwartz and Randall 2003)
James Woolsey, a former CIA director, wrote in a 2007 report:
All of the ways in which human beings have dealt with natural disasters in the past...could come together in one conflagration: rage at government’s inability to deal with the abrupt and unpredictable crises; religious fervor, perhaps even a dramatic rise in millennial end-of-days cults; hostility and violence toward migrants and minority groups, at a time of demographic change and increased global migration; and intra- and interstate conflict over resources, particularly food and fresh water. Altruism and generosity would likely be blunted. (Campbell et al 2007, p.85)
In other words, if we keep doing things the same way – including sending our kids to school – then the picture for the future is one of increasing violence, war, social breakdown, misery and suffering.
And hey, like most people, I'm a pacifist. I never go looking for a fight. Sure, I'd love it if we could all just sit down around a campfire, eat a freshly-roasted wild pig, and be reasonable and people would then do the right thing. But that's not reality. The elite are psychopathic and never, ever do the right thing. (If they did, they would not be the elite.) We're delusional if we don't see how law-abiding approaches have gotten absolutely nowhere. (Churchill 2017; Gelderloos 2007) So we have a choice. It makes sense to prefer the thoughtful, measured, and non-violent tactics such as mass civil disobedience and sabotage, rather than the total disintegration of global societies into thousands and thousands of extremely violent, desperate, brutal, warring, murderous factions, many with access to nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons – which is where we're quickly heading. (Jensen 2011; Parenti 2015)
Taking into account the new reality, and how youth actually learn (hint: it's not in a classroom), the purpose of school should be to allow young people to learn to see civilization as pathological, to learn how to survive, how to survive on little, how to grow food, hunt and raise animals, how to care and how to be empathetic, and how to overthrow our current overlords and all the billionaire psychopaths and greedy wetiko monsters who are destroying life on the planet. (Forbes 2008)
Actually, this is misleading. There can never be a good purpose for school. Schools should not exist at all. All of the basic design features of schools are pathological. (Moncarz 2019) Schools only need to exist if parents are forced to be slaves in the offices and factories and mines, and if money exists. But in order to stop climate change, to end poverty, and to bring about a healthier way of life, there would be no offices, no factories, no mines, and no money. (Or would you be happy to have your kids work in the mines?)
The best education we can provide young people is for parents and adults to work together to take down the fossil fuel industry, to take apart the military, and to rip the wealth away from the rich and destroy it, so that there is no more wealth. In short, the best education for youth is to watch their parents ending industrial civilization and replacing it with a healthier way of life.
We can cling to delusions of doing things peacefully, of playing the voting game, playing the “good worker” game, and playing the schooling game, but these will get us nowhere. Collapse has begun. Collapse will end your fantasies. Collapse will get as bad as we allow it to. If we do nothing, collapse will include nuclear war, nuclear meltdowns, global panic, global unrest and widespread civil wars, the widespread rise of fascists and dictators, widespread starvation and famine, the spread of infectious diseases, the extinction of most wildlife (they will be eaten by starving people), the deforestation of all remaining forests, widespread cannibalism (worse than in “Soylent Green” - also, see the long history of famines in China), the end of women's equality (which was only “allowed” because of fossil fuel economics), the return of widespread chattel slavery, child slavery, and debt bondage, as well as extreme climate upheavals, whether extreme heat (with wildfires, drought, and famine) or extreme cold due to the collapse of the Gulf Stream ocean currents and nuclear winters (with global famine and a lot of shivering).
To not be delusional would be to fully recognize the situation in front of us now, and to know that without effective action, things will get much, much uglier – for your kids especially.
The only worthwhile education is to prepare youth for collapse and to educate for a thoughtful, ethically-grounded, ecological, de-civilizing revolution, rebellion – and the only way to do that is to role model it.
To deny that is to remain just as delusional as climate change deniers. We'd be much better off just searching for Big Foot.
There has ever only been one purpose for school: delusions.
References and Further Reading
Akpan, Nsikan. (2019 January 7). “How your brain stops you from taking climate change seriously.” Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/how-your-brain-stops-you-from-taking-climate-change-seriously
Beauchamp, Zach. (2017 January 23). “700 years of Western inequality, in one chart.” Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/world/2017/1/23/14323760/inequality-europe-chart
Brigham, Katie. (2022 January 29). “How the fossil fuel industry is pushing plastics on the world.” Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/29/how-the-fossil-fuel-industry-is-pushing-plastics-on-the-world-.html
Campbell, Kurt, Gulledge, Jay, McNeill, J.R., et al. (2007). “The Age of Consequences: The Foreign Policy and National Security Implications of Global Climate Change.” Center for Strategic and International Studies. Retrieved from https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/legacy_files/files/media/csis/pubs/071105_ageofconsequences.pdf
Carrington, Damian. (2021 August 5). “Climate crisis: Scientists spot warning signs of Gulf Stream collapse.” The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/05/climate-crisis-scientists-spot-warning-signs-of-gulf-stream-collapse
Carrington, Damian. (2022 July 21). “Revealed: oil sector’s ‘staggering’ $3bn-a-day profits for last 50 years.” The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/21/revealed-oil-sectors-staggering-profits-last-50-years
Churchill, Ward. (2017). The Pathology of Pacifism: Reflections on the Role of Armed Struggle in North America. PM Press.
Collins, Chuck. (2021 August 11). “Global Billionaire Pandemic Wealth Gains Surge to $5.5 Trillion.” Retrieved from https://inequality.org/great-divide/global-billionaire-pandemic-wealth-surges/
Elliot, Larry. (2019 January 20). “World's 26 richest people own as much as poorest 50%, says Oxfam.” The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jan/21/world-26-richest-people-own-as-much-as-poorest-50-per-cent-oxfam-report
Fanon, Frantz. (1963). The Wretched of the Earth. Grove Press.
Forbes, Jack. (2008). Columbus and Other Cannibals: The Wetiko Disease of Exploitation, Imperialism, and Terrorism. Seven Stories Press.
Fox, Eleanor Goldberg. (2019 May 28). “Food packaging is full of toxic chemicals – here's how it could affect your health.” The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/28/plastics-toxic-america-chemicals-packaging
Gatto, John Taylor. (2002). Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. New Society Publishers.
Gatto, John Taylor. (2010). Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher’s Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling. New Society Publishers.
Gelderloos, Peter. (2007). How Nonviolence Protects the State. South End Press.
Glaun, Dan. (2021 February 17). “The Plastic Industry Is Growing During COVID. Recycling? Not So Much.” Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-plastic-industry-is-growing-during-covid-recycling-not-so-much/
Gray, Peter. (2015). Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life. Basic Books.
Harvey, Fiona. (2022 July 18). “Humanity faces 'collective suicide' over climate crisis, warns UN chief.” Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/18/humanity-faces-collective-suicide-over-climate-crisis-warns-un-chief
Huessemann, Michael and Joyce Huessemann. (2011). Techno-Fix: Why Technology Won’t Save Us or the Planet. New Society Publishers.
Hunziker, Robert. (2022 July 19). “Greenland Threatens.” Counterpunch. Retrieved from https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/07/19/greenland-threatens/
Jensen, Derrick, Keith, Lierre, and Wilbert, Max. (2021). Bright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It. Monkfish Book Publishing.
Jensen, Derrick, Lierre Keith and Aric McBay. (2011). Deep Green Resistance: Strategy to Save the Planet. Seven Stories Press.
Kirsch, Noah. (2017 November 9). “The 3 Richest Americans Hold More Wealth Than Bottom 50% Of The Country, Study Finds.” Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/noahkirsch/2017/11/09/the-3-richest-americans-hold-more-wealth-than-bottom-50-of-country-study-finds/?sh=258b9e173cf8
Martin, Eric. (2022 April 12). “Another Quarter Billion People Will Fall Into Poverty This Year, Oxfam Says.” Time Magazine. Retrieved from https://time.com/6166028/covid-poverty-hunger-war-inflation/
Moncarz, Joe. (2019). “Statement on Modern Technology.” Retrieved from https://www.joemoncarz.com/statement-on-modern-technology.html
Moncarz, Joe. (2019). “What is Education for? Educating for a Dead Planet.” Retrieved from https://www.joemoncarz.com/what-is-education-for.html
Mwanzia, Jessica. (2013). So, What's Wrong With School? 125 Reasons Not to Send Your Kids. Lulu Publishing.
Onusic, Sylvia. (2013 April 22). “Violent Behavior: A Solution in Plain Sight.” Weston A. Price Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/environmental-toxins/violent-behavior-a-solution-in-plain-sight/
Parenti, Christian. (2011). Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence. Nation Books.
Picchi, Aimee. (2022 January 16). “10 richest billionaires doubled their wealth during pandemic, Oxfam says.” Retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/billionaires-double-wealth-covid-pandemic/
Qualman, Darrin. (2017 December 17). “Global plastics production, 1917 to 2050.” Retrieved from https://www.darrinqualman.com/global-plastics-production/
Scheidel, Walter. (2017). The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century. Princeton University Press.
Schwartz, Peter and Randall, Doug. (2003). “An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security.” Retrieved from https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2004/02/abruptclimatechange2003.pdf
Shearman, David. (2018 December 6). “Climate change denial is delusion, and the biggest threat to human survival.” Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-07/climate-change-denialism-holocaust-david-attenborough-coal/10585744
Steinberg, Julie. (2022 July 15). “Skittles Have Coloring Agent Unsafe for Humans, Lawsuit Says.” Bloomberg Law. Retrieved from https://news.bloomberglaw.com/product-liability-and-toxics-law/skittles-have-toxic-coloring-agent-unsafe-for-humans-suit-says
“Study: Additive found in Skittles and Starburst no longer considered safe.” (2021 May 18). Environmental Working Group. Retrieved from https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/2021/05/study-additive-found-skittles-and-starburst-no-longer-considered
Vallaeys, Charlotte. (2010 November). “Toxic Chemicals: Banned In Organics But Common in
'Natural' Food Production: Soy Protein and chemical solvents in Nutrition Bars and Meat alternatives.” Cornucopia Institute. Retrieved from https://www.organicconsumers.org/sites/default/files/nvo_hexane_report.pdf
“Why we’re stepping up from strikes. Youth movement: radical and ready to occupy!” (2022 July 26). End Fossil: Occupy! Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/26/school-strikes-climate-protests-activists
Akpan, Nsikan. (2019 January 7). “How your brain stops you from taking climate change seriously.” Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/how-your-brain-stops-you-from-taking-climate-change-seriously
Beauchamp, Zach. (2017 January 23). “700 years of Western inequality, in one chart.” Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/world/2017/1/23/14323760/inequality-europe-chart
Brigham, Katie. (2022 January 29). “How the fossil fuel industry is pushing plastics on the world.” Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/29/how-the-fossil-fuel-industry-is-pushing-plastics-on-the-world-.html
Campbell, Kurt, Gulledge, Jay, McNeill, J.R., et al. (2007). “The Age of Consequences: The Foreign Policy and National Security Implications of Global Climate Change.” Center for Strategic and International Studies. Retrieved from https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/legacy_files/files/media/csis/pubs/071105_ageofconsequences.pdf
Carrington, Damian. (2021 August 5). “Climate crisis: Scientists spot warning signs of Gulf Stream collapse.” The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/05/climate-crisis-scientists-spot-warning-signs-of-gulf-stream-collapse
Carrington, Damian. (2022 July 21). “Revealed: oil sector’s ‘staggering’ $3bn-a-day profits for last 50 years.” The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/21/revealed-oil-sectors-staggering-profits-last-50-years
Churchill, Ward. (2017). The Pathology of Pacifism: Reflections on the Role of Armed Struggle in North America. PM Press.
Collins, Chuck. (2021 August 11). “Global Billionaire Pandemic Wealth Gains Surge to $5.5 Trillion.” Retrieved from https://inequality.org/great-divide/global-billionaire-pandemic-wealth-surges/
Elliot, Larry. (2019 January 20). “World's 26 richest people own as much as poorest 50%, says Oxfam.” The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jan/21/world-26-richest-people-own-as-much-as-poorest-50-per-cent-oxfam-report
Fanon, Frantz. (1963). The Wretched of the Earth. Grove Press.
Forbes, Jack. (2008). Columbus and Other Cannibals: The Wetiko Disease of Exploitation, Imperialism, and Terrorism. Seven Stories Press.
Fox, Eleanor Goldberg. (2019 May 28). “Food packaging is full of toxic chemicals – here's how it could affect your health.” The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/28/plastics-toxic-america-chemicals-packaging
Gatto, John Taylor. (2002). Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. New Society Publishers.
Gatto, John Taylor. (2010). Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher’s Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling. New Society Publishers.
Gelderloos, Peter. (2007). How Nonviolence Protects the State. South End Press.
Glaun, Dan. (2021 February 17). “The Plastic Industry Is Growing During COVID. Recycling? Not So Much.” Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-plastic-industry-is-growing-during-covid-recycling-not-so-much/
Gray, Peter. (2015). Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life. Basic Books.
Harvey, Fiona. (2022 July 18). “Humanity faces 'collective suicide' over climate crisis, warns UN chief.” Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/18/humanity-faces-collective-suicide-over-climate-crisis-warns-un-chief
Huessemann, Michael and Joyce Huessemann. (2011). Techno-Fix: Why Technology Won’t Save Us or the Planet. New Society Publishers.
Hunziker, Robert. (2022 July 19). “Greenland Threatens.” Counterpunch. Retrieved from https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/07/19/greenland-threatens/
Jensen, Derrick, Keith, Lierre, and Wilbert, Max. (2021). Bright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It. Monkfish Book Publishing.
Jensen, Derrick, Lierre Keith and Aric McBay. (2011). Deep Green Resistance: Strategy to Save the Planet. Seven Stories Press.
Kirsch, Noah. (2017 November 9). “The 3 Richest Americans Hold More Wealth Than Bottom 50% Of The Country, Study Finds.” Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/noahkirsch/2017/11/09/the-3-richest-americans-hold-more-wealth-than-bottom-50-of-country-study-finds/?sh=258b9e173cf8
Martin, Eric. (2022 April 12). “Another Quarter Billion People Will Fall Into Poverty This Year, Oxfam Says.” Time Magazine. Retrieved from https://time.com/6166028/covid-poverty-hunger-war-inflation/
Moncarz, Joe. (2019). “Statement on Modern Technology.” Retrieved from https://www.joemoncarz.com/statement-on-modern-technology.html
Moncarz, Joe. (2019). “What is Education for? Educating for a Dead Planet.” Retrieved from https://www.joemoncarz.com/what-is-education-for.html
Mwanzia, Jessica. (2013). So, What's Wrong With School? 125 Reasons Not to Send Your Kids. Lulu Publishing.
Onusic, Sylvia. (2013 April 22). “Violent Behavior: A Solution in Plain Sight.” Weston A. Price Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/environmental-toxins/violent-behavior-a-solution-in-plain-sight/
Parenti, Christian. (2011). Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence. Nation Books.
Picchi, Aimee. (2022 January 16). “10 richest billionaires doubled their wealth during pandemic, Oxfam says.” Retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/billionaires-double-wealth-covid-pandemic/
Qualman, Darrin. (2017 December 17). “Global plastics production, 1917 to 2050.” Retrieved from https://www.darrinqualman.com/global-plastics-production/
Scheidel, Walter. (2017). The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century. Princeton University Press.
Schwartz, Peter and Randall, Doug. (2003). “An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security.” Retrieved from https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2004/02/abruptclimatechange2003.pdf
Shearman, David. (2018 December 6). “Climate change denial is delusion, and the biggest threat to human survival.” Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-07/climate-change-denialism-holocaust-david-attenborough-coal/10585744
Steinberg, Julie. (2022 July 15). “Skittles Have Coloring Agent Unsafe for Humans, Lawsuit Says.” Bloomberg Law. Retrieved from https://news.bloomberglaw.com/product-liability-and-toxics-law/skittles-have-toxic-coloring-agent-unsafe-for-humans-suit-says
“Study: Additive found in Skittles and Starburst no longer considered safe.” (2021 May 18). Environmental Working Group. Retrieved from https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/2021/05/study-additive-found-skittles-and-starburst-no-longer-considered
Vallaeys, Charlotte. (2010 November). “Toxic Chemicals: Banned In Organics But Common in
'Natural' Food Production: Soy Protein and chemical solvents in Nutrition Bars and Meat alternatives.” Cornucopia Institute. Retrieved from https://www.organicconsumers.org/sites/default/files/nvo_hexane_report.pdf
“Why we’re stepping up from strikes. Youth movement: radical and ready to occupy!” (2022 July 26). End Fossil: Occupy! Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/26/school-strikes-climate-protests-activists