This is the second in a series of short essays where I look deeper into the fundamental systems of Indoctrination which we have all been put through, to greater or lesser degrees. In becoming a mother, I found the whole complex around birth and care for our babies works in direct opposition to the maternal instincts which we are innately born with. This segways easily into giving the complete care of your child over to institutions that are state run, or that draw from the paradigms which form the ethos of the culture in which we were born.
What is it that is valued in a state run education, or even within our “elite private institutions” founded upon the White Castle of our western society?
There is a phenomenal post by Dr Sarah Carnes which elucidates the origins of our current education system. These educational origins actually lie within Prussia, and the formation of institutions of Indoctrination which served military purposes, so that those put through the system would be better able to take orders, without question. This came about through the military leader Frederick Willhelm II, whose army deserted him in the heat of battle against Napolean in The Battle of Jena, 1806. As a result of this complete humiliation, a system was formed that would help insure that this never happened again.This is the energetic template from which our modern day school systems emanate.
When I was young, I went to a Waldorf school. Waldorf, or at least the Waldorf of the past, was focused on education of the whole child: body, mind and spirit. There are many ways that this system falls short, but I found as a highly sensitive child, a sense of freedom and ease within that particular system which allowed my spirit to thrive. Nature, the cycle of the seasons, and the fundamental experience of beauty were all deeply honored. Tests did not exist. Mythologies and Story were the golden experience. The imagination was given voice and power. Life was celebrated. Death was grieved. Plants were tended to, Stone Soup was made. Circles were the way we gathered.
When I left the school in 7th grade, I went to a public city run school.
These two experiences could not have been more different, and this incredible transition was etched upon my soul. Two experiences stand out to me. There were lines in the center of the school hallways which completely confused me.
Why were they there? One day I asked a teacher whom I trusted, and she said it was so that students would we stay in line.
I was completely bewildered by this. Why would I need this, when I have my own eyes to see, and mind to consult with? It seemed, belittling, utterly bewildering to my young heart and mind.
The second aspect I remember most was the ongoing feeling of being out of body for a very, very long period of time. Everything from the way in which we were forced to learn, to the ugly lunch cafeteria, to the toxic food, to the teasing and violence among both students and teachers, to the constant movement to test and punish, to the herd experience which was truly a survival strategy for everyone, this caused me to live in a low level state of trauma.
This trauma state was entirely normalized by everyone around me.
What I see today is only a deeper extrapolation of this ugly and violent system.
We are teaching our children to obey orders, to be obedient and perform well, to be competitive and to destroy the opposition. Like good soldiers. And if you are not elite enough to play in the big White Castle game, than you get to be the minions of the system. You get to be quiet and guard the state. Do what you are told, or fail, and have nothing.
Where is the heart? Where is the value of the human spirit? What are we fighting for?
There is no inherent value in a system which teaches total and utter conformity, which ridicules the individual uniqueness of the human imagination and spirit. There are so many children who are not just let down by this system, but who are deeply traumatized, and actually programmed through that trauma.
You see, when we are broken, as we all are to some degree, when we are vulnerable, when we are in pain, we are easily manipulated. We are easily controlled. We become easy prey.
This is not to put blame on so many of the good teachers working tirelessly to help support the growth of our children. But when the very root is rotten, what can truly be done?
When what we are teaching them is mostly useless, what can be salvaged?
When the institutional goals are in fact to create obedient servants to the state, and not deep seekers with wild and sovereign heart, mind, and imagination, what can be said?
And now as we witness the New Normal ethos take full hold, the monster that this system actually represents lurks in plain sight.
It seems to me that the frontline against this horrible monster are the mothers and the fathers who are taking it upon themselves to homeschool their children, and pull them out of a system which wants only to devour them.
These parents are seizing power, once again, of what it is that we are feeding the hearts, minds and souls of these incredibly beautiful, impressionable young beings. They are moving to support freedom of being, imagination, and the very pulse of life itself through leaving a system that was only and always about hierarchy, obedience, and control.