"Ideally, what should be said to every child, repeatedly, throughout his or her school life is something like 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. You are being taught by people who have been able to accommodate themselves to a regime of thought laid down by their predecessors. It is a self-perpetuating system. 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 moulded and patterned to fit into the narrow and particular needs of this particular society.’"
Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook (via uhhleeese)
I think what I love most about this quote is that it recalls so many voices of educators throughout my lifetime that have, in one way or another, told me exactly this message. I was always taught to think for myself and to think critically, that our system is broken, but that doesn’t mean that we, as individuals have to be.
(Source: cartographe, via uhhleeese)
