Education: The Zombie Apocalypse

In Mexico, it is common to hear a woman talk about children as "mal educados" ("poorly educated)", but when she says this about children--maybe or maybe not her own--she does not mean that they did not get proper schooling. In Mexico, "mal educado" means that a person does not have good manners or abide by the social norms of respect: it means a bad-mannered child. After reading about the history of education in general, I found a strong possible connection to this Spanish term and our misconception of what education means today. 

In an online article called "The Surprising Origin on Modern Education," I read that Academia was an idea founded by the Greek philosopher Plato. I don't know much about Plato, but I'm sure his intentions with formal education were good and meant to open the minds of the students. However, with the passing of time and the movement of political control to new governments, the idea of academy was used for different purposes. Education eventually became a means to ingraining Pagan ideas into the malleable minds of children. From there, it became a means to ingraining any idea into the minds of children. The article states, "Children are not taught to think—but to take orders—be followers, not leaders."

I talked to my dad, the head of recruitment at Pacific Northwest University, and his opinion about higher education is that, although some of the education may seem to be of little value or even simply another hoop to jump through, our society values the completion of the "education" enough that it is worth it. He said, "It doesn't matter what you study. Another degree equals another $50,000 you will make in your lifetime. And that's the role of education in our society." 

So while the modern conception about modern education is that it opens minds to possibilities, academy has a long history (we're talking 2,000+ years) of closing minds to standard ways of thinking. There is no need to fear a future Zombie Apocalypse because, in a way, we're living in one now. But my purpose is not to argue against education, so I will end with this image I saw just yesterday about education: