Satanism Today - An Encyclopedia of Religion, Folklore and Popular ...

294 Appendix I: Sample Documents
education on children developed around the time of
the industrial revolution. Since factories required
workers to be minimally educated so they could run
machines without chopping their hands off, a system
quickly evolved that would be the best training for
dutiful 9–5 laborers. Children were constrained to
receive an assembly-line education, with appropriate
information shoved into their heads by the particular
worker at a particular station, and, after a designated
time, were spit out the other end like so many
radios. Today, children are still taught the moral
value of getting up at 7 a.m. every morning, going to
a place you don’t want to be, with a lot of people
you’d consider your inferiors to take instructions
from someone you can’t respect. This trains you to
be a responsible citizen who will contribute to the
workforce without grumbling, questioning or inciting
to riot.
Despite public cant, our schools and our society
in general—don’t support learning. We pay lip
service to respecting education but we don’t reward
it materially. Drug dealers, rock stars and baseball
players get the money and the glory; you don’t necessarily
make more money if you’re smarter or work
harder in school. Consequently, schools are no
longer expected to teach basic skills. Modern
American public schools are battle zones. Not just
gun-battles over drugs but battles over political
agendas, religious indoctrinations, morality and
values. Nothing is exempt from perceived political
implication—history textbooks, science texts, library
books, students’ rights, multilingual education,
offensive or insensitive language, teachers’ own
sexual orientation or political leanings all become
more important than readin’, writin’, and ‘rithmatic.
The most basic, objective facts are sacrificed to “politics.”
The whole concept of “objectivity” is considered
to be a false construct designed to repress multicultural
diversity. Education is an incidental and
bitter pill shoved down the throats of unwilling,
unmotivated captives by teachers who are afraid to
fail students—for fear they’ll be accused of racism or
have their tires slashed or both. Kids don’t expect to
be challenged to perform, memorize or demonstrate
competence anymore. Most public school students
would be insulted if they were suddenly compelled to
complete the level of scholastic tasks expected of
children in the 1930’s or ’40’s. We’ve all been inundated
with depressing statistics about declining literacy
rates, how American high school graduates can’t
locate China on a globe, or even know what a globe
is. College educators complain that students arrive in
their hallowed halls unprepared, without the most
basic writing or math skills.
I don’t blame individual teachers. They’re overworked,
underpaid and under-appreciated. They are
expected to dodge bullets and students’ fists to
impose intelligence on their charges, just as doctors
are expected to magically impose health on uncooperative
patients. People who become teachers are
usually idealistic and driven; they certainly aren’t
drawn to the field for the money. But between the
petty administrative politics, overcrowded classes,
belligerent students, endless rules and the increasingly
dangerous environment, many of the best
teachers find themselves burning out, abandoning
their professions.
The established methods clearly are not working.
So why isn’t tax-supported mandatory education
being challenged Modifications are debated, more
testing and stricter graduation qualifications are
decreed, yes. Even vouchers have been proposed to
satisfy mandatory education requirements, which
would allow each student a certain amount of tax
money to be used on a school of his choice. If kids
need to be caged in minimum-security prisons while
their parents work, I don’t mind spending tax dollars
to do it. But the hypocrisy offends me. Let’s not go
through the pretense of hiring teachers and expecting
them to act as unarmed guards. Let’s not go
through the motions of buying textbooks and building
on-campus libraries where the most intellectually
valuable books are debated off the shelves
anyway. Don’t shove kids who really DO want to
learn something in with the shit disturbers. Qualified
teachers should teach where they’ll be appreciated,
where they can communicate their enthusiasm for
knowledge to children who are eager to learn. Let’s
hire guards and baby sitters to minister to the needs
of kids who are proud of their stupidity. Kids don’t
want to be in school; parents don’t want to be
involved with their children’s learning—so why force
it on them As with drug laws, let people choose to be
satisfied—as long as they are also compelled to suffer
the consequences and defensive reaction that
dissenters might impose upon their “indulgence.”
But no one offers the bold step of eliminating
compulsory school attendance altogether. Why not
Not because we want children to learn anything.
Because “free” education has become big business,
supporting a whole web of unions, bureaucracies,
publishers, and special interests. And any shrewd
Satanist will tell you that if big business and/or big
government is giving you something for free, you’d
better listen for the time bomb ticking inside the
pretty package.
The brainwashing isn’t even ineptly masked
anymore. Corporations have stepped in to “help”
fund public schools by donating educational materials
in the form of videotaped lessons, complete
with the assaultive pacing the Nintendo generation
has come to expect, splashy attention-grabbing