The Weekly Wonder - On Education
“Education is the Backbone of Civil Society, Individual Enlightenment, and Human Progress – and an unimpeded, quality education for all the citizens of one’s nation, or the lack thereof – is the dividing line between civility and barbarism. With it, the fellowship of humanity is far stronger, without it, centuries of collective advancement and intelligence will come undone.”
- Daniel I. Vrabel
The world we live in – it is permeated by innumerable axioms, mysteries, and curiosities that characterize the human condition. Aphorisms that vivify our everyday lives, yet are so often overlooked, even when one is completely immersed in them. Perhaps one of the prototypical examples of these aphorisms – quintessential to our society, yet so often forgotten, is the hallowed institution of public education. Therefore, today’s focus is the beginning of a new series of shorter articles known as the Weekly Wonder, explicating a short history and analysis of various traditions, institutions, and polities in order to help better understand our world, and in order to develop a simple, rational, and popular understanding for the betterment of our society – leaving the rest up to you, the reader.
Although Educational institutions and academia as a whole have been prevalent since the dawn of Civilization – for the most part education has historically been a luxury, with only the few whose means rendered them privy to education being able to access the wisdom of the ages, with very few societies being able to provide education and intellectual enrichment for all of their inhabitants until the modern age, at the dawn of the 19th Century. However, modern public education – at least in its current manifestation, prevalence, and methods of teaching, originated not from the mind of utopian philosophers or the ambitious intellectual reformers of the Enlightenment but from the bastion of European militarism following the Napoleonic Wars. For context – the period between 1756 to 1815 had been an incredibly turbulent one for the European continent, and for Western Civilization altogether – with continuous conflict from the Seven Years' War, to European involvement in the American Revolution. From the partition of Poland to the French Revolutionary Wars. Or political upheaval in the form of ethnic revolts, the Enlightenment, the birth of modern nationalism, the reign of terror in France, and the revival of Republicanism on the international stage, all culminating with the bloody Napoleonic Wars.
In the aftermath of this series of conflicts, following the final climacteric defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, the 1815 Treaty of Vienna was established and ratified by the victorious powers – Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia – in an attempt to enact a peace resembling the old balance of power; restored the Bourbon Dynasty to France, established overseas dominance by the British, extinguished any attempts at a unified German, Polish, or Italian state, cemented an authoritarian, monarchist stranglehold over the continent, and revived the 1795 partition of Poland between Prussia, Austria, and Russia. That final policy in particular, eradicating the Polish nation-state altogether was a particularly consequential declaration for our story, and a seemingly daunting task for the imperialist powers, to eradicate a national identity and polity that had defined the balance of power in Eastern Europe for centuries, with all three powers attempting different strategies at achieving this goal. The Russians attempted to despotically force the Polish People into submission via brute force, which only fostered further resentment and a plethora of ethnic revolts throughout the century. The Austrians attempted to govern their lands in a similar manner until the Revolutions of 1848, in which the Austrian Empire adopted a more tolerant, federalist policy for the region – which largely assuaged any concerns. Prussia however – the Militant state making up modern-day East Germany, which the French Philosopher Voltaire had once proclaimed; “the Army with a State”, devised a unique strategy to dismantle and gradually eradicate Polish identity in their newfound territories.
The Prussian state decided to implement a method of cultural indoctrination via a new style of mandatory primary education, universally provided by the state for all citizens (Prussian and Polish alike), emphasizing Prussian identity, Germanic traditions and linguistics, and utilizing teaching methods popularized in training camps for the Prussian Military – lasting 8 years, with grades separated by age, and a nationally coordinated curriculum. The organization of classrooms, lectures, curriculum, assignments, and rigorous structure had been carefully calibrated to emulate a military setting. Thereby flouting the tradition of Socratic styles of lecture/discussion synthesis, the more question-oriented Classical schools of education, and the more study-based and contemplative scholastic traditions of medieval Universities with a strict, militarist education system designed to transform the citizenry (especially those of Polish ancestry), into obedient, unquestioning, regimented Prussians, preparing them to take orders and – for lack of a better vocabulary – to be an ideal soldier. The system, although contradicting much of the common knowledge behind the enhancing of thought and intellect – fulfilled it’s purpose of transforming the populace into orderly, obedient, regimented Prussians, with unobstructed pride for their government, and unquestioning loyalty to their superiors. Now, at this point, one may be wondering how this system of Germanification and indoctrination based on Prussian militarism developed into the internationally accepted system of modern primary education, and perhaps few individuals were more involved in this process than an antebellum era American Congressman by the name of Horace Mann.
Mann had been a politician and member of the Massachusetts state legislature during the 1830’s when he began to advocate for common public education on a broader scale not only for the people of Massachusetts but for the wider American populace, in a time when most education was either controlled by destitute local councils, religious organizations, or exorbitantly priced private institutions, and the average American would be considered privileged to even have a couple years of formal schooling under their belt. Mann spent the greater part of a decade researching and formulating the best method to achieve his goal, including taking inspiration from the Puritan and Catholic education programs, alongside private institutions in the Northeast – however his quintessential breakthrough occurred in the summer of 1843, when he traveled to Europe in order to analyze the state of education in the Old World. It was in Europe where Mann was enamored by the regimented, universal, and accessible Prussian system of education – and thus the noblest of goals espoused by a true American visionary was henceforth intertwined with a system devised with rather sinister intentions, contradictory to the progression of collective intellect or ingenuity. The outcome was that Mann, who by this time had become a Representative in the United States Congress advocated for the utilization of a system largely modeled upon the Prussian system yet significantly more Secular, flexible, and based upon the principles of Republicanism and Civic Virtue, in order to transform a seemingly unruly and uneducated American populace into a new generation of loyal, orderly, disciplined, and fairly capable Americans. This movement spearheaded by Mann became known as the “Common School Movement”, and was a venerable cornerstone of Progressivism within the 19th Century in America, despite its militarist, unintellectual heritage. This movement for a public, Prussian style of education would quickly begin to catch on throughout the European continent as governments sought to invest more in public, secular, universal education and the Prussian style of indoctrination and regimented education was by far the cheapest and most conducive form of education for the burgeoning Republics who put an increasing emphasis upon national identity, which was firmly emphasized within this system of teaching. Moreover, homework was made commonplace around the turn of the century for primary education, and much of the tenets of modern curriculum were codified during this time.
However, a widespread, public, universally accessible system of Education in the Prussian manner was not fully established within the United States until the dawn of the 20th Century, albeit a more reformed, liberalized version of it. As the Industrial Revolution completely transformed the landscape of American life, a vast majority of lower-class American youth found themselves ensnared within the abhorrent practice of Child Labor, and as the call for public education and alternatives to Child Labor intensified, many of the industrial titans of the day – popularly known as the Robber Barons – devised a solution. For many of these ultra-wealthy titans of industry, led by John D. Rockefeller and to a lesser degree Andrew Carnegie, working to influence education in their desired image was a lucrative prospect, in a manner that would strive less to foster independent thinking, innovation, and intellect, and more to produce obedient citizens prepared for work in a factory setting. Therefore, the Prussian system held a certain appeal as the militarist style of education could very easily be adapted into a factory style of education, with characteristics such as the strictly regimented rooms, schedules, bells, cafeterias, and architecture of early schools were often designed to emulate a factory and prepare students for work, just as the Prussian system prepared students to be obedient and akin to soldiers in their character. The General Education Board was founded in 1903 by Rockefeller to advance this goal, expending a considerable amount of his wealth in order to finance the development of schools of this sort, largely to be transferred into the hands of the state, while Carnegie himself spent a great percentage of his personal fortune funding similar projects, and as the century progressed, an industrialized adaptation of the Prussian System emerged as the dominant style of education ubiquitously. Thus, the question emerges, why has the Prussian system been so successful? The answer, is rather simple – for whether it be cultural indoctrination, preparation for low-level factory work, or the instilling of ideological doctrines ranging from Communism to Fascism and everything in between, the Prussian system is highly efficient when it comes to imparting a school of thought without question on young minds. This system, epitomized by Rockefeller’s statement; “I don’t want a nation of thinkers, I want a nation of workers”, serves to elucidate the intention and the reason behind the success of the Prussian system of education.
Do not be mistaken, despite the analysis of the militarist and unsavory origins of this predominant style of education – this article is by no means intended to be an excoriation of modern, public education, which as reaffirmed by the wisdom of the ages is the backbone of any advanced society. Rather, it is simply meant to examine the peculiar origins of the modern methods of primary education, originating after the Napoleonic Wars and advanced by corporate interests in adjunct with the venerable goals of sir Horace Mann and ironically – American Progressivism. Furthermore, it is worth noting that on the balance, despite it’s seemingly Orwellian and Avaricious roots, the current style of education has enabled the literacy rate, the accessibility of education, and the intellectual capacity of the average citizen the world over to skyrocket, unlike any other educational achievement in the history of humanity. And lastly, despite the framework remaining similar, the actual curriculum and nature of education has greatly progressed and liberalized for the better since the inception of Prussian education in the 1800s, and although there is still room for improvement, the world is far better with this system than without it. In conclusion, it is up to you to make of this weekly wonder what you may, but the next time you hear somebody complaining about school, or curious about the origins of society's outlook on education, just remember that you have Prussian militarism and 19th Century Nationalism to thank – for better or for worse.