I was a music ed student as an undergraduate, and in choir and band in middle and high school. More than 30 years later, I can still sing melodies from pieces that we learned. And if I was to sing in choir again, I could sing my part in many songs with little practice.
How can I remember this so many years later? Because it was spiritual. Because I was deeply connected with my fellow students and teachers through music.
We need to encourage as many students as possible to join choir, band, drama - the arts! We need less technology and more time spent making music and art to ensure that we deeply connect with the people around us.
I believe that taking fine arts courses throughout school should be a requirement, and I also believe that it would solve many problems in schools.
That’s amazing Valerie. I am envious because I never had a proper musical education in school. I have just been fumbling around alone as a hobby for years and years. I have always wanted to sing Bach in a choir.
This resonates deeply. I teach chemistry and physics, and I’ve found the same principle — the knowledge that lasts is the knowledge the body participated in constructing. My students physically model molecular geometry with their arms because embodied encoding produces ownership that no diagram or AI explanation can replicate. Thirty years from now, they’ll remember the tetrahedral angle the way you remember your choir part. The spiritual dimension you’re naming is real, and it’s the part of education that compression cannot touch.
It is good to see more current thinking and critique about education and I would concur with you on all points. However there may be something else going on that was touched on by Ivan Illich. Education as a religious practice. Schooling as church.
I am a vicar in the CofE who is no longer in post and I have spent the entirety of my vocation attempting to speak some level of sense in a church that is intent trying to sell to people ‘ six unbelievable things before breakfast’. ( the red queen!) As the things we are expected to believe become more and more unbelievable so faith is invoked. It is this way with our education system. I can think of many more than six unbelievable things but here are a few. 1.That teaching the same thing to a class of 30 children is an effective way of delivering information. 2. That conscripting hundreds ( thousands) of children into an institution and using coercion and punishment to keep them there is conducive to joyful human flourishing. 3. That the ‘classical’ curriculum is actually all a growing human needs to know 4. That timetabled interaction with random bits of information develops and nourishes deep and life long love of creativity and learning. 5. That young people can learn morally and ethically from predominately having relationships with their peers to the exclusion of those younger and older than themselves 6. That everyone is having a good time!
As you have found, critiques of the western education system that has colonised the entire world are numerous and detailed, but still we do it. You were a little apologetic I feel in places in your analysis as you ‘walked on holy ground’. The FAITH in ‘Education, Education, Education’ (Tony Blair) must be maintained and people get very angry with heretics. I am a life long heretic ( in education and in church) and we had real fun raising our children ‘Otherwise’. I no longer have a pulpit but I do have grandchildren so I whole heartedly support you in your bold critique… speak out. But know that this thing has become more than politics and sociology, it is now Holy.
Thanks for this long comment. I read it twice because I really wanted to understand where you may be disagreeing with me, but I couldn’t quite figure out exactly what you meant. Would you be willing to try again to explain where you think I may have overstated my case?
as a 19 year-old who about to enter my degree life, this writings give me an impactful experience to consider my choice of course. I once considered to pursue in actuarial science due to its demands. However, after discussing this to my parents, I realized that I actually don’t really want to pursue that, instead I want to pursue maths as in pure mathematics. My mother was hesitate at first because she wants me to have a good career in the future, but I got to convince her that money is not everything though. I would like to be a person who can grow and learn more, not just making money and die. Your writings really, made me more certain about my life decision. Thankyou!
Thanks for the comment, that means a lot. The pursuit of pure mathematics is a challenging and noble one. I love that you have a pure passion for knowledge. You will face challenges, but it may end up being a great decisions for reasons others cannot understand!
Would love to take a course on Smith and Marx! I'm also considering reading on the Frankfurt School (someday - my booklist grows quicker than I have time in my day)
This essay resonates deeply. My wife and I are both considering heading back to college, and it's not an easy decision at all! The costs of university seem unrealistic (at least in the states), the choice of major is almost always motivated in some manner by "what are you going to do after to earn a living/pay off that new debt" - which adds risks to any education direction that doesn't correlate to a future paycheck, more often we're seeing valid arguments (like yours here) that our entire education system is essentially a conveyor belt to create "good little workers" to perpetuate the infinite gains of Capitalism, and... so many of our peers are crippled by predatory student loans.
And yet... it's still one of the only pathways to a career, unless one wants to learn a trade (but then, you're still going to be expected to work 40-70hrs per week for the majority of your functioning life).
It's vexing. And it seems like society at large should be far less awful than the mess we've inherited thanks to a culture that worships Capitalism with equal (or more) ferver than Jesus Christ himself.
This maps directly onto a structural problem I’m writing about from inside a public school classroom. You’ve named the disease — education as human capital manufacturing. What I’m trying to build is the architectural treatment: how do you design classrooms that produce cognitive sovereignty under the specific pressure of AI compression? Your three visions (Dewey, Freire, Montessori) all require something that compression is actively eliminating — the space where independent thinking forms. I call it integration space. Your piece helped me see that the political critique and the architectural design need each other. Neither is sufficient alone
That line about spiritually development vs. economic development really hits home! It explains why so many people feel that hollow sensation even after finishing a degree (I'm scared I'll fall into that haha). Great read mate!
One time I was in my friend's house and then while eating, we started a conversation about the spirits of humans and what happens when their breath comes to an end and we were talking about the outside world like what does it looks like outside the Earth, and I love the type of conversation
I chat with my friends about our perspective on meritocracy as I don’t really believe in it. I share with him the video that made me thought of that from aisyahshofi tiktok. She talks how she is using the privileges she has to further education and she got good results, good grades but she said that meritocracy system fail to look at other aspects. Some people dont have the opportunity to learn comfortably as her. She can achieve the best because her parents give her to experience good environment for studying, she doesn’t have to work aka her parents give allowance. Some people don’t have that. Thats where meritocracy is not really a valid system. It was yesterday’s chat btw. And yea it’s true the conversation feels endless however it’s so hard to find people who actually wants to hear and talk about these topics nowadays.
This ends quickly,
we want "real education" in an era where only ads put food on the table.
Norma,
Thanks for the comment. I am not sure i quite understand though, could you elaborate a bit?
I was a music ed student as an undergraduate, and in choir and band in middle and high school. More than 30 years later, I can still sing melodies from pieces that we learned. And if I was to sing in choir again, I could sing my part in many songs with little practice.
How can I remember this so many years later? Because it was spiritual. Because I was deeply connected with my fellow students and teachers through music.
We need to encourage as many students as possible to join choir, band, drama - the arts! We need less technology and more time spent making music and art to ensure that we deeply connect with the people around us.
I believe that taking fine arts courses throughout school should be a requirement, and I also believe that it would solve many problems in schools.
That’s amazing Valerie. I am envious because I never had a proper musical education in school. I have just been fumbling around alone as a hobby for years and years. I have always wanted to sing Bach in a choir.
Find a music teacher and take lessons! It's never too late :)
I am also a pianist and J.S. Bach is one of my favorites.
This resonates deeply. I teach chemistry and physics, and I’ve found the same principle — the knowledge that lasts is the knowledge the body participated in constructing. My students physically model molecular geometry with their arms because embodied encoding produces ownership that no diagram or AI explanation can replicate. Thirty years from now, they’ll remember the tetrahedral angle the way you remember your choir part. The spiritual dimension you’re naming is real, and it’s the part of education that compression cannot touch.
It is good to see more current thinking and critique about education and I would concur with you on all points. However there may be something else going on that was touched on by Ivan Illich. Education as a religious practice. Schooling as church.
I am a vicar in the CofE who is no longer in post and I have spent the entirety of my vocation attempting to speak some level of sense in a church that is intent trying to sell to people ‘ six unbelievable things before breakfast’. ( the red queen!) As the things we are expected to believe become more and more unbelievable so faith is invoked. It is this way with our education system. I can think of many more than six unbelievable things but here are a few. 1.That teaching the same thing to a class of 30 children is an effective way of delivering information. 2. That conscripting hundreds ( thousands) of children into an institution and using coercion and punishment to keep them there is conducive to joyful human flourishing. 3. That the ‘classical’ curriculum is actually all a growing human needs to know 4. That timetabled interaction with random bits of information develops and nourishes deep and life long love of creativity and learning. 5. That young people can learn morally and ethically from predominately having relationships with their peers to the exclusion of those younger and older than themselves 6. That everyone is having a good time!
As you have found, critiques of the western education system that has colonised the entire world are numerous and detailed, but still we do it. You were a little apologetic I feel in places in your analysis as you ‘walked on holy ground’. The FAITH in ‘Education, Education, Education’ (Tony Blair) must be maintained and people get very angry with heretics. I am a life long heretic ( in education and in church) and we had real fun raising our children ‘Otherwise’. I no longer have a pulpit but I do have grandchildren so I whole heartedly support you in your bold critique… speak out. But know that this thing has become more than politics and sociology, it is now Holy.
Alison,
Thanks for this long comment. I read it twice because I really wanted to understand where you may be disagreeing with me, but I couldn’t quite figure out exactly what you meant. Would you be willing to try again to explain where you think I may have overstated my case?
No overstatement at all, I agree. Just adding a slightly different perspective drawn from my lived experience and reading of Illich.
as a 19 year-old who about to enter my degree life, this writings give me an impactful experience to consider my choice of course. I once considered to pursue in actuarial science due to its demands. However, after discussing this to my parents, I realized that I actually don’t really want to pursue that, instead I want to pursue maths as in pure mathematics. My mother was hesitate at first because she wants me to have a good career in the future, but I got to convince her that money is not everything though. I would like to be a person who can grow and learn more, not just making money and die. Your writings really, made me more certain about my life decision. Thankyou!
zahirah,
Thanks for the comment, that means a lot. The pursuit of pure mathematics is a challenging and noble one. I love that you have a pure passion for knowledge. You will face challenges, but it may end up being a great decisions for reasons others cannot understand!
Would love to take a course on Smith and Marx! I'm also considering reading on the Frankfurt School (someday - my booklist grows quicker than I have time in my day)
This essay resonates deeply. My wife and I are both considering heading back to college, and it's not an easy decision at all! The costs of university seem unrealistic (at least in the states), the choice of major is almost always motivated in some manner by "what are you going to do after to earn a living/pay off that new debt" - which adds risks to any education direction that doesn't correlate to a future paycheck, more often we're seeing valid arguments (like yours here) that our entire education system is essentially a conveyor belt to create "good little workers" to perpetuate the infinite gains of Capitalism, and... so many of our peers are crippled by predatory student loans.
And yet... it's still one of the only pathways to a career, unless one wants to learn a trade (but then, you're still going to be expected to work 40-70hrs per week for the majority of your functioning life).
It's vexing. And it seems like society at large should be far less awful than the mess we've inherited thanks to a culture that worships Capitalism with equal (or more) ferver than Jesus Christ himself.
This maps directly onto a structural problem I’m writing about from inside a public school classroom. You’ve named the disease — education as human capital manufacturing. What I’m trying to build is the architectural treatment: how do you design classrooms that produce cognitive sovereignty under the specific pressure of AI compression? Your three visions (Dewey, Freire, Montessori) all require something that compression is actively eliminating — the space where independent thinking forms. I call it integration space. Your piece helped me see that the political critique and the architectural design need each other. Neither is sufficient alone
That line about spiritually development vs. economic development really hits home! It explains why so many people feel that hollow sensation even after finishing a degree (I'm scared I'll fall into that haha). Great read mate!
One time I was in my friend's house and then while eating, we started a conversation about the spirits of humans and what happens when their breath comes to an end and we were talking about the outside world like what does it looks like outside the Earth, and I love the type of conversation
I chat with my friends about our perspective on meritocracy as I don’t really believe in it. I share with him the video that made me thought of that from aisyahshofi tiktok. She talks how she is using the privileges she has to further education and she got good results, good grades but she said that meritocracy system fail to look at other aspects. Some people dont have the opportunity to learn comfortably as her. She can achieve the best because her parents give her to experience good environment for studying, she doesn’t have to work aka her parents give allowance. Some people don’t have that. Thats where meritocracy is not really a valid system. It was yesterday’s chat btw. And yea it’s true the conversation feels endless however it’s so hard to find people who actually wants to hear and talk about these topics nowadays.