As a schoolchild of the sixties I can assure you "brainwashing" is nothing new at all.
Anyway, I don't see anything new here at all. Yeah, there's way too much corporate influence in the classroom - so let's talk about all those schools that have replaced milk machines and cafeteria lines with soda and sandwich vending machines and made the Nike swoosh part of their campus decor.
When I was in the sixth grade I was grounded from recesses for weeks because I started a petition for longer recesses. an innocent bit of play snowballed within a day and soon there were dozens of handwritten copies of my petition circulating in classrooms. When they found out it was me who started it, rather than take the opportunity to demonstrate real world governenace, I instead got a lecture and made to write something stupid like "I will not create disturbances in class." Which, ironically, means I really did get a lesson in the real world - unfortunately, not the real world as we had been told in the classroom (petitioning the government, speaking out, etc). Obviously this real lesson had a lasting effect on me, as I still can't remember what it was I was supposed to write but the message sent still rings clear 30 years later: don't try to buck the man or you'll get stepped upon.
This program is certain to spawn a new generation of adults with similar memories. Indoctrination of this sort is doomed to fail as soon as the child begins to realize she can think for herself.
Now, getting back to those school lunches and corporate sports programs...
There's one big difference between the vending machines, the everpresent Nike swoosh and writing an essay about why free is stealing.
The latter is a written commitment to a belief. Even if you're just doing it for a grade, it has a profoundly influencing effect. For more information, read Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion. This is a similar technique to what was used by communist China on American POW's during the Korean war. It was amazingly effective.
The basic principle is that people wish to be
The amount of weight an evangelist carries with the almighty is measured
in billigrahams.
Nothing new (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyway, I don't see anything new here at all. Yeah, there's way too much corporate influence in the classroom - so let's talk about all those schools that have replaced milk machines and cafeteria lines with soda and sandwich vending machines and made the Nike swoosh part of their campus decor.
When I was in the sixth grade I was grounded from recesses for weeks because I started a petition for longer recesses. an innocent bit of play snowballed within a day and soon there were dozens of handwritten copies of my petition circulating in classrooms. When they found out it was me who started it, rather than take the opportunity to demonstrate real world governenace, I instead got a lecture and made to write something stupid like "I will not create disturbances in class." Which, ironically, means I really did get a lesson in the real world - unfortunately, not the real world as we had been told in the classroom (petitioning the government, speaking out, etc). Obviously this real lesson had a lasting effect on me, as I still can't remember what it was I was supposed to write but the message sent still rings clear 30 years later: don't try to buck the man or you'll get stepped upon.
This program is certain to spawn a new generation of adults with similar memories. Indoctrination of this sort is doomed to fail as soon as the child begins to realize she can think for herself.
Now, getting back to those school lunches and corporate sports programs...
Re:Nothing new (Score:3)
There's one big difference between the vending machines, the everpresent Nike swoosh and writing an essay about why free is stealing.
The latter is a written commitment to a belief. Even if you're just doing it for a grade, it has a profoundly influencing effect. For more information, read Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion. This is a similar technique to what was used by communist China on American POW's during the Korean war. It was amazingly effective.
The basic principle is that people wish to be