The End of Education: A Blessing Being Disguised?

In 2012, ripples were sent through American society because of two momentous events: the Economist Intelligence Unit released its report on international education performances and the Newsroom premiered in the U.S. on June 24. Although ACN is not considered a “real” news channel, the unit that released its controversial report on the shape of a U.S. education was almost too real to be true when it ranked the U.S. “17th in an assessment of the education systems of 50 countries, behind several Scandinavian and Asian nations” (Gayathri 1). Only when the topic of education was shoved into the faces of American citizens, did people generate questions. Only when the U.S. educational system ranked below average on multiple global studies, did anyone even come to consider the failure of American customs and culture. As history continues to repeat itself, humans are consistently motivated to prevent impeding destruction only when every single social assumption has been shattered and people have been ripped from their ivory towers by active participants in society. Neil Postman is not only one of those “active participants” who has been sounding alarms of social decline since the 1970s, but his books (such as Amusing Ourselves to Death and The End of Education) consistently succeed in opening the minds of his readers to avoid the decline of the individual, one reader at a time. Postman’s book The End of Education is a recent reminder that schools play an integral role in the use of an individual’s identity to help improve society and individuals. Furthermore, Neil Postman creates a unique position in education literature by identifying successful narratives that will help motivate and develop students both inside and outside of the classroom. However, even though the narratives that Postman identifies are crucial parts of reforming the educational system, instituting these narratives as solutions to the larger social problems that Postman identifies himself with is an over-extension of his claim.

            Initially, Neil Postman’s claim can be observed as a valid and feasible solution to the problems of the educational system. However, the spirit of Postman’s claim in The End of Education and Amusing Ourselves to Death entails that Postman identifies his solutions with larger impacts in society as a whole. Postman’s extension of his solutions to wider, societal impacts is dangerous in that the intrusion of state-sponsored narratives directly into the social realm only helps blind society of the cause of its problems. Unfortunately, Postman entrenches himself deeply in this bio-political logic whenever he appeals exclusively to public schools and the control of the state over them. Specifically, Postman bases his logic off of state control when he reasons that:

Schools… are mirrors of social belief, giving back what citizens put in front of them. But they are not fixed in one position. They can be moved up and down and sideways, so that… they will reflect one thing and not another. But always they show something that is there, not of the schools’ invention, but of the society that pays for the schools. (Postman 60)

By basing his solutions off of the public—who Postman portrays as easily influenced and manipulated by politicians and television in Amusing Ourselves to Death—The End of Education only endorses a band-aid solution to the larger problems facing society instead of engaging in a direct confrontation with the power centers causing societal fragmentation. However, The End of Education does implicitly endorse a valid solution to larger societal problems that does involve a confrontation with existing power structures. Postman makes a vague but enlightening appeal to the solution of questioning when he states that:

Definitions, questions, metaphors—these are three of the most potent elements with which human language constructs a worldview. And in urging, as I do, that the study of these elements be given the highest priority in school, I am suggesting that world making through language is a narrative of power, durability, and inspiration. (Postman 175)

Therefore, the presentation of solutions that Postman proposes is chronologically ineffective in solving the wider societal problems that are mentioned in The End of Education. A fundamental change in the way citizens view government should be achieved first—with the help of widespread questioning, deliberation, and participation in the political process—then, and only then could it be possible to trust society with control over the incredibly powerful narratives Postman endorses. Fortunately, the narratives used in schools have failed; with society distracted and manipulated by television and politicians, it has been a blessing in disguise that politicians have not been able to gain control over the power of narratives in public school.

Works Cited

Gayathri, Amrutha. “US 17^th In Global Education Ranking; Finland, South Korea Claim Top Spots” International Business Times 27 November 2012: 1. Web.

Postman, Neil. The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School. New York: Vintage            Books, 1996. Print.