All That Is Meaningful Is Imaginary

I have long called for a radical reshaping of education. More recently, as I find myself agreeing with panarchism, I have discussed with Reikoku of what could education look like in a much more libertarian world. The general idea of a modular education at all levels, outlined in a previous post, remains relevant. However, several precisions are required, as well as some minor changes to adapt the ideas to (p)anarchism.

First, the specifics of course content can be split in two major categories: mandatory education and non-mandatory education. Whilst the latter would potentially include any subject that can be studied in a “neutral” fashion, the former would include the bare minimum to live as part of society. I would organise this “essential knowledge” in 4 fields of thought.

• Communicational thought: written and spoken languages.
• Logical thought: practical maths, reasoning.
• Social thought: politics, ethics.
• Rational thought: epistemology, semantics.

All courses would focus on the practical implications of what is taught. I also call for making computers as ubiquitous in education as the pen & paper are nowadays, at all ages. Computers should be seen as fundamental tools of modern communication and knowledge, not as “speciality items” to be studied exclusively by computing science students.

As religion is fundamentally impractical, atheism would be “preached” to the degree where courses would use exclusively scientific or humanist/existentialist philosophical premises, that is, interpretations of data that can be verified and falsified to fit practical observations and consensus. Religion courses would still be offered as optional courses in the latter stages of education, but would be as “neutral” and “scientific” as possible.

Mandatory courses shouldn’t amount to more than four years of continuous education, on average, to give maximal freedom of choice to students as individuals. They would constitute the prerequisites to most optional courses, although it should be possible to follow introduction courses to speciality fields as soon as the first credits in each field of thought are earned.

Exceptional cases, such as intellectual deficits, would call for exceptional measures. Students that are practically or completely incapable of learning the mandatory courses should be given education adapted to their needs rather than the usual program. In a similar fashion, gifted children should be able to pass exams to demonstrate their understanding of any course at any time and effectively bypass the “normal” learning process.

Ideally, this mandatory education should be universal and independent of culture. However, that seems to be but a distant dream given the authoritarian tendencies of most of the globe. Therefore, the courses should be created by multidisciplinary committees with the task of giving children neutral, inter-subjectively “objective” facts to facilitate their lives as citizens of the Global Village.