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Next up we have the global coordinator for TZM Education.
It looks to help members of The Zeitgeist Movement
pass on the message of the fantastic possibilities and potential
for a Resource-Based Economy and what that could have for the future.
He goes into schools. So far he's been into four schools
and has been invited back to all of them, which is pretty good,
as well as one university, and he has future dates booked.
Before we go any further I'd just like to introduce James Philips.
[applause]
Yes, hello.
My name is James Philips. I'm from the UK Chapter
(and slightly out of breath from running all the way here).
First of all, I'd like to give my sincere thanks
to the Vancouver Chapter for having me here today.
It's a pleasure and an honor to be here.
[cough] Excuse me.
I help coordinate a website called TZM Education.
This site's purpose is to help Movement members
to get the ideas of a Resource-Based Economic Model
into the education system
and to collect the studies and research
that validate the educational proposals needed
for such a system to come to fruition.
Upon coming to the Movement,
a profound realization hit me when I finally understood our materials:
the need to influence the educational system at large
and the amazing potential this approach could have
with regards to the much needed transition into a Resource-Based Economy.
The reason for this is twofold.
The first is that schools help house people
with less culturally indoctrinated mindsets,
mindsets that are more willing to take on new ideas.
This potential openess a child has towards the notion that they really could
radically change the world and make it a better place
is not merely to be passed off as simple childish naivety.
Children bring new eyes to old problems
and they don't have the same cultural baggage that many adults will have
from years of having their aspirations for a better world beaten down.
The real problem is, in my view, that many in the adult world
have simply forgotten how to view the world through the eyes of a child.
Wouldn't the definition of naivety,
immaturity, selfishness and irresponsibility be
to think that you can have infinite growth on a finite planet?
After all this is what the adult world says 'makes sense', right?
Then we have the audacity to lecture kids on how to behave.
It's high time the adult world took a moment
to pause and reflect on how they used to view the world when they were a child
and they will quickly see it for what it is: a playground,
and guess what? Playgrounds have to be looked after
otherwise playtime is over.
And the second
is that the educational system controls society and how it operates.
Therefore,
it's not really that surprising that most schools in this system
are there largely to establish fixed habits of response to authority.
They are the engine room for the creation of the mindset
needed to fuel the system in which they exist.
As I will point out in part one of this presentation,
our current system of coercive compulsory education's intrinsic design features
reinforce obedience, docility and act largely as a cookie cutting plant
to pump out an obedient population of work slaves ready for the market place
through the use of coercion to create
conformity to the prevailing status quo.
The current educational system preserves itself
largely by stifling independent, critical-thinking skills.
This is expected when you understand that culture reflects education
and eduacation reflects culture;
they have to for the system to function at all.
In part two, we'll take a look
at some of the potential educational perspectives that could help
bring about the much needed transition into a Resource-Based Economy.
Part One: The History of Coercive Education
In preliterate societies, education was achieved orally
and through observation and imitation.
The young learned informally from their parents
extended family and grandparents
and at the later stages of life they received instruction
of a more formal nature, imparted by people not necessarily related
in the context of initiation, religion or ritual.
With the development of reading and writing and eventually the printing press
it became possible for stories, poetry, knowledge, beliefs and customs
to be recorded and passed on to future generations
and a wider social demographic.
Thus began one of the first major repressions of education:
the restriction in the teaching of literacy.
For hundreds of years, reading and writing
was kept as the privilege of the privileged across nearly all human cultures.
The power establishment of monarchs, church and state realized
that knowledge was a dangerous liberty to afford the masses under their control
and so they restricted its teachings to the upper echelons of society
in order to help preserve their position of dominance in their given culture.
Take the example of William Tyndale.
He was the first to translate considerable parts of the Bible into English
from the direct translation of the Hebrew and Greek texts
and the first to take advantage of the new medium of print
which allowed for its wide distribution.
Was he to be thanked for the spreading of the Holy Scripture
to the common man by the church leaders of his day?
No, this was taken to be a direct challenge
to the hegemony of the Roman Catholic Church
and a combination of this defiance against the ruling cardinals
and his opposition to King Henry the VIII's divorce from his then wife,
Catherine of Aragon at the time, on the grounds of it being unscriptural,
led to him being tried for heresy, choked,
impaled and burnt at the stake.
So whilst Plato's 'Republic' is widely credited with popular eyes
in the concept of compulsory education in Western intellectual thought,
it was not until the time of Martin Luther
and the Reformation in 16th century Europe
that the first compulsory systems of education were set up.
The aims of this were,
in the words of John Knox (a leading protestant clergyman at the time)
'to instill the virtuous education
and Godly upbringing in the youth of the realm'.
This was an early sign of the recognition on the part of given cultures' elite
to educate the children of that society towards preserving their interests.
From here the journey to the importance we now place
on a universal compulsory education for all
has been arrived at through a variety of different twists and turns
in cultures around the world, ranging from
the desire of the church to permeate society with its teachings,
to the economic demand for apprentices
in varying industries and professions.
The current system of state prescribed education up to 16 years of age
is actually a rather recent development,
with many of our current educational approaches
being born out of the economic, technological and philosophical era
of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution.
Due to the advocation of the absence of government involvement
in the running and regulating of the capitalist structure of the day,
there were little or no regulations imposed upon factory policies.
This allowed the wealthy, upper and middle-class owners
to pursue whichever path was most profitable for them
regardless of the well-being of their workers.
Since workers (especially women and children)
were laboring for anything up to 18 hours a day,
there was very little family contact.
As a result, children received very limited education,
had stunted growth and were sickly.
Families often lived in slums.
With little sanitation, infant mortality skyrocketed
and during the early Industrial Revolution,
50% of infants died before the age of two.
Naturally, this caused a rise in attacks
both physical, political, verbal and cultural
against the ruling political and capitalist class structure of the day.
These acts passed in 18th and 19th century England show a clear trend
towards the rise in the living and working standards of the masses
and eventually the implementation of a state-sponsored, educational system.
It should therefore be no surprise
that the educational system that arose from this era
reflected a factory-style approach towards learning.
The Enlightenment view of reductionism
siphoned through the early ideals of early free market capitalism
saw humans as objects that needed to be controlled
just like the resources used for production.
The educational model that has perhaps impacted modern Western schooling
more than any other is that of the Prussian Empire of the early 19th century.
So, let's take a quick look at how this came about
and what its ruling principles were.
The kingdom of Prussia decided upon their defeat to Napoleon
in the Battle of Jena in 1806
that the principal reason for their defeat in the battlefield
was the fact that their soldiers were thinking for themselves
rather than following orders.
Their solution was the implementation of a free state-prescribed,
8 year compulsory educational curriculum for all children.
The purpose of this system was not only to provide the skills
of reading, writing and arithmetic
for the purpose of the early industrialized world,
but also the need for duty, discipline, respect for authority
and the ability to follow orders.
The Prussian system was designed to instill social obedience
in its citizens through indoctrination.
Every individual had to become convinced in the core of their being
that the king was just, always right,
and the need for obedience to his rule paramount.
As the German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte,
who was a key influence in the implementation of this system, once said:
"If you want to influence the student at all,
you must do more than merely talk to him.
You must fashion him, and fashion him in such a way
that he simply cannot will otherwise than what you wish him to will."
An important part of the design of this system
was for the state to prescribe what was to be learnt,
when it was to be learnt and how long to think about it.
This educational system is widely renowned
for the eventual rise of neo-nazism.
Couple this model in with the illusion of choice
given by the concept of democracy
and it's...
and it's easy to see why we have such a docile, obedient
and subservient population today.
Progress has indeed been made from the days of the cane and dunce's cap;
but nonetheless, a model of state-enforced education
based on working hard rather than thinking hard
is still in operation structurally. It's largely based on rote learning
and the memorization of facts in exchange for rewards
and punishment for the dissenting people in the ranks
if the prescribed subject matter is not adhered to.
Critical thinking, problem solving and independent thought
cannot be allowed to enter its metric of value.
This point is well made by author and teacher John Taylor Gatto
in the book 'Dumbing Us Down'.
The very stability of our economy is threatened by any form of education
that might change the nature of the human product that schools now turn out.
The economy school children now live under and serve
would not survive a generation of young people
trained, for example, to critically think.
People who are confident, independent, self-assured and critically analytical
don't make very good consumers, I'm afraid.
So, the first value orientation that's reinforced in our system
is that of materialism.
Many studies now show what we've long intuitively suspected.
That is that past a certain point, material wealth and acquisition
do not add up to us being happier.
People focus more on materialistic pursuits
when they feel insecure, inadequate, fearful and anxious.
Keep this in mind when we run down the design features
of our current educational model, as I will point out that these tendencies
are built into its design intrinsically.
People actually think that they must buy things they don't need
to make impressions that won't last on people they don't know
in an attempt to secure their position of worth in society.
[applause]
Materialism. Isn't it therefore a rather easy value system to attack?
Many will readily admit that it's a foolish value orientation,
but they still go out and buy things they don't need
out of a culturally-reinforced obligation to the prevailing status quo,
as well as the obvious and futile attempt
to try and fill an emotional need with a temporary materialistic one.
Unfortunately, this void goes unrecognized
with the missing components needed to fill it:
these being personal purpose, self-realization, self-esteem,
belonging and positive family and communal bonds,
none of which come free with your next purchase, I'm afraid.
This is the mind lock that people are stuck in.
It defines their belief system through its reinforcement through their culture
and so, in turn, their worth as a person, despite how despotic it is.
Anyone who challenges this precept
is ostracized from the herd and marks a potential threat.
It's the same as labeling someone a conspiracy theorist.
No need to look at the information objectively,
just go with the mainstream view and what authority figures tell you
because after all, why would anybody in authority lie to you?
Right?
Well... because, put simply, that's what they'll do
in order to preserve their interests if necessary,
and this is what's being done through the current antiquated design
of the school system.
For example, it's said that the system is there to promote a love of learning,
but upon closer inspection, it's clear to see that this is a fallacy.
True learning is self-directed, meaning that it's pursued because
it's something the student wants to learn intrinsically through intrigue,
not due to the extrinsic motivating factors
such as arbitrary grades and test scores.
If it's a love of learning you are trying to foster in the young,
then this system is the antithesis of that aim.
[applause]
The seven main design features of the coercive educational model
are pointed out again in the book 'Dumbing Us Down'.
They are: confusion, class position, indifference,
emotional dependency, intellectual dependency,
conditional self-esteem and surveillance.
So...
Let's go through these attributes briefly
starting with point number one: Confusion.
Yes, it was a confusing time, wasn't it?
This is instilled through the seemingly unrelated relationship of subjects
to each other and the natural world.
This is why the question "Why will memorizing this information
be useful to me later on in life?"
is so often asked by pupils in school.
The real answer is that, in a streamline job market
it probably won't be.
School is about completing tasks on time
and to the required standard set out by those in command,
just like the world of work.
Point two: class position
This is imposed through merits, demerits, grades,
praise and punishment to divide and rule the class.
'Divide and rule', where have I heard that before?
The lower the grade, the more contempt there is for the person
from his peers and parents and authority figures.
The competitive classroom model
brings the conditioning process of the world of work into play
by reinforcing the notion that you must climb upon others
in order to receive reward from authoritarian figures
and this is achieved by pleasing those in that position of authority.
Point three: Indifference
Indifference is another needed attribute of this educational system.
You must show your enthusiasm for a given topic
and respond in the subscribed way for authoritarian favor,
even if you find the subject and the way it's being taught
uninspiring and dull.
This is perfect for the world of work
because even if you hate your job, you still need to pretend
that it's the best and most amazing thing that's ever happened to you.
[applause]
Who knows? If you're a really good boy or girl
and show us how interested you are in the meaningless, boring
and most likely pointless tasks set out for you,
then we may just give you some more debt slip tokens in next month's goodie bag
or a nice little wall title in front of your name. Lucky you!
Another way of instilling this attribute of indifference
is by the ringing of bells.
This is a classic operating conditioning technique
signifying a break in concentration of the student.
[It] promotes the subconscious idea
that no task is worth thinking too deeply about
and that when the boss says it's time to move along to the next work station,
well, it's time to move along to the next work station.
Like the memory hole in '1984',
the ringing of bells serves to destroy both past and future,
making every interval of time just like the last
helping to reinforce a state of permanence
in the very fabric of the reality prescribed by Big Brother.
Point four: Emotional Dependency
Through the mechanism of punishment and reward
it's easy to make sure that self-esteem is dependent
upon whether the person in the position of authority
says you can feel that way about your actions.
It's easy to see how this 'one-size-fits-all' educational system
is not designed to do anything other than reinforce uniformity
and obedience to the prevailing status quo.
Point five: Intellectual Dependency
Good students wait for the teacher to tell them what the truth is.
The prescribed curriculum is all that's relevant
so we must wait for those in the positions of authority
who possess the relevant knowledge and information
to deliver it to us on a spoon.
Deviation onto a chosen path of interest is prohibited.
Point six: Conditional self-esteem
People must be told what they are worth by those in the know.
They are allowed to feel good about themselves when they're told they can.
This is further perpetuated by the imposition of grades
and mandatory standardized test scores being sent home
so that the shame and pride aspect can be reinforced yet again
by more authoritarian figures in the form of a child's parents.
The system as pointed out earlier, could simply not take an influx
of self-evaluating, confident, objective,
critically-thinking and emotionally-stable people.
Finally, point seven: Surveillance
Lack of privacy is another necessary attribute
to reinforce in a system of dictatorial control.
Class changeover lasts close to 300 seconds
to limit promiscuous fraternization.
Children are encouraged to snitch on each other so that Big Brother
can remain informed with behavior of its minions at all times.
Of course the domineering force of the state can't end at home time,
it must be continued on with the second shift in the evening
called homework.
Heaven forbid that simple family time
or an individually-led base learning process
free from state command and control, should take place;
and just in case you do get any funny ideas, then we have television
with its corporate-owned advertising agenda
to perpetuate the values, emotions and set patterns of behavior required
for the mindless obedience and consumption awaiting you in adult life.
It's important to note
that there are many well-intentioned and good teachers out there.
Many of them feel the same way about this system,
and they are often under immense pressure to turn out good results.
So, in some ways it's simply astonishing that there are any good-natured,
fun, inspiring and vibrant teachers out there at all.
Unfortunately for them, it's like trying to pedal a bike uphill
with no wheels. The structure itself is flawed.
So what do we do about this despotic educational design?
How will we change it, and what will our new educational imperatives be?
In part two we'll look briefly at
the educational perspectives needed for a Resource-Based Economy.
This is laid out very concisely
in the book 'The Best that Money Can't Buy' by Jacque Fresco,
a must read for anyone who wishes to understand
a Resource-Based Economy and how it works.
The more intelligent our children
the better our lives and the richer our culture will be.
Every child using drugs and living a life without direction and purpose
is damaged life that we will have to pay for in the future.
It is our children who will inherit the future.
With the proper information and nurturing
they will understand that Earth is a fantastic place
capable of providing more than enough for the needs of everyone.
The attributes of this educational model for a Resource-Based Economy
are then outlined in the same chapter, some of which are:
working towards regarding the world's resources as a common heritage,
transcending the artificial boundaries that separate people,
outgrowing political governance as a means of social management,
utilizing the highest quality products for the benefit of the world's people
whilst eliminating planned obsolescence,
encouraging the widest range of creativity and incentive
towards constructive endeavors,
arriving at methodologies through careful research
rather than random opinions,
and providing not only the necessities of life
but also the challenges that stimulate the mind
whilst emphasizing individuality rather than uniformity.
[applause]
Some of these points could well sound strange and be taken out of context
without a detailed understanding of what a Resource-Based Economy is,
so I'd encourage you to take a look at these in greater detail if needs be.
It's worth noting, however, that no one will be forced to accept this system.
You either see the merits and potentials of such a direction
and constructively apply yourself towards promoting the underlying understanding
of the synergistic relationship between ourselves, our surrounding environment,
and the need to solve the root causes of problems in an objective manner,
or you don't.
Using force does not change perceptions, proof does.
For these 19 attributes in such an educational perspective to come to fruition,
people must understand the merits of collaboration, empathy, learning,
and the need for the alignment of ourselves and our social system
to our needs and the emergent nature of reality
or I'm afraid we are simply setting the stage for our own destruction.
It's imperative to understand that it's a train of thought
that leads to all manifestations of human structures
ideals, understandings, beliefs and behavior.
Therefore, comprehending and cultivating the educational imperatives
and values required for this train of thought
is itself the system's integrity.
Without this, quite simply, there is no Resource-Based Economy.
If children are encouraged to question illegitimate authority,
be inquisitive and go beyond previous social contrivances and conventions,
then they can and they will.
The educational environment does not simply end when you leave school.
The human brain is constantly receiving information and filtering it
to help us understand the surrounding environment
and the required interaction needed for our prosperity
and survival within it.
It's what makes us so adaptable to changing circumstances.
The environment must reinforce the behavior and practice
of operations you would like to see in every sense of the word.
I'm afraid that you cannot have a competitive,
scarcity-preserving, profit-based system of operation for your survival
and then try to teach children to go out into the world and be nice and share.
The two are diametrically opposed.
In an emergent society,
a new cultural perspective will be needed to be reinforced
that will require our children to push the boundaries of convention
and overcome our failings, not perpetuate them.
This is why through approaching the school system directly,
that we as a Movement can affect the necessary change.
There are many interesting and creative ways of doing this.
You could play collaborative games and sustainable thought exercises
for the younger age ranges.
You could present new and more efficient technologies
such as hydroponics, MagLev trains, systems nanotech and the like
that will help to open slightly older minds
to the marvellous and unlimited potential the future could hold;
or you could talk at higher school levels and universities
about a Resource-Based Economic Model explicitly.
This is one of the principle aims of TZM Education:
to share and provide ideas and materials
in order to help members to go into educational institutions
and talk about these ideas with students, parents and teachers.
Best of all, we're not alone.
There are many forward-thinking models of education
adopting new approaches towards learning now.
Whilst these educational systems are not entirely
those of a Resource-Based Economy, some, including Rudolf Steiner Schools,
the Democratic School System,
homeschooling,
the Montessori School, and even whole countries like Finland,
are heading in the right direction.
Whether it's science, maths or reading, Finland regularly comes out on top
in all internationally comparative tests and has no failing schools.
Importantly, it also scores highly in levels of child happiness too.
Does it do this by a Draconian, topdown, authoritarian management of education?
No, quite the opposite, actually.
Children start school later, at the age of 7
to build excitement and strong familial bonds.
The school day is broken up, with far more regular intervals
for unmonitored play helping to build trust between the teachers and children.
Teachers are held in the highest regard and they are highly educated.
There are often three teachers to a class in order to help struggling children.
Teachers are called by their first names and they stay with the children
from ages 7 to 13, helping to build an understanding and relationship
with the child and their parents.
Class learning is a collaborative effort
rather than a competitive one and the same is true between schools
as there are no school league tables in Finland.
Because Finland has no failing schools
there are subsequently very few private schools
and any that do exist are state-funded.
There are very few tests,
instead choosing to base academic ability on assessment
and there is virtually no homework and they are better for it.
[applause]
The fact that we may find this surprising only goes to show
how far adrift we are in our current understanding
of how to foster a true intrinsic love of learning in a child.
I expand upon this point in greater detail
in last year's 'TZM Education' presentation in London
(so I'd encourage you to go to the site and give it a watch)
but needless to say that learning is not something that needs to be forced,
but instead it needs to be made interesting, fun,
and focused on the positive development and needs of the child,
in turn helping them to become happy, empathic,
critically-thinking, thriving members of society.
This was supposed to come up when I clicked the slide.
As it's been stated in our materials before,
personal interest must become social interest
if we expect to survive in any meaningful way
as a species on spaceship Earth.
In this sense, people would become the currency.
The next person you meet in a Resource-Based Economy
could be a member of a team for research into new medicine,
transport systems or food distribution.
To hurt them would be, quite literally, to hurt yourself.
In our current system
the parallel would be to take a 20 dollar bill like this
and tear it in half.
The reason you don't see that happen
is because there's no reinforcement for it.
The artificial monetary sequence of value
is what is reinforcing our culture today, not people;
and that simply has to change.
The emergent nature of reality, common good for your fellow man,
empathy, and the pursuit of knowledge for the betterment of humankind
is the value set that must be promoted to encourage our young people
to truly be the light of change they wish to see in the world.
("You can change the world") If we do nothing, nothing will happen.
Don't let people tell you that you're a fool for wanting to change the world
for the better. All you will do here, with your brief time on this planet
is change things whether you like it or not.
What you change and to what extent you change it
is contingent upon your actions, not someone else's.
For example, if every member of the Movement went to just one school
and spoke to a hundred kids, then we could reach approximately
50 million young adults about to enter this system.
We can do it. We're not small. We're not powerless.
Don't believe the hype.
[applause]
Because quite frankly,
this is not the best we can do,
and I for one will not stand for it. I will not allow my children
to grow up in a world that thinks that
a system that lets billions starve whilst a few prosper is the best we can do.
For a species that's capable of so much
we are failing in all the areas it really matters the most
and for no other reason than an outdated game we created
thousands of years ago called 'money'.
I vow, that as long as there is air left in my lungs
and blood running through my veins, that I will not stand by and watch
whilst millions of mirror images of myself continue to suffer
and die needlessly for nothing other than the false adulation
of meaningless pieces of paper like this.
It only has the value that we place in it,
and I for one personally think that this *** has got to go.
[applause]
(This ***'s got to go!)
Thank you.