How schools contribute to radicalization

Not too long ago, I read an article on the NEA's website that talked about what the schools can do to prevent radicalization. Reading the article reminded me of something that I have been saying for years. Teachers train students to turn to others to tell them what to think. If students embrace this message but don't accept teachers for the source of their thoughts, they can become more vulnerable to other influences. I haven't gone into detail, but I have at least mentioned this concern in the past.

I have focused this criticism primarily on peer pressure and drug abuse. Radicalization fits a similar pattern. Some students might turn to radical group to tell them what to think if teachers have success in promoting mindlessness.

Teachers have turned to a popular buzzword with their arguments. They insist they can solve all problems by promoting "critical thinking." I'm not going to go into details at this time regarding how that phrase is used, but I want to make a few points. First, teachers have patted themselves on their backs for years because of their role in teaching critical thinking skills, but we are living in an era of mindlessness. Second, critical thinking always seems to mentioned alongside very specific concerns, indicating that this concept is about coming to the conclusions teachers want them to rather than thinking for themselves. Finally, it has become clear that what teachers refer to as critical thinking doesn't even qualify as a legitimate form of thinking.

I have seen teachers refer to critical thinking when talking about protecting students from misinformation. All examples provided have been aimed at what they consider to be conservative misinformation. Dishonesty is one of many areas in which Democrats overlap with Republicans. Teachers have shown that they don't mind if children fall for misinformation as long as it reflects the views of the teachers.

This article about radicalization follows that same path. At a time in which both ends of the political spectrum are becoming increasingly radicalized, teachers only mentioned what they consider to be conservative radicalization. This indicates that their views are more about the politics than radicalization.

Before I go any further, I should probably clarify something. In the United States, most of us have embraced political conformity to two political parties that hate each other. In many cases, we embrace connections that should not be made. For example, Republicans are primarily defined by a belief in capitalism and personal responsibility. It is entirely possible for a racist to embrace socialism. See Richard Spencer for proof. Although white supremacy is widely considered to be a radical form of conservatism, I would prefer that we stop referring to racism as political. Teachers are among those who are playing this corny game.

I'm getting a little off topic here. I wanted to discuss one of the ways in which students can embrace radicalization. As I have already stated, it starts with schools training their students to turn to others to tell them what to think. To further explain this, I need to go seemingly off topic again.

When I was in school, the narrative presented about the Civil War was that slavery was one of the major causes but there were other issues such as economic factors and state rights that led to the war. I noticed some flaws with that narrative. More recently, the history has changed. Slavery is now the sole cause of the Civil War, but the North did not go to war over slavery. You don't have to be a historian to know that there is a serious problem with the new narrative.

As I have stated before, about half of everything I was told when I was in school turned out to be false. Sometimes, this is due to incompetence. Other times, the dishonesty is intentional. I can't be certain which reason is behind the odd portrayal of the Civil War. What I do know is that it's easy for some students to know that their teachers are lying to them.

The dishonesty of the teaching profession has opened up opportunity for radical groups. They don't even have to be honest. They just need to provide a more plausible explanation than teachers provide. When they do, some students will view them as willing to stand up to dishonesty. Without actually having to tell the truth, some students will incorrectly view them as the rare groups willing to put the truth above a dishonest narrative.

If teachers really want to address radicalization, there are two big changes they should embrace. They need to stop lying to children, and they need to stop promoting mindlessness. Of course, I don't expect this to happen. An argument can certainly be made that teachers have become radicalized. Personally, I don't trust that a profession that has proven vulnerable to radicalization will provide us with legitimate solutions to prevent radicalization.