Education, Democracy, Freedom
Yesterday I met a 25 year old from Chicago. We started talking about his high school and its rules and punishments. We then went to visit two high schools here in Istanbul. We both quickly noticed how much more open they were than the high schools in the USA today. By open, I mean, for example, we could walk right inside. We didn't have to go through any metal detectors, no one searched us, no one stopped us, no one even questioned us. This has been my experience in the majority of the high schools I have visited around the world. This and other things led me to think about Naomi Wolf's book, "The End of America" and how she talkes about "closed societies. I thought of the hall passes which are required now in so many American high schools. I rememered reading about the passes which were required in South Africa for the blacks, and then watching the video about the passes which are required in the occupied territories controlled by the Israelis.
This led me to this thought
Closed schools lead to closed socities.
I did a Google search on this and here is what I found.
I then Googled "closed schools", "closed societies" to see if there was anything close. Here is what I found
What this tells me is that not many people are making the connection. But I saw the connection in South America. I saw how little freedom and democracy there is there for high school students. I saw how the school directors are virutal dictators within their schools. I saw how they taught the students to feel powerless. I saw the emphasis on obedience and the reliance on fear and punishment. I could easily understand why South America has had so many military dictatorships.
Again I will say that what I see happening in the USA scares me. I hope it is not too late for America, but there are many troubling signs. I suspect that if one were to do a study of, for example, Internet policies in high schools around the world, they would find that America has some of the most restrictive rules. This is just my hypothesis. I would like to see it checked out. Here in Turkey I just heard that, as in Iran, Facebook, is blocked on some computers. I have heard that in American highschools Hotmail and MSN are blocked. I have also heard that you can not take tape recorders into schools. I am going to guess that school directors in the USA would feel very threatened by students videotaping and posting what actually happens inside the school walls. I suspect they feel threatened by the thought of the truth getting out. One thing about the USA which I have noticed is how isolated it is from the rest of the world as compared to European countries for example. What I see happening now is even more isolation. I see the schools becoming more closed and the society becoming more closed. Thus I believe it is fair to say that "Closed schools lead to closed societies."
S. Hein
December 4, 2007
Istanbul