On October 17, Jimmy Carter signed the law creating the U.S. Department of Education. Just weeks later, on November 30, Pink Floyd released Another Brick in the Wall, Part II—an anthem rebelling against the very system the government was trying to organize. History has a sense of humor.
Thank you Trump. We don't need no Department of Education.
Another Brick In The Wall part 1,2,3 - Pink Floyd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjrfuDAEl10
🙏🏻
and shortly thereafter this was published, I remember having to write essays about it in HS, what our thoughts were, if it was possible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nation_at_Risk
😳
yes, it was advanced English, and seemed like we talked a lot about doom.
1984, Brave New World, Ayn Rand, etc. seeding the GenX consciousness perhaps...
think our bunch was the best prepared to mock & make connections.
I listened to it on loop on my Panasonic AM/FM Cassette "not quite a Boombox" for 3 days while working on a 27-page term paper, in high school.
Still love it, and so do my wife & kids!!!
Thanks for sparking a memory!!!
It just occurred to me that the expression "We Don't Need No Education" implies that we do need one.
No we don't. Kek.
A surprising amount of truth and wisdom was mixed in with all the unhealthy nonsense in the music of the 60s and 70s. Freedom for children, or some variation close to that, was a common theme, with Another Brick in the Wall being a prime example. I want to expand on the topic a bit, using Summerhill School as an example --
FREEDOM for children is at least as important as it is for adults. Of course, that includes respecting the rights of others -- or "freedom, not license" as A.S. Neill, Summerhill's School's founder and decades-long headmaster, put it.
Summerhill School, founded over a century ago
Sudbury Valley School (essentially a non-boarding school version of Summerhill)
What are the real world results of freedom for children?
Below are five points taken verbatim from the text of the 1949 British Government Inspectors' Report on the Summerhill School, pp. 75-85 in the 1960 Hart Publishing edition, often available in used book stores or even (used, of course) at Amazon [emphasis added below]:
The report backs up that last point with a list of degrees held and careers followed by former pupils.
The British government inspectors found the children of Summerhill to be responsible, friendly, full of life, and characterized by integrity and initiative. Without being coerced, the children learned what they needed to learn and did well after leaving the school. But clearly, happiness, not test scores, was Neill's concern. As Neill pointed out repeatedly in his writings, Summerhill has always been less about academic achievement than about helping children become emotionally healthy and independent in their thinking.
"Emotional health and independent thinking" are not even on the menu at public schools, of course. No wonder the education establishment was horrified by Summerhill.
Just now found this, sorry I didn't see it when it was first posted. Interesting juxtaposition, isn't it?