Indoctrination Of Education Analysis

Counts argues that indoctrination in education is inevitable, and that indoctrination naturally imposes specific ideas, attitudes and understanding onto students. He contends that educators ought to impose a specific course of action. This is his progressive educational theory. I will first present his theory of progressive education, then secondly, explain the inevitablity of indoctrination, then thirdly, explain why teachers are the ideal candidate to lead and indoctrinate schoolchildren and on the method and path which they ought to pursue, and then fourthly explain America’s dedication to democracy. First, progressive education in nature implies a movement forward towards a particular aim. This aim, however, must be articulated by some

Counts, however, contends that educators ought to be the primary indoctrinators (page 28, lines 4-5). These teachers ought not to shy away from their authority, nor dismiss the effectiveness of their influences. For teachers have a unique capability to represent the whole spectrum of society. The ruling class and the lowly class, modern thinking and conservative values, and the middle-ground, broadly accepted, common knowledge views society widely agrees upon are freely expressed when teachers are the primary leaders in the education, and thereby inevitable indoctrination of students (page 29, lines 11-13). By the nature of their careers, politicians and businessmen are forced to be concerned with popularity and wealth, and are naturally more prone to infiltrate their ulterior motives into the development of school curriculum. Whereas the teacher, in most societies, is paid a set salary, and undeterred by money or the need for voter popularity, left with the only intention of equipping students with the tools for success. Unfortunately, as businesses and coporations use advertising and consumerism to indoctrinate students, educators are challenged to truly engage students in critical thinking and earn the agreement and indoctrination of their students by using merely effective teaching strategies. (page 29, lines 23-25; page 30, lines