Education on a Pale Horse

Reductio Ad Educatum Rides Again

The fallacy reductio ad educatum is ubiquitous within Athens—no more so than at election time. Those who aspire to rule over us inevitably present their stock take on where Athenian society is currently to be found. Naturally, this leads to myriads of problems being highlighted for which solutions have to be found.

Ninety percent of the time (not an accurate measure, but a figure of speech, for the literally minded amongst us) the solution turns to some form of education. The reductio ad educatum is the fallacy which makes education the answer or solution to all ills and problems. It is one of the most widely deployed fallacies in modern Athens. It is such a pervasive part of the deceit of that religion that virtually no-one can see the fallacious nature of the argument any more. It is accepted as a truth beyond contesting—it is accepted, therefore, as a matter of religious faith.

A quick survey of the newspapers over the past two days serves to illustrate the point. Firstly, we turn to widely respected Athenian prophet, Colin James. He was describing the Achilles heel of the New Zealand economy (too much lifestyle and consumption debt, coupled with very low productivity) and was criticising Labour's abysmal record in these matters. The government, he said, had been slow to focus upon the bulimic nature of the economy: when it looked in the mirror, the Labour government saw a fat, highly active economy, but it was the false mirror of the anorexic. Eventually the government began to wake up, but it was too late, according to James. He writes:

“Cullen and his colleagues came more slowly to infrastructure, savings and early childhood education and have not yet really focused on the under-3s, the critical formative years that create the education tail.” What is the education tail, you ask. It is the “long tail” of underperformers (read, failures) in our education system.

Get this!. The education system is a manifest failure and now has a long tail to prove it—which is a real worry given that, according to reductio ad educatum, as employed by Prophet James, the cause of low economic growth and prosperity is education, or the lack thereof. To solve this, what should society now do? Well, one hundred and forty years of free compulsory and secular education has not worked. NCEA is a dismal failure. Zoning is an obstruction. Adding two more years to compulsory education is putting ambulances at the bottom of the cliff.

But belief in the the reductio ad educatum fallacy remains unquestioned: with it, the Force is strong! Prophet James's solution is to extend education to the under 3's. Yes. Get them early. These are the critical “formative years.” And (state) education can, will, must make a difference in these years. It would be blasphemy to demur. A thousand curses upon the present government that it has failed to see this obvious solution to the problem of our fading economy. Next, when that fails (miserably) as it must, Prophet James will be telling us that education in-utero is where the action ought to be.

Let's turn now to the problem of crime and punishment. National has released its long awaited corrections problem. What is at the heart of changing things for the better. You guessed it. Reductio ad educatum comes galloping to the rescue right on cue. The more extreme the societal problem, the more compelling the education fallacy becomes. National is promising to increase educational courses and programmes in prisons, focusing upon numeracy and literacy. The idea is that if prisoners are educated in the basics they are less likely to re-offend. But as a spokesman for Corrections Officers pointed out, all the educational opportunities in the world don't mean a thing if people lack the inward resolve and motivation to learn.

So, nice try National. No doubt reductio ad educatum applied to criminals makes everyone feel better. Something is being done, after all. But here we get close to the heart of the problem. Athenian penology is always religious—in fact, it cannot escape employing overt religious motifs. Criminals must atone—that is, they must “pay their debt” to society. Moreover, criminals must be rehabilitated and reintroduced into society to become useful and productive members thereof. That sounds suspiciously like redemption and conversion. The Department of “Corrections” sounds a lot like parenting, discipleship, and sanctification. The fallacy of reductio ad educatum leavens the whole baker's batch. This makes sense, because for Athens, education is salvation, pure and simple. To make people better, to redeem them, to save them you have to educate them. Education has become the Great Redeemer, the Saviour of mankind.

So, our sympathies to National. The prison system is indeed a mess. It is true that there is not one solution—but lots of small incremental changes. No one thing is the magic bullet. But what National is proposing remains naïve and superficial. To make progress, Athens needs to give up on its religious dogma which asserts that “man is intrinsically good” and that the causes of evil are extrinsic and environmental. It is this fundamental religious dogma which leads ineluctably to reductio ad educatum—that is, education is the key tool of social conditioning to remove external evil influences. Therefore, with education we can create utopia and solve all our problems.

Finally, in recent days, both major parties have trotted out their education platforms. Both parties plan multi-million dollar spend ups. Both are going to focus upon the school leavers who are currently “graduating” without any qualification. They leave with nothing more than a certificate for time served. Everyone agrees that this is a disgrace. Reductio ad educatum leads everyone to say that we will solve this problem by—wait for it—wait for it—yes, you guessed it, by giving them more education. That is, more of the same. Good idea, folks. We would never have thought of that in a thousand years. And it must be good, too, because it is going to cost millions.

Well, we can hear Athenian folk saying, “So, what's your solution?” The response of Jerusalem is cautious and guarded. The response is given on a number of levels. At its most fundamental, the prophets of Jerusalem would say the solution to all these social problems is more Christians. If eighty percent of the population were faithful Christians, the vast majority of these problems would not exist. Christian parents are charged by God Himself to love, care, and nurture their children. They are obligated to educate them faithfully. There would be no “long tail” in such a society.

Such a phenomenon will eventually come to pass—but it will be by the Lord's doing, not by Athenian manufacture or design. So, at root Jerusalem acknowledges that apart from Athens bowing the knee to the Lord Himself, we have no real solution to Athenian problems.

At another level, Jerusalem is aware of a deeper spiritual malaise in Athens that will not be solved painlessly. The ordinary pattern of our Lord's government over the unbelieving nations of the world is that when a society sets its heart arrogantly against the Lord, He gives them up to taste the fruit of their ignorance and folly. And the taste is bitter indeed. It is when people find that their false gods have lied to them, deceived them, and damaged them that they can open their hearts to reconsidering the claim of Christ upon their lives. They can come to realise that even the “foolishness” of God is much to be preferred to the wisdom of arrogant men. When a culture has been humbled, its people often open their ears to hear what was once odious to them.

Therefore, Jerusalem knows that often times, when the hand of God is against a culture, and it is sinking under their weight of its own idolatry, there is little that can be done until the historical process is gone through. The role of Jerusalem is to be with Athens in its perturbation and ultimate collapse, and in humility sit with its citizens amidst the detritus of their once-proud-city and urge those who now have ears to hear the calls of the Saviour of the world.

But at another level still, it is the duty of Jerusalem to do good to all men, as we have opportunity. Now, this doing good to all men must be on Jerusalem's terms, not in Athenian coinage. In this sense, we are not unmindful of, nor unmoved by, the intractable problems evident in Athens. So, from the framework of what we know about the nature of man and his fallen state, we may from time to time give some advice to Athens. Maybe some might listen and give heed.

Key principles of policy would be those that focus upon individual motivation, incentive, responsibility and accountability. A necessary, but deeply unpalatable corollary of Jerusalem's world view is that you must let the willfully lazy, stubborn and incorrigible suffer the consequences of their actions, even to death. If someone wills not to work, he must be left to starve.

So, with the educational “long tail” for example, Jerusalem would suggest that those of school leaving age who have no qualifications be treated as responsible adults who must bear and suffer the consequences of their actions—whether for good or bad. We would suggest a five point plan:

1. People can leave school at any time without qualifications but thereby relinquish any rights to social welfare assistance of any kind for the rest of their natural lives—including superannuation.

2. People who leave without qualifications would have the opportunity to return once to special state-funded remedial schools at any time up until aged twenty, for two year courses that will focus upon basic literacy and numeracy. If students fail to achieve, then the first point will apply. Achievement would be nationally tested. State funding for remedial courses would cease at age twenty.

3. Employers would be entitled to employ any school leaver without qualifications for any wage during a defined period (until age 25)—all minimum wage standards would not apply in such cases. The only restriction would be that employers cannot “bind” such an employee—he would be free to go to another employer, offering more attractive employment terms. Once employed, the unqualified school leaver earns entitlement to social welfare assistance of all kinds, but automatically loses these, once unemployed—including any unemployment benefit. However, once an unqualified school leaver achieved basic literacy and numeracy skills, and achieved employment, the loss of social welfare assistance upon losing one's job would not apply.

4. Impecunious, out-of-work, unqualified school leavers would be entitled to welfare from their families or extended families, or from charitable organisations, without restriction—but with no compulsory claim on their part.

5. Sicknesses, ill-health, or diseases related to malnutrition would not qualify for any public health support for such people, whatsoever—until such a person had graduated with basic literacy and numeracy qualifications and had a permanent job.

If such a plan were adopted, we confidently predict that there would be no education “tail” within Athens after five years. While there would be some short term social disruption and dislocation, people would quickly adapt. That's what policies based on holding people responsible, coupled with facing consequences, and appropriate incentives, do.

But, we wryly admit that Athens is a thousand miles from even remotely considering such advice. So the fallacy of reductio ad educatum will remain entrenched and the education tail will likely get longer and larger.