Charles
Carrol Cox
.1 Education
Say we had a word for all discarded food packages, a single simple word. I don't know what would happen, but it is possible that after a few decades intellectuals would be seriously arguing, "What is the principle of Z?" Item x once contained cigarettes. Item z once contained watch bands. Item p once contained applesauce. What are the principles that hold these items together. Should we create a new category to include all of them, or is z an illusion?
So, on what basis do we assume that "Education" names something real and that discovering its essence and principles, forcing hundreds of activities to conform to it, makes any sense at all. I seriously state here that Education does not exist, the word being merely a sloppy general term to refer (for no good reason) to all these activities.
Now for _political_ (not, for heaven's sake, educational) reasons we _do_ need to study the various activities that go under this deceptive term, "Education," but if we take education in any way seriously (as in How can we improve thee American University?) our analysis will be frustrated and only further contribute to tshe mystification of capitalist relations.
I guess looking for more (there must be many) is not useful now. One point: This does not come from any deliberate propaganda; those who 'use' the ideology firmly believe it. No villains. Just people living and thinking and trying to get along.
Carrol