The Problem

A major objection to the present NZ educational outlook in general and university schema in particular is the idea that these institutions are somehow separate from the rest of society. In practice, this leads to a peculiar elitism, pretending that "intellectuals" (which the system is geared to producing) have no obligations to anything but academic integrity. We all know where that attitude in science got us — into the atom bomb era. While less dramatic in its consequences, and less observable, a similar attitude throughout academia has disturbing results. Critical energies that could be directed towards solving the multitude of problems in society become diverted towards esoteric and irrelevant research topics (of course, this is not universally true, but it is a predominant trend, and one which must be opposed.

Again, an isolationist stance by intellectuals, supposedly impartial, directly supports the status quo by refusing to exercise the criticism and suggestion that should be forthcoming from all members of society. The vast amounts that are poured into university are well worth it for the government and business interests — their higher functionaries are turned out with a minimum of disruption and fuss, and see no responsibility to the people they are to be bossing.

Lastly, the university's highly competitive nature and reluctance to accept social responsibility create a highly individualistic emphasis — an emphasis that can be seen in many critics of the system. The response of many is also individualistic — "dropping out" or similar actions. There is a lack of movement towards the social involvement and solidarity needed to fight the situation.

So much for the "successes" — how about the "failures"? The rejects of the system have, in most cases, learnt the vital things they have to learn: that there is someone else who knows more than they do, whose experience is more valid than theirs. In short, they become conditioned to accept the status quo also — witness the recent large working class opposition to the protests against injunctions. As John Hold argues (How Children Fail, The Underachieving School), the major function of schools, especially towards working class children, is to destroy their faith in their own creativity and to condition them to accept their "failure". There is also an emphasis on individuality here — surveys taken in the States during the Depression showed that many of the unemployed (mostly from the working class) saw their lack of work not as a failure of the system, but as their own failure to get a good education in the twenties; an individual rather than a collective response. The propaganda of the conservative parties — from Muldoon's "fair deal for the honest bloke" to Nixon's "black capitalism", continually stresses that the way to success is through the established paths, hiding the obvious fact that in an exploitive arrangement there must be a large number of exploited for every one of the exploiters, that is "successes".

What can be done to remedy this situation? What measures can be taken to ensure that rampant individualism is severely limited in its potential for causing social pollution of all sorts? The present parties in Parliament do little — National pretends there is no problem, while Labour hopes to persuade everyone by papering over the cracks that everything is beautiful. Insofar as this is merely an extension of the "someone knows better than you what you want" philosophy outlined above, it is doomed to make no real reforms and in its ultimate (represented by Sweden) create massive social alienation. There is a real need for an education that will stress the power of the people, that will accept everyone's experiences as valid, not create extremely dubious distinctions in favour of "intellectuals".

It is futile to expect that these reforms can be fully implemented under capitalism but it is equally wrong to argue that absolutely nothing can be done. In creating links between people divided by our society — employers and workers, Pakehas and Polynesians, male and female, the nature and causes of division and exploitation can be studied and solutions (and there is no one 'correct' solution) attempted. As there is no one solution, there is no one method of raising consciousness. One method I would suggest is contained in the motion.