Analyzing Teaching as a Subversive Activity by Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner
by Christopher-Titus Mark Vanderwall-Brown
In Postman's themed chapter entitled "Crap Detecting"1, he focuses on the idea that within any system of modern education it is the due obligation of said institution to focus not on subverting the masses to their preceptor's indomitable will, but instead, to focus teaching the majority, the mass of humble stricken bodies lost amidst the confused notions of the new age, how to deal with new ideas, new systems of belief, the influx of technology which has changed our world -- made it into something we have never before imagined -- and now it is with much effort we have focused our attention on producing within our young the methodologies necessary, the internal systems whereby our children are capable of detecting the "crap" perpetuated by our society. This may sound as though we are asking for the impossible, but we are not. Postman looks forward at this rare secular forest, not to abolish creation, but instead to fabricate a system whereby it may exist in the fullness and pleasures of its complete form.
It is strange to think that so simplistic a subject as "education" could transform itself into the overwhelming conception of being that it could permeate every portion of my very existence; I've often wondered if the reason I have so many problems in education, has nothing to do with the very nature of education, but instead, with myself. But then I wake up, realizing it is not I who is the problem with my ability to learn, but those who claim that holy title of -- teacher.
An interesting problem brought forward by Postman is the idea within the media society, where ideas are being blasted at the speed of light to every single cornea receptor of the optical nerve faster than anything that has come before in the past two millennia, changing every aspect of what it means to be human, what it means to possess knowledge, and how one goes about coping with this overwhelming force, bombarding our brain's with more simplistic information in an overtly "sensational" way than our bodies are capable, nor designed, to handle. It is in this way that Postman challenges us to deal with future problems, not in a ragtag method, but instead in a methodical process, whereby society is capable of finding a reason based solution to the unexpected changes always brought about by the influx of new ideas and technologies.
As Postman continues, we see his discussion move from the major description of the chaos in which society has propelled itself through the latter part of the 20th century, homogenized into an almost gruesome macabre picture, where individuals lumbar about loss and confusion about where their next meal ticket will be coming from, to a detailed discussion of the very nature of our problem and perhaps a logically constructed set of solutions. Of course this “meal ticket” is not to say society is "starving" per se, but moreover that, it is within this idea of a "meal ticket" that we are craving something sensually tangible, for we have a starvation of imagination; it is not the knowledge of information we crave, but the knowledge defined by the term 'wisdom'. Wisdom, of course, meaning knowledge gained through experience, which teaches us how to deal with knowledge of information. Sometimes this term is referred to in more scholarly journals as knowledge gained a posteriori or knowledge from experience.
I do not wish to drone on about concepts that seem pointless to the average person, but it is important to note that Postman intentionally utilizes great vernaculars of an academic standard, a romantic standard, which Postman prefaces. The varying nature of his discussion, for Postman and Weingartner described themselves as romantic educators, men whose sole desire is a fulfilling the belief that problems which exist in society, tangible problems, are capable of being solved through education. He quips they may indeed be leading to the mental instability of the nation for this, but that it is their hope these problems which do exist, yet me only theoretically be resolved, could be solved through education.
1. Here Postman constructed upon a quote by the great adventurous writer Ernest Hemingway when questioned, "Isn't there any one essential ingredient that you can identify [necessary to being a "good writer"]?" he replied, "Yes, there is. In order to be a great writer a person must have a built-in, shockproof crap detector."
