Some of the most revolutionary figures in history were writers. Revolutionary ideas can be profound: Marx, a writer and editor, became one of the most significant figures in revolutionary history. Huey P. Newton was adept at reading and made sure to understand California state law so The Black Panther Party could challenge the system from within. It starts even earlier, with Martin Luther, who shattered the Catholic Church’s grip on Europe with a printing press.
It isn’t the act of writing itself that makes it so formidable — it’s the ability to so easily articulate and share human thought. With the emergence of new media technologies, our modern world looks different from the past; writing a book or essay may not be the most effective way to share important ideas anymore. Nevertheless, it usually starts as writing. And it’s better for a thought to exist as a record than to stay locked in the mind, shared with only a select few.
Schools and educational institutions have hijacked the goal of education, narrowing it down to preparing students to become competent, obedient workers. This is a goal widely supported by the population because it promises economic mobility — an escape from the crushing weight of poverty.
By maintaining an inhuman, unlivable minimum standard of living, the masses are pushed to sacrifice the betterment of society for the betterment of themselves and their children. The fault isn’t ours — it’s only natural to live for the people you love. Society and humanity are abstract concepts most people aren’t willing to suffer for.
To keep the masses from realizing the potential of critical thinking, writing, and reading, modern education systems have distorted the radical potential of education itself. They’ve compartmentalized subjects and stripped them of their radicalism, emphasizing the productive aspects while diminishing the revolutionary ones.
Reading most fiction, for example, isn’t necessarily better than watching TV or film — we’re conditioned to see the act of reading itself as a marker of intelligence. But it’s actually the content that carries radical potential. Reading drivel is the same as watching drivel. Reading critical perspectives, history, and economics, though — that’s what turns media consumption into a force to be reckoned with.
Modern education systems distort what reading, writing, social science, and history really are. They draw artificial distinctions between them to obscure the fact that they’re all just different aspects of the same human existence. Worst of all, schools sever the connections between the subjects they teach — we’re never actively shown how economics, history, law, and culture all tie together.