Fresh off the Assembly Line

The machines whir quietly in the background. The workers process their instructions, do their assigned task, and if they do it well enough, they will be rewarded and promoted. Do I speak of a successful factory? As a matter of fact I do. But the factory of which I speak produces not cars or kitchenware, or anything of the sort. The product is "an educated child." Yes, it’s just another day on the job for the students in the contemporary education system.

All factories must have an effective formula in order to be successful. Henry Ford took it so far as to control the lives of the workers, discouraging independent reading and discovery, and instead promoted his Dearborn radio station, which broadcast, "simple stories for simple people." The man who pioneered the assembly line used people as the machines, paying them to do their jobs and fit into the mold, right down to the elimination of free thought. It worked darned well for business.

Let’s compare it to the modern school system. All children must attend school. The purpose, as many a school mission statement proclaim, is to "equip students with the necessary tools for success in the work force." The children, therefore, being equipped with knowledge, are then resources to be tapped. They are the products of this system, so to speak.

Corporations are the consumers of this product. There is work to be done! The resources must be there. And so, the people/products are bought, with paychecks and pension plans and special health benefits, and put to work. If the customer isn’t satisfied, he can complain to the CEO ... in our case, Governor Wilson. The Governor, because he wants to keep his (own) business going, assures the consumer that all will be well soon (refer to the 1998 "State of the State" speech) and goes forth to modify the system. He introduces quality control inspectors (competency tests), increases standards for those building the product (teachers), and invest more money into the system for more and newer factory locations. He beefs up the product, offering more and flashier features previously not included on older models by adding more courses and "raising standards."

Children learn the game quickly enough. The successful ones realize that if they get on the boss’s good side and feed him or her what he or she wants to hear, they will be paid well with good grades. If they figure out the system at a young enough age, they may even be moved into the high-end development division, called GATE. They figure out early that they aren’t tested for what they know, they are tested for what teachers want to hear. After they pass a set of tests, they are then moved further down the line, where another set of assembly line workers mold and bend the work-in-progress. Sometimes, they are even able to leave the factory for beta-testing. They get a job at the local McDonald’s.

After about thirteen years of being passed down the line, the product is finally ready to hit the market. Some, however, go to other, bigger, and more pompous factories, for intensive development and specialization. They pay extravagant sums of money to (theoretically) make them better workers and, therefore, more attractive to buyers. That way, they can then be paid extravagant sums of money. Perhaps they may even head a corporation.

Where does the actual education factor into this entire schooling process? Actually, true education is no longer the issue here. What is at issue is producing a high-quality work force. And produce it must. The customer must be satisfied.

Is this what we have come to? The purpose of school no longer to educate. Ford knew independent thinking only complicated things. All that mattered to him was that he could make cars cheaply and efficiently. Can this now apply to modern school-educated children? Are they now merely products of a consumer-obsessed society?

Unfortunately, yes.