in Esperanto
Chapter 6: SKETCH OF COMMUNIST SOCIETY -- EDUCATION
5. Consistent compulsory education begins.
5.1. From sieving to scooping
The abolition of universities never means the decline of education in general. On the contrary, the abolition of universities will lead to the development of an entirely new system of compulsory education.
In contrast to the current capitalist education system, which is a system of sieving with the goal of advancing to a "first-class university," the communist education system after the abolition of universities maximizes the potential of individuals. It is a system of scooping.
Specifically, the division between elementary school and junior high school in compulsory education will be abolished and unified (integrated system), and then the entire curriculum will be reorganized into a basic education curriculum that can be connected without an entrance examination. In other words, it is a consistent education from the age of 6 to 18 (standard case) following the compulsory childcare system.
As we saw last time, basic education is provided as a correspondence system in principle, and there is no system such as grades or classes. Although there is a fixed age to start, there is no deadline for completing the course, and the course is completed when each of the 13 steps is completed in order.
Furthermore, unlike the existing education system, the basic curriculum in communist education is based on integrated education that does not separate education for the able-bodied and disabled. This is because a communist society is based on equal participation in society, where people's social positions are not divided by the presence or absence of a disability.
The implementation body of this consistent compulsory education will be centralized not by municipalities, but by regional areas as intermediate municipalities. On the other hand, the operation of compulsory education by private schools is not permitted.
5.2. Overview of the seven basic subjects
In the new integrated compulsory education curriculum, the traditional learning of language, mathematics, science, and social studies will be abolished, and a more practical and hopefully enjoyable curriculum will be introduced. Let me give you a rough overview.
5.2.1. linguistic expression
This is a subject to acquire expressiveness in the official languages of each zone and Esperanto as a world language.
As will be discussed again in the final chapter, the World Commonwealth designates Esperanto as the provisional world official language, so Esperanto will be taught from the beginning in compulsory education in each zone.
Moreover, the purpose of the "linguistic expression" subject is to combine it with the official language of each zone, rather than separate it as a "foreign language." So, for example, the same sentence could be written in both the official language and Esperanto.
The content-specific feature of these "linguistic expression" subjects is the emphasis placed on writing rather than reading. Reading is the basis of the expressive act, and although it is part of the expressive act through the act of reading and interpreting, it is essentially a passive expressive act. In order to bring out children's imaginative power and originality, it is necessary to actively train them to logically write their own views on certain matters.
At the same time, this course includes education to acquire accurate and critical reading comprehension of information via the media and the Internet - information literacy.
5.2.2. numerical thinking
Although it is a subject that corresponds to conventional mathematics, what is decisively different is that the concept of numbers itself is taught. Conventional mathematics education focused on computational problems and focused on training computational skills. This makes mathematics trivial to mere memorization of formulas and theorems, and is a factor in increasing dislike of mathematics.
However, mathematics is an act of logical expression using numbers, which are universal characters or figures. In that sense, mathematics is a kind of linguistic expression, and at the same time it is a powerful means of scientific thinking. It is truly a mathematical "thinking", and it is also a subject that connects the "linguistic expression" subject and the next "science basics" subject.
A "numerical thinking" course with such a character does not simply focus on being able to calculate 1 + 1 = 2, but strives to make students think about what kind of mathematical concept this formula expresses. The same is true for more complicated formulas and theorems.
5.2.3. science basics
Science basics is a subject for learning the basics of various sciences. "Science" here means not only the narrowest sense of natural science, but also a broad sense of "science" that extends over some social sciences. In that respect, it is broader than science as a traditional school subject.
In that respect, it can be said that the subject aims to cultivate a general knowledge of science that abolishes the formal distinction between the so-called humanities and sciences. Through this, we aim to cultivate scientific citizens who are not bound by superstitions and pseudo-scientific myths.
It consists of three fields: Specifically, "natural and life sciences" to learn the basics of biology, physics and chemistry, "social sciences" to learn the basics of geography and economics, and "earth and environmental science" to learn the basics of geophysics and environmental science. Since it is a field with a very wide range of contents, each field will be further subdivided.
5.2.4. history and society
History and Society is a subject to learn about history and existing society. In the field of history, education that separates national history (for example, American history) and world history like traditional history education will be transformed. National history, which is separated from world history, is at the forefront of nationalist education, a category that does not exist in a communist society where the state is abolished.
However, even under communism, the history of individual zones corresponding to present-day countries still remains, and education is carried out by positioning them in an integrated manner within world history.
At the same time, instead of comprehensively teaching from the prehistoric age to the present, it is enough to specialize in modern history (specifically, the history after the industrial revolution) and leave the history before that to self-study.
In the field of society, emphasis is placed on providing a comprehensive and objective understanding of the communist political and legal system as a historical goal. Its main purpose is to provide students with the basic understanding necessary to fulfill their important civic duties as delegates to the Commons' Convention.
5.2.5. life skills (some commuting subjects)
In a communist society, the ability to make judgments based on each person's life experiences is emphasized, so life skill education, which teaches basic skills in daily life, is as important as general subjects.
In general, the technological innovation brought about by capitalism overemphasizes convenience, depriving children of the experience of making and repairing something with their own hands, and as a result, humans are seemingly losing their original creativity. On the other hand, it is impossible even for the communist revolution to push back the wave of mechanization and automation that promotes convenience.
In particular, in the future society, it is important not only to understand the structure and operation methods of information devices, including robots, but also to learn how to use information networks that have become a part of our lives safely and justly.
In addition to these mechanization measures, the major pillar of this life skills course is to have all students acquire basic housework and childcare skills regardless of gender. This is because there is an increasing need today to learn these skills through compulsory education, which used to be taught at home.
5.2.6. health and physical education (commuting subjects)
Conventional physical education is centered on competitive sports education that teaches various sports in a comprehensive manner, but this not only imposes sports that ignore the aptitude and interest of individual students, but also does not improve the skills of individual sports. It is a wasteful educational method.
In contrast, communist physical education focuses on gymnastics and training to prevent illness and injury, and is converted into health and physical education that is possible regardless of individual athletic ability. On the other hand, competitive sports education is entrusted to private sports clubs.
5.2.7. social ethics (some commuting subjects)
The focus of communist moral education is anti-discrimination education. As mentioned in the previous chapter, this stems from the fact that communist society is a society of social cooperation and mutual aid, and social customs in which people of different backgrounds cooperate with each other are indispensable.
Therefore, it is necessary to thoroughly teach the very simple moral code that "people should not be inferior because of their innately or acquired characteristics and attributes" throughout the entire compulsory education system.
This is also considered effective in preventing bullying. This is because serious bullying that leads to the suicide of the target student is none other than discrimination in the realm of children (many of which are related to appearance).
In the first half of compulsory education, this anti-discrimination education centers on experiential learning through interaction with students with disabilities and students from overseas. In the second half, it would be effective to adopt a subject-learning method in which a wider range of discriminated parties (ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, appearance/body type minorities, etc.) are invited as guests and questions are answered by listening to their stories.
The seven basic subjects outlined above (linguistic expression, numerical thinking, basic science, historical society, life skills, health and physical education, social ethics) are compulsory subjects in the integrated compulsory education. They will be allocated iteratively and developmentally throughout the process.
In addition, since art-related subjects such as music and art (arts and crafts) are entirely dependent on individual tastes and aptitudes, they are excluded from the compulsory education curriculum and left to private instruction classes.
5.3. Vocational introductory education
In the consistent compulsory education, along with the above subject learning, emphasis is placed on vocational introduction education.
Introductory education for vocational education is experiential learning that exposes students to the workplace from the middle stage of compulsory education. If this makes it easier to have a career image from the teens and prepare for the future life plan, it will be possible to prevent the prolongation of the moratorium period such as the so-called NEET, and purely spontaneous as discussed in Chapter 3. We may be able to pave the way for the possibility of a labor system.
Specifically, in the middle of the integrated compulsory education, where introductory vocational education begins, students will directly observe various workplaces using the "social studies tour" method. In the final stage, in addition to vocational guidance for each representative occupational field, such as industry, information, general affairs, agriculture, fisheries, welfare, medical care, research, etc., an internship is introduced to engage in short-term work experience at the desired workplace.
In this way, at the stage of completing the compulsory education system, in principle, a system will be created for everyone to get a job for the time being. To this end, we will train and assign specialist teachers with knowledge of psychology and sociology, and establish a system that introduces students to jobs that match their aptitudes and aspirations in cooperation with employment agencies.
For advanced specialists such as doctors, lawyers, and teachers, the main factors are job history, sense of mission, and personality insight, without relying on selection tests, for those with at least five years of work experience. After selecting them as such, they will be trained at the advanced professional schools mentioned last time. In a communist society without an intellectual class system, the pure elite culture of high-level professionals will be abolished.
