Education: Gobbledygook Gagged

Back from three years in the Army, a New York University instructor named William Brickman took a look at the educational periodicals he used to write for. “The world,” he found, “may indeed move, as Galileo once insisted, but educational writers … do not.” To show what he meant, he wrote a paragraph for School and Society;

“The schools continue to serve pupil and community needs. The teachers revitalize the old methods, stimulate interest in the new program, and implement the recommendations of the curriculum experts. The latter envision a wider adoption of vitalized method and content, and are always striving after the coordination of program for the schools in transition. Under the enriched curricula, it will be possible for pupils to achieve self-realization by meeting real situations, by being weaned from blind conformity ‘to authority, and by being confronted with thought-provoking problems. Above all, the school must be intent upon harnessing and integrating the social and cultural forces within the structural framework of modern society. It is only through pooling the resources that the nation will be enabled to enjoy a generation of youth equipped with the desirable social behavior for this complex world.”