Originally Posted by Frith

There is a very unfortunate idea taking root among people who are recent victims of the new era educational system that has failed to inspire and educate and caused many to say things like "I don't need an education" or "I don't think education is a sign of intelligence", etc. It has led to various Americans referring to a "British anti-egghead attitude." I have been rather grossly insulted by quite a few British and some American yobs over the years on the net because I am educated. I do not like to hide this fact under a bushel for the very reason that I feel it should once again become a source of pride and achievement to have any kind of qualification or capability whether this be as an artisan, a technician or some academically related degree or diploma. (Or whatever names they give these things now.)

The false notion that you educate yourself solely through reading books, or worse, that education is the mere reading of books, especially certain books, is part of this obnoxious yobdom that, when self educated, begins to attack and insult the real deal.

What people today fail to realise is that education is only half textually related. The other half is what the lecturer or teacher can purvey regarding the subject matter. This vital connection and flow between student and textual matter, between ideas and the synthesis of ideas is what is missing from self education. Self enlightenment, of course is another thing. That can be achieved through reading.

I am more than sorry that the traditional edifices of education are being broken down and the invaluable worth of good teachers being cast down in favour of dumbing down. My sympathies lie with the youth who will be deprived, once again, because of cultural Marxism.