Hijacked education
Several great thinkers, revolutionaries, and intellectuals have
spoken about education being hijacked or manipulated—often arguing that
formal education systems have been co-opted by power structures to serve
political, economic, or ideological purposes, rather than truly empowering
people.
Here are a few powerful voices who critiqued the hijacking of education:
1. John Taylor Gatto (American educator and author)
Quote:"Schools were designed by Horace Mann and others to be instruments of
the scientific management of a mass population."
Gatto, a former "Teacher of the Year," became a sharp critic of public
education. He argued that schools are not designed to foster independent
thought or creativity but to condition obedience, compliance, and
conformity—to serve corporate and government needs. He believed modern
schooling trains people to be passive, dependent, and easily manipulated,
rather than self-reliant, critically thinking citizens.
2. Noam Chomsky (Linguist, Philosopher, Political Activist)
Quote:"The whole educational and professional training system is a very
elaborate filter, which just weeds out people who are too independent, and
who think for themselves..."
Chomsky has long argued that education has been corrupted by elite
interests, becoming a tool for indoctrination rather than enlightenment.
According to him, schools and universities often reward obedience over
curiosity, shaping individuals into productive workers, not necessarily
free thinkers.
3. Malcolm X (Civil Rights Leader)
Quote*:"Only a fool would let his enemy teach his children."*
This quote reflects Malcolm X's sharp awareness of how education can be
used as a tool of oppression, especially for marginalized communities. He
believed that Black Americans, and oppressed peoples globally, needed to
reclaim education for liberation—not depend on systems that historically
devalued or erased their identities.
4. Paulo Freire (Brazilian Educator and Philosopher)
Quote:"Education either functions as an instrument which is used to
facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the
present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of
freedom."
Freire’s landmark book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, argued that traditional
education often treats students like empty vessels to be filled with
knowledge. He called this the "banking model" of education, which serves
oppressive systems. In contrast, he advocated for liberating education,
where students and teachers co-create knowledge, challenging and
transforming the world around them.
5. Ivan Illich (Austrian Philosopher and Priest)
Quote:"School is the advertising agency which makes you believe that you
need the society as it is."
In Deschooling Society, Illich argued that institutionalized education has
been hijacked by industrial society to maintain the status quo. He promoted
self-directed learning and community-based knowledge sharing, believing
formal schooling often suppresses curiosity and enforces social control.
True education, they argue, should be liberating, empowering, and centered
on critical thinking, not merely training people to fit into existing
systems of control. BUT NONE OF INDIANS WERE TRUE ANALYST OF OUR STANDARDS
OF THE EDUCATION
Education as a Tool of Control
John Taylor Gatto, a former New York State Teacher of the Year, became a
fierce critic of the U.S. education system. In his book Dumbing Us Down:
The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling (1992), Gatto argues that
schools are not designed to cultivate individuality or creativity but to
"condition children to obedience" and prepare them for roles in a
corporate-dominated economy. He believed modern education had been hijacked
by bureaucratic and industrial interests to produce passive workers rather
than free thinkers.
Similarly, Noam Chomsky, MIT professor and leading intellectual, has spoken
extensively about how education often functions to "weed out independent
thinkers". In interviews and writings such as Understanding Power (2002),
Chomsky describes the educational system as a filter that rewards obedience
and conformity, training individuals not to question authority but to fit
neatly into the economic and political status quo.
The Political Dimension of Education
In the civil rights context, Malcolm X delivered one of the most striking
warnings about educational control. He famously said,
"Only a fool would let his enemy teach his children."
This quote underscores the political dimensions of education, particularly
for oppressed communities. Malcolm X saw how educational institutions
perpetuated racism, Eurocentrism, and classism, and argued for
self-determined education—especially for African Americans and the global
poor.
Paulo Freire, in his revolutionary work Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970),
develops this critique further. He identifies traditional education as the
"banking model", where students are treated as passive containers to be
filled with knowledge. Freire believed this model reflects and reproduces
systems of domination. He writes:
"Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate
integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system
and bring about conformity, or it becomes the practice of freedom."
For Freire, real education is dialogical, liberating, and rooted in the
lived experience of the oppressed. His ideas laid the foundation for
critical pedagogy and democratic education worldwide.
Beyond the Classroom
Ivan Illich, a radical Austrian philosopher, went even further in
Deschooling Society (1971), claiming that formal schooling itself is a
mechanism of institutional oppression. He argued that schools create
dependency, stratify society, and legitimize unequal social roles. Illich
wrote:
"School is the advertising agency which makes you believe that you need the
society as it is."
According to Illich, true learning happens through self-motivated discovery
in community settings, not within rigid curricula imposed by the state or
market forces.
These critiques reveal a common theme: education has often been diverted
from its emancipatory potential and used instead to serve the interests of
power—be it the state, the market, or dominant ideologies. As these
thinkers show, reclaiming education requires reimagining it not as a system
of control, but as a collaborative, liberating force—rooted in critical
thinking, social justice, and the full development of the human spirit.
References: Chomsky, Noam. Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky.
Edited by Peter R. Mitchell and John Schoeffel, The New Press, 2002.
K Rajaram IRS 29925
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