Allow the Caste System

In January, I saw this announcement from Nikki Frey. Nikki is the editor of L.A. Mentary, the local Mensa newsletter.

“I’d like to get a paragraph or 2 (or more) from lots of you about your experience & ideas to improve education. I figure a taste of opinions from various people will be interesting to the readers.”

I must have been in a mood that day, because I darted off a response that was brash and unambivalent.

I unthinkingly assumed that Nikki would use it for background or select quotes for an article surveying attitudes on education. I was shocked when I found out they were printing it, in its entirety, in the April 2022 edition of L.A. Mentary.

I disapprove of the headline Nikki added: “Allow the Caste System.” I do not know what that is suppose to mean. I do not think the caste system is something we should continue to allow. It upsets me that Nikki or others might read that into what I wrote, or that anyone would think that is acceptable.

While I stand by the content of my writing, had I realized it was going to a larger audience I would have been much more cautious. But as it is public now, I will include it here:

Schooling as we know it was designed to teach compliance. The primary outcomes are acculturation and compliance which is vitally important for people who need to purchase labor and exploit laborers.

The secondary outcome is to separate adults from children in order to make those adults available to those who need to purchase labor and exploit laborers.

Colleges and universities function primarily as filters and indicators of class and caste.

The illusion of academic meritocracy allows the caste system to continue unchallenged even though it is almost entirely hereditary.

That said, I really enjoyed my college days. I had a blast learning everything I could, often at the expense of my school work. I still use some of what I learned in my career today.