Are ideas dangerous?

At what point do ideas become dangerous?

I've been listening to plenty of news reports this morning about the protests against Columbia University for allowing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, to speak to students today.

My immediate reaction is to be rather suspicious of people who would find his viewpoints so frightening that they believe he should be silenced. Are they afraid he'll win converts?

I might not agree with everything he says. In fact, I know very little of what he says. Anyone who says the Holocaust never happened is a few fries short of a Happy Meal and I stop listening.

Still, the purpose of education is to know how to process ideas. It is about critical thinking. It's about listening to many points of view and evaluating them on their merit or lack thereof.

Silencing someone because he has controversial beliefs strikes me as the wrong way to handle it. I believe he should be allowed to speak, to be questioned and students can then decide for themselves what they believe.

How about you? Do you think he should be allowed to speak?
~*

Weekend: A discussion about education....

Someone left a comment on yesterday's post that really got me thinking.

Here's the comment: I dropped out when I was 15. That would have been a Bad Decision for most people, but for me it was absolutely the best thing I could have done. I can't even think about my school days anymore. If it's not PTSD, it's pretty close to it.

This makes such sense to me that I just had to write a bit more about it.

Many people, including my ex-husband, have such an inherent intelligence that they're quite capable of learning whatever they need to learn academically that there's no need to keep them forced into an environment that creates complete unhappiness.

When I look back on high school, not trying to be funny as I was yesterday, I see a mass social control movement. The majority of our experience had very little to do with academics. It had very little to do with learning. It was socialization. Cultural training.

In my own case, I think I would have needed some structure to keep me on track but the high school experience itself, I could have done without. There's no question in my mind that I would have done much better academically if I hadn't been surrounded by all the group dynamics.

Yet I thrived in college and did very well in all of my classes.

There are some people who simply don't do well in a structured environment. If anything, it completely stifles their desire to learn. Being one of them, I can't help but think there should be other alternatives, even beyond homeschooling. Home study? Self-study?

I'd just be curious to hear what others have to say.

If your child wanted to learn on his or her own, would you support that? Do you think it might have been the right choice for you? Please feel free to .. um.. say something! :)


Peace,


~Chani