Indoctrination has become a critical and controversial issue in modern education. This form of education raises fundamental questions about the ethics of teaching. Indoctrination is a manipulative form of teaching where educators pass specific beliefs and values to their students. Over the last 100 years, the understanding of indoctrination has changed considerably, from being widely understood to be synonymous with education to being criticised and condemned as harmful to students. In the modern world, indoctrination is broadly regarded as a bad form of education. Universally, the principle of indoctrination is accepted as a form of education meant to harm students. It was a popular form of education more than a century ago, nonetheless it has become increasingly controversial in the recent years because of content that is taught, the method of instruction and the objectives it is meant to achieve. This paper will argue on whether indoctrination should ever be justified in society.
To answer this question the paper will first of all focus on the elements of indoctrination. The three important elements of indoctrination include the content being taught, the methodology of teaching and the intention or objectives of the teaching.
Content of education
First and foremost, indoctrination is associated with a specific form of content. The term doctrine was mainly associated with areas of education like religion and politics. The only discipline considered to be free of doctrines is science because is normally based on scientifically proven facts, logic and rationality. Doctrine is a term that is synonymous with terms like erroneous, irrational and illogical and ideological. Indoctrination is based on faulty doctrines or insufficiently substantiated doctrines. It is also based on facts that cannot be confirmed or refuted (Sher and Bennett, 1982 p. 665).
Methodology
Every teacher or instructor will agree that the method by which content is taught just as significant as the content being transferred. Methods of instruction can be bad or good. At this point, it is important to note what makes a method of instruction good or bad, in this case, indoctrination. The first element that makes a method of instruction bad is a lack of evidence. Methods of instruction which do not provide sufficiently or no prove entirely for the content being taught are termed as bad. The second element that makes a method of instruction bad is misuse or abuse of evidence. This involves issues like fraud and falsification of evidence. Bad method of instruction also involves the abuse of the relationship between the teachers and the student. In most cases, teachers utilize an authoritative approach of teaching to suppress the autonomy and the freedom of students (Levitt, 2013 p.36).
The intention of teaching
Any form of education that intends to hinder the growth and the autonomy of students is wrong. Indoctrination on its part attempts to limit the ability of students to function autonomously.
Looking back at the three elements of indoctrination starting from the material taught, the methods of instruction and the intentions of teaching, it is a form of education that can never be justified in a modern and free society.
Indoctrination entails uncritical acceptance and serious psychological commitment to a specific system of values and beliefs. Under indoctrination, students believe and accept certain things, but they never understand why they accept them. Even when the taught principles, values and beliefs are not appropriate, the students of indoctrination remain emotionally committed to them (Priestman, 2015 p.5). Any form of education that is based on limited evidence, uses dubious methods of indoctrination and limits the ability of students to freely reason and criticise issues is a form of education should not be justified (Merry, 2005 p. 399). Whilst other forms of education expands the power of students to critic, evaluate and question content, indoctrination limits these powers. Indoctrination bear semblance with words like coercion or even manipulation of students. Indoctrination churns out students who are rigid in their reasoning (Alexander, 2001 p. 51). These students cannot judge, evaluate, examines and criticize anything. In short, this system of education produces fools. The difference between education and indoctrination is clear and very easy to demonstrate. A good education involves growth and the capacity to tell the difference between a lie and a truth (Chambers, 1978 p. 3). Good education also involves the ability to use critical thinking while evaluating content and information. Indoctrination on the other hand, is meant to manipulate students to believe something without judging or questioning the validity of information. Indoctrination also makes general and relative references towards anything. It is a controlled transfer of knowledge and information from a student to a teacher with the intention of achieving a certain outcome (Huttunen, R., 2016 p.1). Indoctrination suppresses the sense of judgment and reason. A sense of reason and judgment always becomes clouded and confused. Victims of indoctrination are normally guided by their dogma and theory instead of good sense. They become followers and emotional fanatics instead of thinkers (Snook, 2010 p. 21)
Indoctrination should not be justified because it erodes the element of tolerance for divergent views, opinions and beliefs. Victims of indoctrination dislike or even hate people who hold contrary beliefs and values. The concept of indoctrination actively disparages individuals who view the world in a different way. For instance, most religious people normally equate religion to morality, as such, they see unreligious people as being immoral or even evil (Smart, 2010 p. 36).
Indoctrination can also lead to the emergence of social ills like terrorism and cultism. The internet has become a platform where terror groups indoctrinate, train and recruit terrorists. Extremist groups like al-Qaeda use the internet through social media and websites to radicalize individuals. Radicalization occurs through videos and propaganda. The internet can also provide instructions on how to plan and execute terror attacks. It is very hard to discuss the topic of indoctrination in the Islamic religion without discussing the issue of terrorism. Terrorism is already a very controversial topic in the modern society. Terrorist are individuals who commit acts of violence in order to influence or intimidate using religious teachings as a basis (Peterson, 2008 p. 13). Terrorists are people who have been taken through a learning process where they have been imparted with certain beliefs and values. The learning process conditions them to think in a certain manner without questioning. They simply become followers rather than students. Terrorists are less tolerant of others and view people who do not profess the Muslim religion as being immoral. (MacInnis, 2010 p. 31) Indoctrination also plays an important role in the development of cult groups. Cults are groups are defined by common religious and philosophical values and beliefs. This beliefs and values are transferred from teachers to students by way of indoctrination. Cult groups brainwash its followers, depriving them of the ability to reason and make decisions with freedom (Alexander, 2001 p. 3)
The concept of indoctrination should never be justified because of several reasons discussed the paper. This concept deprives people of the ability to think critically and judge. It instead turns people into robots who are conditioned to think and act in a certain manner. Indoctrination is also responsible for violence in society that occurs through acts of terrorism.
References
MacInnis, M., 2010. On the Possibility of Religious Education. Philosophical Inquiry in Education, 7(1), pp.31-42.
Smart, P., 2010. The concept of indoctrination. In New Essays in the Philosophy of Education (International Library of the Philosophy of Education Volume 13) (pp. 36-46). Routledge.
Snook, I.A., 2010. Concepts of Indoctrination (International Library of the Philosophy of Education Volume 20): Philosophical Essays. Routledge.
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Alexander, H. A., 2001. Reclaiming goodness: education and the spiritual quest. Notre Dame, Ind, University of Notre Dame Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=smTXAAAAMAAJ.
Priestman, S., 2015. Authentic Autonomy: A Practical Reasoning Critique of Directive Moral Education. Philosophical Inquiry in Education, 14(2), pp.5-19.
Huttunen, R., 2016. Habermas and the Problem of Indoctrination. Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory, pp.1-11.
Chambers, J.H., 1978. Marxists, Mormons and Indoctrination in Schools. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 3(2), p.3.
Merry, M.S., 2005. Indoctrination, moral instruction, and nonrational beliefs: A place for autonomy?. Educational Theory, 55(4), pp.399-420.
Peterson, B.A., 2008. Indoctrination in education: Offering an alternative conception.
Levitt, G., Deever, A., Grubaugh, S. and Gonzales, G., 2013. Education and Indoctrination in the Social Sciences: Research-based Protocols for Best Practices of Teaching with Objectivity. NATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE, p.36.
Sher, G. and Bennett, W.J., 1982. Moral education and indoctrination. The Journal of Philosophy, 79(11), pp.665-677.Bottom of Form
