There is a big difference between education and indoctrination or propaganda. The educational institutions have come little by little to use more indoctrination than education – a sad reality.
The former religious dogmata have been substituted by scientific dogmata and both give a rather narrow or tunnel sight of reality. The children are not really “educated” but guided to conformity – a conformity installed by “leaders”, by authorities who think that they know better. They are guided to be a “useful” person – to be a productive livestock, of course useful to someone elses agenda.
Education in the best sense must lead to the ability to think, perceive and feel deliberately – on ones own preference. It must lead to freedom. Education is individual, indoctrination is collective. Education activates more mental-tools such as inspiration and imagination, broadens the awareness, leads to self-value and by this to the value of all other people and creatures. Real education leads at the end to nothing less than love!
The list below gives a good insight on the differences between indoctrination and propaganda versus education. Remains only one thing… To educate children the adults must educate themself FIRST. Until this is not the case there is no education, only propaganda.
Indoctrination & Propaganda |
Education |
| 1. One-sided: Different or opposing views are either ignored, misrepresented, under-represented, or denigrated. | 1. Many sided: Issues examined from many points of view; opposition fairly represented. |
| 2. Uses generalizations, “allness” statements, and lack of specific references and data. | 2. Uses qualifiers: Statements supported with specific references and data. |
| 3. Card Stacking: Data carefully selected – even distorted – to present only the best or worse possible case. Language used to conceal. | 3. Balanced: Presents samples from a wide range of available data on the subject. Language used to reveal. |
| 4. Misleading use of statistics. | 4. Statistical references qualified with respect to size, duration, criteria, controls, source and subsidizer. |
| 5. Herding: Ignores distinctions and subtle differences. Attempts to bring together superficially similar elements together. Reasons by analogy. | 5. Discrimination: Points out differences and subtle distinctions. Use analogies carefully, pointing out differences and non-applicability. |
| 6. False Dilemma (either/or): Only two solutions to the problem or two ways of viewing the issue – the “right way” (writer or speaker’s way) and the “wrong way” (any other way). | 6. Alternatives: There are many ways of solving a problem or viewing an issue. |
| 7. Appeals to Authority: Statements by selected authority figures used to clinch an argument. “Only the expert knows” approach. | 7. Appeals to reason: Statements by authority figures and concerned parties used to stimulate thought and discussion. “Experts seldom agree”. |
| 8. Appeals to consensus or bandwagon approach: “Everybody’s doing it so it must be right | 8. Appeals to fact: Facts selected from broad data base. Logical, ethical, aesthetic and psycho-spiritual aspects considered. |
| 9. Appeals to emotions and emotional responses: Uses words and pictures with strong emotional connotations. | 9. Appeals to people’s capacity for thoughtful, reasoned responses: Uses emotionally neutral words and illustrations. |
| 10. Labeling: Uses labels and derogatory language to describe proponents of opposing viewpoint. | 10. Avoids labels and derogatory language: Addresses the argument, not the people supporting a particular viewpoint. |
| 11. Promotes attitudes of attack and/or defense with the aim of selling a position or product. | 11. Promotes attitudes of openness and inquiry. Aim is to discover. |
| 12. Ignores assumptions and built-in biases. | 12. Explores assumptions and built-in biases. |
| 13. Language promotes lack of awareness and unconsciousness. | 13. Language usage promotes greater awareness and consciousness. |
| 14. Can lead to tunnel vision and bigotry. | 14. Can lead to breadth of vision and understanding. |
| 15. Referenced studies conceal conflict-of-interest funding sources.. | 15. Referenced studies reveal conflict-of-interest funding sources. |
| 16. Statistics always presented to show maximum damage from problem and minimum damage from solution. | 16. Statistics presented to show many aspects of problem, not always from a non-max/min approach. |
after charts in Walene James’ book Immunization: The Reality Behind the Myth – Second Edition, Revised and Updated
Found at the Leading Edge International Research Group
