Bart Simpson taking his punishment for deviating from the doctrine.

I wandered upon Wiki’s article on Indoctrination and I right away it makes this important point:

It is often distinguished from education by the fact that the indoctrinated person is expected not to question or critically examine the doctrine they have learned

When you think of your experience with the Education System you went through, do you believe you received education or indoctrination? What I experienced was definitely indoctrination. The examination and grade system definitely did not leave any room for the student to question or critically examine what was being taught.

In school as I know it, a student is rewarded with high grade and good career perspective for reproducing what the teacher and the book say. Failure to reproduce the content or questioning the content is penalized with a low grade which lowers one’s professional potential. Other means for penalty are detentions, repetition of the school year and many more. The teacher, principle and the books are objects of authority to abide by. The students are not invited to dialog as equal participants. This is by definition propaganda via Appeal to Authority in which a logical fallacy is being exploited , where it is argued that a statement is correct because the statement is made by a person or source that is commonly regarded as authoritative.

In this case, it would be more truthful to call it the Indoctrination System.

Now let’s take it a step further. To be really free, it is obvious that a human needs to be free of indoctrination, not just be able to choose between 2 candidates on a ballot or 2 kinds of toothpaste in the grocery store. So how much of our understanding of reality is based on the indoctrination we receive in school from age 5 until we finish?