Schools and Values ... with Acknowledgements to Ayn Rand
by Lindsay Perigo
(originally broadcast on The Politically Incorrect Show)
Yesterday a majority of you who called opposed the teaching of values in schools as they are now. Your opposition was not to the teaching of values per se, but to the particular, Politically Correct values likely to be inculcated in schools run or dominated by the state, as all our schools currently are.
The Ministry of Education's curriculum framework requires schools to "reinforce" such values as honesty, respect, non-sexism & non-racism. No one could quibble with the first two, but the second two are smokescreens for feminist & pseudo-mordi brainwashing, & are rife with dishonesty & disrespect. If the state were to remove itself from education, none of this hooey would last for five minutes-people would be free to set up schools that taught it, but who in their right minds would send their kids there?
Meantime, though, the Hon. Lindsay Perigo, host of the Politically Incorrect Show, has been appointed Minister of Education at gunpoint, & made to produce a list of values for state schools to promote, since it has become clear that no one else has a clue. Here is what he has come up with:
#1 -- Reverence for the human mind. It is our species' means of survival. It is fully competent to grasp reality, to form conclusions, to discover & invent. Training it is what education is for. Treasure it accordingly.
#2 -- Respect for each other's autonomy. Each person has free will by dint of having his own mind. Leave each other free to exercise it. Don't try to gain anything from others by force or fraud. That is a negation of their mind - and yours. If you want something from someone, ask politely; if refused, accept graciously. Use force only against those who have first used it against you.
#3 -- Honesty. Put another way -- respect for reality. It is what it is, & faking cannot change it. The fakery will come back to haunt you. Realise though, that you do not owe the truth to those who use force against you.
#4 -- Independence. Learn the discipline of discovering the truth for yourself. Do not accept a proposition simply because others do. 90% of people are 100% wrong about most things. Go where the evidence points, regardless of convention.
#5 -- Courage & integrity. Having formed your convictions, be prepared to stand by & defend them in the face of adversity & name-calling. You will probably be labelled a crackpot, an extremist, anti-social & selfish. Wear the taunts of the mob, when you know the mob is wrong, as a badge of honour.
#6 -- Admiration for greatness. At the same time, savour the extraordinary things that your fellows have achieved, from the most exquisite of creature comforts to the most sublime of symphonies. Acquaint yourself with the gods of science, of philosophy, of medicine, of music & art & literature, who have walked among us, & stride with them to their exalted stratospheres.
#7 -- Self-love. Remember that to say "I love you" you must first know how to say the "I." This has to be earned. It is not the phony self-love of a braggart, slavishly dependent on the applause & attention of others; rather it is deserved pride in your own actual achievements. Avoid especially the sickly modesty that others would have you observe whereby you would credit them with your accomplishments. Earn the right to be proud of yourself, & stand tall.
#8 -- Savour the happiness that this will bring you. This is not a temporary euphoria induced by a stroke of good fortune or the smoking of a joint. Rather it is the deep, unassailable, quiet ecstasy to be derived from pursuing your chosen values & achieving them. Let this happiness be your purpose.
So these are the values I would have our schools propagate. Were they to do so, I would expect the Democratic People's Republic of Aoteroa to be transformed into New Freeland, centre of a second renaissance, within a generation.
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