I have often stressed the importance of always acting with conscious purpose. After all, it is our sense of purpose that distinguishes us from lower life forms. In so far as we live and act in a world of scarcity, it is important that we arrange our actions in accordance with the attainment of our highest ends. We should, therefore, strive to identify the goals we are seeking to accomplish with each action we take, so that we may understand why these goals are important and judge whether they are, truly, worthy of our efforts. It seems sensible, then, to begin a project such as this with a statement of goals, an expression of purpose, a discussion of aspirations.
According to Mises, “the incentive that impels a man to act is always some uneasiness.” The beginning of an action is the perception of a problem. This seems self-evident. A new course of study begins with the identification of a gap in one’s knowledge. The creation of a new business or product begins with the recognition of an unrealized opportunity for profit. Once a certain problem has been discovered, the actor must imagine a more satisfactory state of affairs, presumably one where the problem has been solved or else has lost its ability to harm the actor. And, finally, the actor must believe that his action has the power to alleviate the uneasiness, to solve the problem or render it harmless. If these conditions are met, then man acts.
A full elucidation of the purpose behind an action, therefore, should include the problem that the action seeks to solve, the solution that the action purports to enact, and an explanation of the causal link between the action and the solution to the problem.
The problem that I believe I have identified is the problem of compulsory public schooling. I think that our current educational system is profoundly immoral and ultimately destructive to the well-being of children. Specifically, my view is that the fundamental flaw with our current educational system is that it is a central plan, an attempt to shape the world, to shape people, into a form more pleasing to the planners. Central plans, by forestalling the possibility of change or improvement or independent experimentation, inevitably hurt the people caught up in them by destroying their sense of agency and humanity, and by limiting them to conformity with the plan. The solution, I think, is obvious: to abandon this central plan, and return authority and autonomy to the children and families currently trapped in the system. This means ending the compulsory nature of school; students should be able to choose whether or not to come to school. It means abolishing standardized testing and grades; there should be no ideal standard of what every child should be like. It means ceasing to follow mass curriculums; every student is different in terms of what he needs to know and how he should learn it. We need to respect the individuality and dignity of students. And while there is no one right way to implement this solution, there are many actions that can be taken in pursuit of it: constantly reminding decision-makers to respect the agency of students, spreading awareness of the reality of school and the dangers of central planning, supporting individual students in their natural resistance to the dehumanizing forces of school, advocating for policy changes that would allow students more flexibility and freedom, etc. I am involved in many of these efforts.
I harbor no delusion that I can single-handedly change the fate of the world’s children. But I must try my best to make such progress as I may. “I do not regret having attempted the impossible . . . I fought because there was nothing else I could do.” While some of my aspirations may be lofty, it would be foolish to pursue these unachievable objectives to the exclusion of all other ends, ends which may be within my power to attain. The objective of this particular project, No Plan, is therefore strictly limited. Through my work in EMC2 this year, I hope to produce and publish a book setting forth my philosophy of education, using it to critique the current educational system and propose an alternative system, and incorporating some of my experiences with EMC2 as illustrations. This is a subject that I have been writing about extensively for years, and one that other EMCers have worked on in the past. However, I feel that it is time for me to personally give this important subject the systematic treatment that it demands. The goal of this year, then, is to have a physical book ready for distribution by the end-of-year symposium.
Beyond this tangible-book goal, however, I also have a personal-development goal. Ultimately, my purpose in EMC2 is not to work on my own project but to serve the students enrolled in the program. Although I have long been able to articulate a vision for what a good education looks like, it was only last year, through my work with EMC2 students, that I came to actually understand this vision. I have no doubt that I will continue to improve my understanding of what education should look like through my work with EMC2 students this year, and, indeed, this learning is one of my aspirations. More than that, though, I aspire to stay true to my first principles and better embody my educational philosophy through my work with students this year. I went into last year not truly understanding the fundamental problem with education. I had noble ideas about what education should be, but I didn’t know how to create a class around those ideas. I didn’t know what they would look like in practice, as I had never seen them in practice. I made a lot of mistakes. But I learned. Now that I understand the problem better, I aspire to do better.
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