Are The Institutions Designed To Benefit Us, Actually Doing More Harm Than Good?
Hot Takes With Laiba Khan — January 25 2021
From the moment our minds start to develop an understanding of media, we are exposed to this idea of placing our trust in certain systems, because they are supposedly meant to ‘protect’ us. Now, you may be thinking, “Laiba, what the hell are you going on about this time” but let me explain. Child friendly shows like Paw Patrol reveal how police officers are there to “save the day”. We are put in schools from the moment we can start to walk and talk, and are fed with this idea that getting good grades determines a good future. Then, as we grow older, we are taught that the government is protecting us, providing peace for our nation. However, what happens when the perfect image of these institutions falls apart? What happens when we become cognizant of their true colours? When we realize we are only aware of the ‘beauty’ behind all of the madness? This leads us to today’s Hot Takes inquiry of whether or not the institutions designed to benefit us, are actually doing more harm than good.
In this segment of exposing the pillars that hold society together- which is honestly my absolute favourite thing to do- you will begin to understand how despite attaining an ethical set of core values when initially creating such impactful institutions; the education system, policing system and government policies contradict what they supposedly intel, resulting in the doing of harm. However, do not fret, every problem has some sort of solution, which I propose is up to the general public to use such an awareness to challenge these systems and better them for future generations. Let’s get right into it, shall we?
The Failure of the Education System
Don’t get me wrong, school is important. Stay in school kids! When you analyze the values at which the education system has been founded on, essentially why it was created, it is most definitely moral in nature. This system, although significantly important, has become especially outdated in regards to its lack of advancement, and is causing immense distress on the lives of students.
Lack Of Innovation — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
When I think about human nature, the term innovative is one that comes to mind. From the moment this world was created, we evolved from a simple celled organism, to one of a more advanced species. Okay Laiba, we get it, you’re a science major- no seriously. Then, as evolution took the wheel, we continued to evolve and have now become one of the most intelligent creatures on the planet- perhaps even the universe- but that’s for another day. Despite this, our school system is one that has been, for the most part, the same as it was when it was created, and this is extremely problematic. In an article called The Times Have Changed- Our Schools Haven’t published by Oregon Learns shares an important insight,
“Our schools still run on an industrial factory model, moving students along in same-age groups in fixed blocks of time. Most students are expected to learn the material in the same way at the same pace. By large, our schools still function implicitly as a sorting system” (Svicarovich).
A great flaw in the system is that it is very rigid, however the millions of kids entering and leaving its premises are vastly different. It forces children to think and behave the same way as one another- as what they are taught- despite having varying strengths and weaknesses as well as interests. In specific, this system especially outcasts those with more abstract and creative minds, and is favourable towards students with a logic based and numerical thinking who love to study straight out of the textbook. Abigail Cox, an advocate for the betterment of student education emphasizes,
“If the world around us changes and we do not, how are our students going to be prepared for the jobs of the future — largely technology-based, non-traditional careers? The current education system is teaching us outdated skills designed for the industrial era, and ignoring modern history; a modern history that will dictate the career paths of current students.” (Cox).
Education is supposed to be valuable. A place where students can learn and grow their minds in order to partake in a society of strong ethics and values. However, instead of advancing and reaching their full potential, students become involved with the strict regime that school entails, and tend to lose their creativity as most of their time is spent studying for courses that they do not really need. Yes, students gain freedom when choosing courses in grade 12, but after spending 12–14 years in such a setting, one year is not enough for an adolescent to quickly find out what they are truly passionate about career-wise and the life they wish to strive for — especially at the ages of 16–18. Thus, an institution that is meant to be morally valuable, is progressing backwards in the sense that it is limiting children as opposed to providing them with a well rounded and modernized skill set needed to thrive in such a growing society.
Mental Health Is Deteriorating — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Mental Health issues, more specifically anxiety and depression, are more common now than ever before, especially when it comes to the youthful generation of our times. This is a result of many things, social media, cellphones, immediate access to a variety of substances and the list goes on, However, the school system is also a large contributor, if not the most prominent, to the decline in mental health amongst students. The issue then becomes, if the purpose of education is to liberate children allowing them to attain the strong willed nature in order to have a successful future, then why is it doing the opposite and generating a fear of failure and ultimately corroding their mental stability?
When thinking about how the education system is failing to consider proper mental health requirements, psychologist Dr.Gray examines the environment and deems the following,
“Kids are people, and they respond just as adults do to micromanagement, to severe restrictions on their freedom, and to constant, unsolicited evaluation. School, too often, is exactly like the kind of nightmare job that I just described; and, worse, it is a job that kids are not allowed to quit. No matter how much they might be suffering, they are forced to continue, unless they have enlightened parents who have the means, know-how, and will to get them out of it. Including homework, the hours are often more than those that their parents put into their full-time jobs, and freedom of movement for children at school is far less than that for their parents at work” (Gray).
To be in such a confined environment, learning for over 6 hours daily, and then coming home to catch up on homework, assignments and studying- leaving barely enough time for well rested breaks and being expected to get a proper 8 hours of sleep- is nearly impossible. Especially when you have students who want to achieve the best grades possible, who then have to go that extra mile of effort to succeed. Dr. Gray even conducted a study that correlates on average, the student visits to a psychiatric ER in the span of 12 months. He finds that during the months of when school is at its busiest, exam and finals season, the number of visits spikes up as opposed to in the summer months where it is at its lowest in July (Gray).
The decline in health speaks volumes when looking at the failure of the education system, because instead of influencing a child to reach their maximum potential, they are being drained and acquiring illnesses that can potentially hinder them for the rest of their lives, if not, a long period of time.
A Word of Logic — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Such critiquing of this system is nothing out of the ordinary. One of the most notorious physicist and scientific philosopher of our time, Albert Einstein, shares his philosophy on this topic,
“You have X students with Y types of interests and Z different talents, yet you throw them all into one pot and then teach them the same stuff. Later the future football player gets diagnosed with ADHD because he can’t pay attention in history classes and the future designer can’t go to university because he failed religion, chemistry and physics and his GPA sucks… Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid” (Einstein).
The great man has done it again folks! His message is significant as it reveals the deeply rooted flaw in the schooling system, where conditioning different children to think the same is directly impacting students in a negative manner, resulting in terrible repercussions despite coming from such a valuable institution.
The Harsh Truth About Blue Lives
The policing system has been in the spotlight for the past couple of months — but, all for the wrong reasons. More specifically, through the various accounts of innocent murders of POC’s, the Black Lives Matter movement and even just recently the terrorism attack of the Capitol, we are beginning to see the true colours- no pun intended- of the corrupt policing system. I’d like to emphasize on system before anyone comes at me with “bUt NoT aLl PoLiCe aRe bAD-”, yes Karen, not ALL, however every single officer is a part of the system that is deeply rooted with injustice and the training that involves the dehumanizing of people of colour, so yes although every officer is not directly bad, they are a part of the greater system that is- bad. Hence, despite being founded on the basis to protect society from harm; the policing system is not what it seems as a result of an abuse of power, and their status that prevents them from any legal repercussions.
Trained To Kill — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
The greater issue here is on a systemic level. From the moment they begin training, officers are conditioned in such a manner that hinders their ability to rationalize.
Hasan Minhaj’s Patriot Act is an incredible show. One of his videos called The Broken Policing System is extremely informative in regards to this issue. During his interview with law professor Seth Stoughton, Hasan Minhaj unveils how officers are trained to react extremely fast, without any thought. There is no emphasis on the notion of thinking, it is just simply reacting, using your reflexes, towards anything that could be a threat. Additionally, in boot camps, officers are being fed with information that involves motivational speakers telling them that they have the upper hand, they are powerful, that they can do anything it takes and to be aggressive and dominating and to use force whenever they please. “You are the one with the gun, you have all of the power.” One of the officers who listened to this speaker, later ended up shooting an innocent and unarmed man sitting in his own car, as he was reaching for the dashboard-which the officer directed him to do (Minhaj).
Brainwashing is an actual phenomenon and it is very much psychological. We know that the id of your brain- the unconscious part that dwells on primital desires and is irrational in nature- loves to go against your ego- your rationale. Although unconscious in nature, when you are trained in a surrounding that is meant to drive your id, it begins to seep over your ability to think rationally and that is what your mind becomes. Years later and Sigmund Freud never fails to tell us what we’re thinking- even before we actually think it!
The way these officers are trained is extremely problematic in nature, because it manipulates all officers to think the same way. Not to forget the addition of systemic racism, and you’ve got a ticking time bomb waiting to abolish people of colour at any chance they get. Society is so easy to reject ACAB, but how are all cops not bastards when they’re knowingly a part of the system that, although should be moral in nature, is unethical in its execution of training of such an integral part of our community? The answer is: they are.
Protected By The Law — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
As sad as it is to admit, innocent killings without repercussions is a consistent theme that has highlighted the double sided nature of the police. It also highlights the failure of the judicial system, in the sense that it is failing to charge those who are guilty for the sole reason that the law protects police officers. How sad is it then, when the law and those who enforce the law are failing to fulfil their tasks. Who do you even go to?
In the same episode, Hasan Minhaj talks about ‘qualified immunity’ and the problem with confidential records, “Normally, when you sue a person, you have to prove that they violated your rights. When you sue a cop, you have to prove that they violated a right that was clearly established, but a right isn’t clearly established, unless someone successfully sues a cop for violating it. It’s the police version of trying to get your first job- you need a job for experience but you also need experience for the job. It’s a tiresome cycle that only benefits the police” (Minhaj).
When you put people in a position of power and give them such immense authority over important tasks and then proceed to protect them from the law so that they do not face any consequences for their actions, it results in a great deal of abusing one’s power. Have people not learned anything from the Stanford Prison Experiment??? Philip Zimbardo is shaking his head right now. This then allows the police to get away with virtually anything, take the officers who killed Breonna Taylor or the man who forcefully placed his knee on George Floyd’s neck- action against the police would not have been taken legally if the general public didn’t do anything about it.
In the Netflix original, When They See Us, we see the behind the scenes of the Central Park Jogger case where 5 Black teenagers were wrongly convicted of raping a white woman. They were brutally beaten, starved, and faced long periods of time in jail due to the failure of the policing system and the deeply rooted systemic racism within America (When They See Us). Since 1989, nothing much has changed as Black people are still being wrongfully convicted, and are now even being killed on immediate impulse, showcasing the backwards advancement of society. As people who swore an oath to protect civilians from crime, it just becomes morally wrong that they are the ones putting innocent lives in harm’s way.
A Policy To… Keep Peace?
Nothing screams hypocrisy more in my eyes, than the United Nations. Shots fired! You see, the United Nations was built after the second world war, in the hopes that it could unite countries from all over the world in order to maintain peace and diminish any talk of potential wars. It’s ironic because British PM Neville Chamberlain had tomatoes thrown at him for trying to keep “Peace in Our Times” by creating a treaty with Hitler before WWII, and yet the UN seems almost like the treaty’s younger carbon copy of a brother, who gets all the fame (Klein). Ahh, I loathe when history repeats itself. Despite its ethical intentions, the implementation of the UN has failed a plethora of humanitarian crises around the world.
Deemed Useless — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Although the UN was made on the basis of preventing any hints of war and regaining peace, it has been deemed useless after being unable to help multiple third world countries.
Countries like Rwanda, Sudan and Yemen are facing political corruption and military enforcement for many years. This has resulted in an unimaginable amount of lives lost, as well as social conditions that are on the brink of extinction, due to the extreme terrors that have abolished communities. In addition to this, children of Palestine are still facing repercussions from Israel, which to no surprise, the United States of America can take all of the blame, and there is a mass genocide in Xinjiang, China where thousands of Muslims are being detained and assimilated. (NowThisWorld). I could honestly go on and on about the varying genocides, but we’d all feel useless, so I’ve highlighted a few.
These humanitarian crises are not just one day, or one week, events. They have been present for a number of months- with some countries even experiencing years of such extremities. It is deeply concerning how such an organization refuses to properly address and solve these problems, attaining a lack of power, despite the fact that the majority of countries inflicting harm are the ‘head’ of the organization. Said crises listed above, are not even just miniscule in nature, they are ruining lives on a massive scale. The question then becomes, why are the United Nations failing to fulfil their promises? Does politics really overshadow humanitarian rights? When we see incidents like these and a lack of a solution, I guess it really does.
Nationalism and Veto — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Veto is a- honestly I can’t even depict the appropriate words to describe veto, it’s just a mess. The term veto refers to a policy that the permanent five of the UN; America, China, Russia, England, and France as well as some other countries from time to time attain. This policy essentially allows the nations to simply dismiss the problems within their country that they do not want to show to the greater public. For instance, to veto something means a country can easily impose sanctions, refuse investigations, and allow or refuse military interventions to name a few. The scary part is, it only takes one vote from the permanent five, to veto something and the country imposing the policy is also able to vote (NowThisWorld).
Now, me saying that veto is a policy for disaster is not just a theory, it is an actual and very real issue,
“Let’s start with Russia, They’ve used their veto power more times than any other P5 member. Most recently, the ally of the Syrian regime has used its veto power 12 times more on draft resolutions concerning the Syrian civil war. That includes drafts that would have allowed chemical weapons investigations, imposed sanctions and referred Syria to the International Criminal Court. More than 400,000 people have died as a result of the conflict in Syria since 2011.” (NowThisWorld)
Russia, China and America have used their veto power countless times, three of the largest countries and the ones with the most influence out of the five. This is extremely problematic, and the UN understands this, however it is really difficult to deconstruct such a policy when it is rooted in the hands of the most powerful. Not only this, but veto and its implications are terribly counterproductive in regards to the UN’s philosophy of maintaining peace, because when you take away the faults of these countries, you have taken away the main oppressors that are creating havoc.
The theme of countries and figures who attain a lot of power and then proceed to abuse it is not one of the ordinary- it is a recurring theme symbolized in many historical events and even movies and shows. Additionally, some of the greatest philosophers, Aristotle in specific, have discussed how an excess of power can result in the opposition of virtues, leading towards vices. However, history continues to repeat itself and the political aspect of human nature refuses to listen. Deep sigh.
Call to Action!!!
You may be thinking, “okay Laiba, you’ve bombarded us with the facts and I now feel absolutely hopeless towards the progression of humanity. Can I just hide under my blanket and stay in bed forever?” The answer to that is simply, no. You see, it is important to sit in the discomfort of representation; being aware of your surroundings and the problematic nature of the events in the world is a privilege because you have the power to change it. My goal is not to make you feel like absolute crap, but it is to spark you with even just an ounce of passion, of empathy and to promote change. Education is important, says the girl who just roasted the hell out of the education system- no honestly- it is. It is so crucial that we stay aware, because educating yourself is the first step towards creating a solution, or at least trying to better the systems.
What Next? — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
The first step is education and becoming aware of what is wrong, now if you read through this lengthy yet informative blog post, then you have practically accomplished the first step. Go you! You can also follow pages on social media that talk about these subjects, as well as staying up to date with news outlets
The second step is to spread the word! Tell your friends, your teachers, family, peers whoever you’d like. The butterfly effect is real y’all, and word spreads fast, the more people who become educated on these manners, the more chances we have to better society for future generations.
The third is to use your platform and your voice. There are so many ways in which you can actively promote change. Some of these ways are to use dialogue with people of higher authority such as your local mayor or city council to try and figure out what you can do in your community. Also, signing petitions and connecting with influential people who are advocating for these changes is another great way to do your part as an active member of society. Helping small businesses, those who are not profiting from corrupt institutions, is another way to defund people of power in order to provoke change.
Lastly, and most importantly, take care of yourself and the people around you. Mental health is no joke, and especially during times like these where it feels as though every day brings a new tragedy, checking in with yourself and those who you love can do wonders. You do not need to keep the news on 24–7, nor do you need to feel as though you are always responsible for others actions, take things one by one and all you can do is your best. Be gentle with yourself folks, at the end of the day, it is important that we all take care of ourselves so that we can stay strong and resile through times of injustice and give it our all when we need to fight. Try meditation, prayer, staying active, conversation with the right people and take breaks when you need them!
In no means am I forcing you to fix the flaws of these systems-that would be absolutely superhuman, we would honestly need to call the Avengers or something. However, you must realize the importance of a call to action, we cannot stay silent for long because although these institutions are the pillars of our society, we are the ones who feed their status. Without the general public, there would be nothing, and when more people start to realize our power to do good, change can happen. Even if it takes years. Baby steps people, its all about Kaizen- small improvements are still steps in the right direction!
That is all for today folks, and never forget,
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance” (Confucius).
