A piece by Tristan Allan

In a world where conditions are rapidly changing, the true goal of the curriculum of British Columbia’s education system is to create isolated individuals who meet the demands of our technological society. This is accomplished by isolating the individual, undercutting his relationship to previous generations and ‘personalising’ education. The child must develop his own personality while satisfying the criteria the curriculum has decided fits their definition of a ‘well-educated citizen.’ The demands of the technological system can be divided into two categories, social and economic, which British Columbia’s schools must synthesise through one curriculum. For that reason the broad principles to which the curriculum adheres have general overlap in both categories. Thus, the explicitly stated outcomes of British Columbia’s curriculum are fulfilling the province’s social and economic goals. (B.C. Curriculum, “Curriculum Overview”) Jacques Ellul writes in his book The Technological Society, ‘This means that— despite all the pretentious talk about the aims of education— it is not the child in and for himself who is being educated, but the child in and for society.’ (Ellul, p. 348) To achieve these ends, the education system must first create individuals who are capable of adapting to the ever-changing social and economic demands of technological society. Hence, the curriculum’s criteria for a ‘well-educated citizen’ being ‘flexible,’ having ‘a broad knowledge base,’ and is ‘able to contribute to society generally.’ (B.C. Curriculum, “Curriculum Overview”) Individuals who are capable of adapting to a never-ending process of transformation can only do so once their historic memory has been erased. This proves to benefit the technological system but also the democratic-demagoguery established in 1926, which secures its survival through its partnership with technique. The goals of the state and technique are the same, just as both the goals of the ‘well-educated citizen’ and society are the same. British Columbia’s curriculum seeks to satisfy all these demands as we shall demonstrate. The first piece is creating isolated individuals.

The aim of the curriculum of creating isolated individuals becomes apparent in the language it employs, as well as explicitly ‘personalising’ education. Firstly, due to its assumption that the world is ‘changing greatly and rapidly,’ the curriculum states that, ‘[t]oday’s students will grow into a world that is very different from and more connected than that of generations before.’ (B.C. Curriculum, “Curriculum Overview”) Already the curriculum is seeking to drive a wedge between the current generation and those of the past by stating that the world is ‘very different,’ than it was previously. What is implied throughout the statement is that it is technology which changed the world, resulting in a tighter coupling of the system, i.e. more connected than before. (Kaczynski, p. 57-58) Since technology has so changed the world, the old school system which older generations were brought up in must be done away with and replaced by techniques de l’école nouvelle – progressive education. (Ellul, p. 344) The resulting transformation ‘is a curriculum that enables and supports increasingly personalized learning,’ further isolating the child from commonalities with his predecessors. (B.C. Curriculum, “Curriculum Overview”) As Ellul noted in 1954, ‘It is essential to respect the person of the child and to individualize instruction to the maximum.’ (Ellul, p. 344) The provincial Ministry of Education agrees entirely, as it has striven for a curriculum that, ‘must be learner-centred,’ seeking for children to develop their own personality. (B.C. Curriculum, “Curriculum Overview”) However, all children must develop their personality so as to meet the criteria of a ‘well-educated citizen,’ otherwise the omnipresent technological system will fail. (B.C. Curriculum, “Curriculum Overview”) According to Ellul, ‘If one man is left who is not trained according to its methods, there is the danger of his becoming a new Hitler. The technique cannot be effected unless all children are obliged to participate and all parents to co-operate. There can be no exceptions.’ (Ellul, p. 347) This means that children cannot be raised in accordance with their culture, customs, or traditions, for that would intrinsically disregard the methods of l’école nouvelle. Instead, as we have described, children must be made ‘individuals,’ or a ‘well-educated citizen’ in the governmental vernacular, devoid of connections to their inheritance, whose personality development is moulded to be adaptable to meet the economic and social demands of the technological system.

The economic demands of society from the education system are highly specified technicians, in the sense that they use techniques in specific fields of work. Yet, these technicians are interchangeable due to the curriculum’s goal of all students meeting the criteria of a ‘well-educated citizen.’ To achieve the provincial economic goals, students must be ‘able to think critically and creatively and adapt to change.’(B.C. Curriculum, “Curriculum Overview”) This implies in the ‘well-educated citizen,’ ‘an absence, whereas previously it implied a presence. This absence is active, critical, efficient; it engages the whole man and supposes that he is subordinated to its necessity and created for its ends.’ (Ellul, p. 320) Due to the complexity of the system which requires the whole man, ‘education has been made to make the pupils absorb an enormous amount of information…everything has to be presented in a form so clear, so logically arranged, and so calculated to dispel doubt.’ (Sorel, p. 8) This explains why the curriculum is centred around ‘core competencies,’ and all subjects taught in schools must connect back to these broad principles. Life during the student’s formation, and after, will revolve around these principles, hence why students are absorbed in them from a young age. The curriculum goes further however, as its goals for a ‘well-educated citizen’ includes that they, ‘[a]re productive, gain satisfaction through achievement, and strive for physical well-being.’ (B.C. Curriculum, “Curriculum Overview”) Within the technical paradigm, this means that students who enter the workforce will seek meaning in their lives from their work, through productivity and achievement. Physical well-being is also useful to the technological society at large, hence phenomena such as the ‘beep-test,’ or running a certain distance under a time constraint in gym class. In short, meaning for students will be found in the economic advancements of the technical system, as the values they are taught to hold support further advances. While they may be isolated individuals, all the values and principles they adhere to make them interchangeable when viewed from the technical perspective, as their goals are the same as the technological system itself.

The technical system viewing the ‘well-educated citizen’ of equal value with others relates to what values are taught to pupils as to be held in high-regard in society. In society, the curriculum states that men ‘[a]re co-operative, principled, and respectful of others regardless of differences.’ (Ibid.) In practise, distinctions between individuals and groups are erased by technical culture. While the student’s connection to previous generations is to be forgotten, the curriculum takes this further. The achievement of societal goals, ‘depends on the province having citizens who accept the tolerant and multifaceted nature of Canadian society and who are motivated to participate actively in our democratic institutions.’ (B.C. Curriculum, “Curriculum Overview”) Students who already have the same economic goals as the technical system, must have the same social goals as well. Thus, the curriculum seeks to instil participation in our ‘multifaceted’ society and ‘democratic institutions’ in children via the education system. Hence, the aforementioned excerpt ignoring entirely Canada’s rich heritage, history, who Canadians are, and why they exist at all. If the individuals created by British Columbia’s education system were to understand their common characteristics, shared history or who they are, the technical system would be imperil. For that reason, it is imperative to not only foster individualism in students, it is necessary to foster individual self-expression, granted that it remains within the boundaries of the technical system. It is for that reason the curriculum states, ‘teachers should ensure that classroom instruction, assessment, and resources reflect sensitivity to diversity and incorporate positive role portrayals, relevant issues, and themes such as inclusion, respect, and acceptance. This includes diversity in family composition, gender identity, and sexual orientation.’ (Ibid.) The same is true for Indigenous’ perspectives, the curriculum stating that, ‘the presence of Indigenous languages, cultures, and histories [is] be increased in provincial curricula; and leadership and informed practice [to] be provided.’ (Ibid.) The truth is that these only increase divisions amongst school children and society at large. Furthermore, these groups owe their existence to the technical system. For example, sex-change operations could not exist without the advent of modern medicine and surgical techniques. This is equally true of the Indigenous in Canada, who, ‘in the 1870’s many thousands…were in danger of starvation,’ however, they were given the necessary means to sustain themselves through the State’s use of technique. (Brown, p. 62) It is for these reasons that these groups can be given special attention and promoted in the educational system as examples of the necessity of technique. (Ellul, p. xxv) Society must remain full of isolated individuals, who cannot form communities around organic qualities such as a common will. Only communities or groups who owe their existence to technique can be allowed to continue. Thus, the goal of the curriculum is to ensure that this is maintained in society, either distorting or outright ignoring the truth to do so.

If any organic group, much less Canadians, are to free themselves from the bonds which the educational curriculum has placed on them, the process of self-education will be necessary. Georges Sorel remarked in 1907 that, ‘[d]uring twenty years I worked to deliver myself from what I retained of my education.’ (Sorel, p. 8) This cannot be done on any other level than the individual for that is the society we find ourselves in. British Columbia’s educational institutions uphold the belief that Canadians are, ‘a people whose historic memory must be erased so that its mind may come ever more fully to reflect the wide open spaces of the truth north, strong and free.’ (Farthing, p. 34-35) However, through educating oneself about the true nature of how this belief was adopted in Canada and the effort to erase Canadians’ historic memory will strengthen the Canadian’s inner-identity. For example, understanding Prime Minister William Lloyd Mackenzie King, a man whose conception of freedom was derived from the Rockefeller Foundation, and his fait accompli in 1926. In this endeavour, King implemented democratic-demagoguery in Canada by ignoring the Crown and Constitution, instead inserting the belief that any political questions could be solved merely by elections by having political power rest solely in the office of Prime Minister. (Ibid., p. 105-106) Combined with the effort to erase our historic memory, this will sufficiently demonstrate the partnership between the State and technique, whose goals are the same. The affect of this partnership is evident in the language British Columbia’s curriculum employs, setting goals to uphold our ‘democratic institutions’ and its promotion of technically-dependant groups. If the system nurtures individual self-expression, then to express oneself as a Canadian, with the full-depth of meaning in the name, would disrupt that which shuns organic communities.

The goal of the curriculum of British Columbia’s education system is to create isolated individuals who meet the demands of our technological society. This is accomplished by isolating the individual, undercutting his relationship to previous generations and ‘personalising’ education. The child must develop his own personality while meeting the criteria the curriculum has decided satisfies their definition of a ‘well-educated citizen.’ This means that the child cannot be raised in accordance of his culture’s values, customs, traditions, and general way of life. Instead the child must be devoid of ‘organic’ baggage. The child’s values and goals must instead match the economic and social demands of the province. The former demands consist of creating highly specialised technicians who are of equal value. Students must be made to be ‘adaptable’ to whatever the economic demands of the province include. Thinking critically and creatively, while being able to adapt to change are emphasised in the curriculum because of this. (B.C. Curriculum, “Curriculum Overview”) Students are to find satisfaction and meaning in life in their achievements, their productivity, as well as their physical well-being, all of which only serves the needs of the technological system. Students are to apply themselves wholly in their work, resulting in people largely absent in their own lives. The social demands of the technical system require students to view themselves as ‘interchangeable.’ They must be made to see no differences between various groups, that are ultimately equal in the eyes of the technical system, existing solely to fulfil the economic obligations required to perpetuate the aforementioned system. Canadian society, which the curriculum states as being ‘multifaceted,’ and its ‘democratic institutions,’ are to be upheld by the ‘well-educated citizen.’ It is imperative for the system to foster individual self-expression which ultimately benefits itself rather than the child. In the same vein, groups which are technically-dependant, meaning they owe their existence to the development of technique, are also fostered. This is done for two reasons, the primary reason being that it demonstrates the necessity of technique. The secondary reason ties in to what proves to be the weakness of the technical system, that a divided people whose historic memory has been erased supports the democratic-demagoguery that began in 1926. This effectively highlights the partnership between the State and technique, stretching back to the 1870s. Since the system values individual self-expression, expressing oneself as Canadian and endeavouring to remove all residue of the education system’s imprint will be its undoing. This can only be accomplished through the individual, who must stand back from society and understand what has led to the predicament outlined in this article. Only then will there be a hope of undoing what has proven to be a disaster for British Columbians.

Work Cited

Brown, George, W. and Richardson E. A., Building the Canadian Nation 1850-1967, Vol. II (New York: Macfadden-Bartell Corp., 1968)

“Curriculum Overview.” Building Student Success – B.C. Curriculum, https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/overview. Accessed March 15, 2024

Ellul, Jacques. The Technological Society, trans. John Wilkinson (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1964)

Farthing, John. Freedom Wears a Crown, (Abbotsford: High Tory Publishing Co., 2021)

Grant, George. Lament for a Nation (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Ltd., 1965)

Jünger, Ernst. The Forest Passage, trans. Thomas Friese (Candor: Telos Press Publishing, 2013)

Kaczynski, Theodore John. Anti-Tech Revolution: Why and How, 2nd ed. (Scottsdale: Fitch & Madison, 2020)

Sorel, Georges. Reflections on Violence, trans. T. E. Hulme (Perth: Imperium Press, 2022)