Taylor Heisler

5-29-13
English 11
2
nd
hour
Exam Essay
Universal education is the most corroding and disintegrating poison that liberalism has ever
invented for its own destruction. is one of the many quotes from Adolf Hitler about education. Hitler is a
man that managed to change an entire country from being a democracy into a very strict dictatorship and
Hitlers attempt of an eradication of an entire type of people. He would think something like that so that
the people dont rise up against him. If the people in his country would have been educated then the
people could have rebelled and overthrown him in the government. This concept is also shown in the
book 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell . Education is the key to the future and also to the past.
With a good education system there is going to be the power of open thought and everyone can think
freely and be educated to their best power. There are also modern day problems with people wanting to be
educated, even though they arent allowed.
In George Orwells 1984, Winston, the main character, is one of the only people that think that
the way that Oceania is run is wrong. He is educated and one of the limited people left that remember
what life was like before Big Brother took over and before the war. And when memory failed and
written records were falsifiedwhen that happened, the claim of the Party to have improved the
conditions of human life had got to be accepted, because there did not exist, and never again could exist,
any standard against which it could be tested. This shows that when people were educated they could be
changed in what they were educated overnight and no one could change what they thought because there
wasnt any other records other than what the Party wants the people to know, so the education system is
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very corrupt. Because of this he is educated on what life could be like and there was good life before the
Party took over, contrary to what the Party members make the rest of the population believe. Winston
understands that the Proles, who are very uneducated and poor, have great control in the country if they
were to try. With the Proles making up 85% of the population they could easily revolt against the Party
and overthrow Big Brother. But because the Proles are so uneducated and poor the only thing that they
can worry about is keeping themselves alive and healthy. The Party keeps them uneducated and so that
they dont think about revolting and they dont even realize the power that they have. As long as the great
majority of the population is kept uneducated about their power the Party will never have to worry about
them revolting.
In the novel Animal Farm which is also written by George Orwell the animals on the farm
overthrew the farmers and decided to run the farm on their own. With the pigs taking control they decided
that the farm should be run on basic commandments and that the rest of the animals should obey whatever
what the pigs say to do. Throughout the book the commandments change and eventually what started as a
democracy and everyone was doing work and making sure that their part was done into a gruesome
dictatorship done by the hogs with animals starving and dying. There wasnt anything that any of the
animals could do either because they werent educated. Many of them couldnt even read the
commandments and just had to memorize them and then be told that they were wrong about what they
said whenever they were changed. This ended up ruining the farm and turning from a very successful
farm into a disaster that cant function or be successful.
Malala is a teenage girl that lives in Pakistan. She recently spoke out about how important she
believes the power of education is for all people including women. Because she said this, a Taliban group
shot her and tried to kill her. The Taliban understands the importance of education and because of this
tried to make a statement about what would happen if people stood up for what they believe in and tried
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to change the old ways. If women in Pakistan understood what power they have if they stand up for
themselves or if they were taught about other areas of the world where women do have the right to do
anything that a man can do. Her story is told in the New York Times in the article Malala Yoursafzais
Courage that was written and published on October 10, 2012. Because of her courage there is now a
grant that will pay for female students in Pakistan to go to school and get an education. She is now so
popular and known for her courage that she if she survives (her bullet wound) the millitants would try
again to kill her, her vowed so that the Taliban will make their point and not allow education in women
because they fear that it would drastically change how their lives are now.
Education is what will affect the future of the nation, and the world. With good education
accepted throughout the whole world many people will help the future and make the world a better place.
Many people understand the power of education, which is why people like Malala get shot when they try
to get educated because they dont want groups such as women to stand up and revolt against them. If
people like the Proles in 1984 or the rest of the animals in Animal Farm were educated they would have
been able to stand up against the dictators that they are going up against. But without them being educated
there is no way for the people or animals to be able to stand up to themselves because they dont
understand what they are going to stand up for and the importance of it. Throughout history many
powerful dictators have used the lack of education as a way for them to cease control and power over
everyone. The novels and article all show why the power of education is important and how the lack of it
can hurt the people and their own futures.