The Miseducation of the Masses (Part 1)

In the kick off episode for a series on the education system in the United States of America, we take a look at the Prussian education system that was established after that country's devastating defeat at the hands of Napoleon's military in 1806.  Decades after that system was up and running, Prussia was a serious force to be reckoned with in Europe.  The notoriety of their education system had piqued the interest of an American, elite, Protestant, politician named Horace Mann.  So much so, that Mann went to Prussia in 1843 to see how this "Three Tiered System" worked.  Upon his return, Mann (who was Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education at the time) pushed very hard to implement what he had seen in Prussia.  The effects of which are still alive and well in today's compulsory public school system. [Click to Play]

Double Feature: The Weather Underground (2002) / Pickaxe (1999)

Activist Cinema 10 - It's a double feature today as we take a look at two documentary films that compliment each other quite well.  The Weather Underground (2002) uses archival footage and interviews to look at the actions taken by the Weather Underground in the late 1960's and early 1970's.  A hardcore group of activists committed to the violent overthrow of the US government.  The second film is Pickaxe (1999), an on the ground look at the activists who took a stand to protect an old growth forest from logging at Warner Creek in the Willamette National Forest of Oregon, blockading the logging road and repelling the State Police.  A hardcore group of activists committed to non-violent resistance of US government policy. [Click to Listen]