Henry Rollins: Education Will Restore A Vigorous Democracy

The way out is education. Always has been, always will be. It is the great leveler of the playing field. That's why some politicians and some people who are of a certain bent not only fear education, they hate education. Because they realize that minorities, whole demographics, will become educated. And when they do that, the prison population will plummet.

Equality and the burden of equality—these people will have a slightly narrowed pie slice of wealth. They'll have to give up a little. They'll still be filthy rich, but they won't be super-duper filthy obscene rich. And people of different skin tones will be making better choices with their life. That is to say, minorities who fill American prisons, who do big amounts of time, who end up having shortened lifespans.

Some of this is death by misadventure, bad choices, but a lot of it is a lack of education. And so that's why people who worked in the government for education, like my mother, who worked for Health, Education, and Welfare and National Education and Planning, until I think two different Republican administrations came and wiped them both out—education, no, no, level playing field. Eek! So, that is the way out.

So what do you teach in school? You teach aptitude. You teach the ability to learn. You teach discipline, focus, application, and how to read and basic mathematics. So someone can open up any book and have the interest, the focus, and the discipline to pursue the knowledge contained therein.

And that way, they can become a plumber or an astronaut because they have the mindset that says, "I can achieve. I want to achieve." And I'm going to sit here with this damn book for eight hours, and I'm going to get it because I learned the aptitude. I learned how to sit down, shut up, and apply myself.

And with that, the world of knowledge fairly throws itself into your lap. And so that is the great dismal failure of No Child Left Behind. When you teach to the ACT test, you're basically just trying to get reelected. You're looking good at tax time. You're looking good when they come through the building and evaluate you.

Well, they learned the test. They learned the test, but they didn't learn how to learn. And so that's what I find as a breakdown in teaching systems. They don't teach you how to think because as soon as you get that under your cap, books are books, information is information— you just find what pleases you.

But if you have the ability to learn, you're going to make better choices, and you'll have an intellectual confidence that will allow you to really maximize your potential. It's where the idea of robbing a liquor store or putting a gun up to someone's head—you would have literally better things to do with your time.

And that's where you see real progress. That's the America you could have, and you could have it in this century. But it would be in America that is a much more level playing field. Democracy would be a far more vigorous thing.

We would be expecting much more of our politicians. Congress would not have these amazing vacations they have. They'd be smarting from getting caned by the people, 'cause if they didn't do the people's will like they're supposed to, they'd be out of office in two to four or six years. I like that. And Jefferson could stop finally turning in his grave.