The Student Room Group

LNAT

hello, can someone give me constructive criticism on this essay? my LNAT test is next week. I really need advice on how to find distinct arguments for the essay and to expand them more.

prompt:
‘The aim of totalitarian education has never been to instill convictions but to destroy the capacity to form any.’ Hannah Arendt
Explain what you think is meant by this statement. Argue on the side of the proposition. To what extent do you agree this is true?
essay:
Totalitarianism is the system that demands its citizens to let go of their basic rights and freedoms, forming a country of like-minded people lacking unique convicitons. In this system, totalitarian education forces a curriculum made by the state on all students and teachers, imposing on everyone the same opinions, beliefs and ways of thinking. This statement conveys the extreme objective of this system to abolish the ability of creativity or individualism and unique thinking by the citizens. This claim is true to a great extent, as totalitarian education destroys individualism and forming convictions through raising citizens with the same beliefs and ways of thinking.

Totalitarian education utilizes the power of the state to destroy the capacity to form convictions through indoctrination. The system injects in its students the same ideologies, beliefs and opinions, making all of the citizens function and think in the same manner. Hence, this eliminates the capability to form any convictions since it has not even been taught. Individual thinking or creativity of any form is terminated from totalitarian systems of education, leaving its students with nothing but spoon fed information. Taking an example is the book 1984 by George Orwell. The nation ruled by this government that destroys past evidence and history, creates its own information and forces citizens to abide by these impositions. The education system is created by this government to serve its political objectives, annihilating capacities of citizens to form convictions.

This education system also utilizes fear to prevent any convictions from being formed. Totalitarian systems use fear to force their citizens to adhere to their laws. As such, it prohibits freedom of thinking creatively through imposing these education systems and use fear as a constant reminder for citizens to steer away from forming convictions. This use of fear keeps people abiding by the rules, to the point that eventually, they do not seek to step out of boundaries and seek to form convictions, as this ability would have been already destroyed by the conventions of the system. The system that is built in a way to limit people from the curiosity of thinking outside of norms, eventually destroying this want, destroying this capacity.

One may argue that this totalitarian system of education promotes the protection of citizens from "wrong" or "bad" ideologies. But what are bad and wrong ideologies? Is terminating the ability to form one's own opinions and convictions perceived as bad and wrong? Then that eliminates one's most basic right of freedom of expression and opinion. If the nation's true intention is to protect its citizens from harmful beliefs, annihilating the development of creative thinking is not going to stop those citizens from discovering those beliefs. In addition to that, it is not of a nation's duty to determine the beliefs of citizens or their ability to form convictions, but to protect and endorse development.

The ultimate goal is to eradicate the ability to form convictions, through an education system that endorses no individuality, but followers of the nation's political, social and economic objectives and ideologies.

Quick Reply

Latest

Trending

Trending