God, gods, and Cynics

Gods and gods, so much confusion over capitalization of letters.
My first impressions of this book were not amazing. I thought it was going to be another book that cynically tore apart the fabric of American education. Personally, I’m not one for wide-scale cynicism. After some further reading, I think I may give this book a chance, and who knows, I may get something out of it after all! I’m not one who thinks that our school system is flawless either, but I do not think it is right to sit around relentlessly criticizing the means by which we may advance ourselves in society. It’s like the old adage; “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” Our education, whether through the schooling system, or by other means, has given us so much. It has helped us to advance so far in society, making great leaps of advancement daily. What in turn have we given back? Persistent, ungrateful scorn, directed at the very institution that taught us to be so critically minded. I think that we should think about ways to improve a good system, rather than arguing about whom is right when it comes to the correct way of teaching a course. It seems that at least some thanks should be given where thanks is due.
Starting out in this section, Postman deals with the gods of our society and how they relate to his core ideas about education. The specific god of technology is discussed in some detail. This is a “god” who has been rising in power and influence. This technology god begins to be portrayed as a negative influence, not by Postman, but rather by his opponents. It only makes sense that technology is the provider of endless information and sources. The people begin to lose their autonomy and just learn to use the new software, or to learn the update for the existing software. This is defiantly not a pleasant idea. This is not usually the case, though. Many children attending school are enveloped into the workings of the technology departments. Machines are helping kids learn, and also helping them to stay in school.
The whole issue of capitalization when talking about God, or the gods, I fell was a bit overplayed and overrated. In my opinion, he was comparing these things to God. These are things that people hold most dearly, and would not let go of easily. It also examines through the lower-case, gods, that many of these things are considered wrong under church doctrine. This insinuates a wrong opinion or wrong motive which drives our lives. The capitalization of God and the use of the polytheistic term, “gods,” offered an insightful example into the world of education.