Are You One of the TEFL Industry’s Useful Idiots?

Welcome to my conspiracy theory/we’re all being brainwashed post.

Edward Bernays.

Edward who? Never heard of him. Don’t worry, there’s no reason you should have. He has no role in the history of language teaching, even though he was masterful in the manipulative use of language. He is widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of the advertising industry. One of his outstanding achievements came during a women’s emancipation march. He had been hired ostensibly to help promote the march. He came up with the idea that the women marchers should carry and hold up torches of freedom when passing by cameras. The torches of freedom turned out to be lit cigarettes. Bernays had managed to link cigarettes with the notion of freedom while overturning the social taboo of women smoking in public. In anyone’s book, that’s some achievement.

Bernays was born for this: his uncle was Sigmund Freud, the father of psychology. One of the first things that became evident with these new theories of Freud was the knowledge of just how gullible humans are and how easy it is to manipulate them. Bernays was clearly a quick learner who paid attention to uncle Ziggy’s work and used it to help pave the way for the development of the advertising industry which has for the last century done everything in its power to control and turn over to the world’s corporations the minds of every human it touches.

In 1928, Bernays wrote a book called, not surprisingly, ‘Propaganda’. In it he argued that the scientific manipulation of public opinion was necessary to overcome chaos and conflict in society:

‘The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. [...] In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons [...] who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.’

Good stuff, eh? Well, by now I’m probably at risk of losing those of you who regularly visit the blog for stuff related to English language teaching. Don’t worry: there is a point to all this and I’m about to get to it. Bernays was not only good at getting people to believe what he wanted them to believe, he also laid the foundations for the philosophical argument about whether TEFL is a profession or an industry. How, exactly, did this man do that? Bernays made the most of useful idiots and put them to work in convincing people to buy stuff. There’s a term in that sentence I’d like to focus on: the ‘useful idiot’. We’re surrounded by useful idiots in ELT. Many of us are, unknowingly, useful idiots ourselves (at least, some of the time). Don’t feel bad about this; the human mind isn’t as sophisticated as we like to think and can easily be manipulated when the right buttons are pressed. Bernays knew this and the people who control the TEFL industry also know this.

So what defines us as useful idiots? This term is actually attributed to Lenin and originally referred to Westerners duped into saying good things about bad regimes. It was particularly used to describe Soviet sympathizers in Western countries and the attitude of the Soviet government towards them. Useful idiots, which included intellectual heavyweights like George Bernard Shaw, gave their blessing to tyrannical regimes and convinced politicians and public that utopias existed on the other side of the wall. The things that we have to do deal with in our profession may not be quite as bad as Stalinism, but we are being effectively manipulated more often than we’d like to imagine.

So, how?

Those employing the services of useful idiots do so through the use of documented propaganda techniques. I adapted the following definitions from ones found here, although you’ll find them documented all across the internet.

1) Assertion

‘An assertion is an enthusiastic or energetic statement presented as a fact, although it is not necessarily true. They often imply that the statement requires no explanation or back up, but that it should merely be accepted without question. Examples of assertion can be found often in modern advertising propaganda. Any time an advertiser states that their product is the best without providing evidence for this, they are using an assertion. The subject, ideally, should simply agree to the statement without searching for additional information or reasoning. Assertions, although usually simple to spot, are often dangerous forms of propaganda because they often include falsehoods or lies.’

Assertions are rife in the TEFL industry. Rest assured you’ll have had useful idiots use them ‘against’ you to justify all kinds of things. Take the graph above, for example. Before I get going, I should note that I have no problems with Cambridge per se. OK, so the above is an example of how traditional forms of assessment are being perpetuated despite being horrendously outdated, but that’s an argument for a later post. What I like about the graph is its – seemingly, at least – considered approach to the use of the Common European Framework of References for Languages. The CEF (CEFR or CEFRL) is one of the great things to have happened to language teaching in the 21st Century (you can learn more about it here). It is a brave attempt to standardize the language teaching landscape on a continent- and perhaps even a world-wide basis. Nevertheless, it has been subject to abuse. One craze that ‘went viral’ during the first decade of this century was the labeling of coursebooks as having been ‘mapped to the Common European Framework.’ You’ll no doubt have seen examples of this, along with coursebook units that come with ‘can do statements.’ The sentiment behind this is noble, but the reality needs to be considered. I’ve read the CEF from cover to cover, coursebooks that have been mapped to it likewise. I’ve also played a major role in changing the course of our school’s curriculum based on the notions in the CEF. Basically, I know a fair bit about it. In some cases (1), the publisher seems merely to have looked at their pre-intermediate book and said, ‘let’s label this as an A2 book.’ Beware people who attempt to enforce the use of a particular coursebook series based on the label on the front. They are fulfilling the role of the useful idiot who uses assertion propaganda.

2) Testimonials

‘Testimonials are quotations or endorsements, in or out of context, which attempt to connect a famous or respectable person with a product or item. Testimonials are very closely connected to the transfer technique, in that an attempt is made to connect an agreeable person to another item. Testimonials are often used in advertising and political campaigns. When coming across testimonials, the subject should consider the merits of the item or proposal independently of the person of organization giving the testimonial.’

Brian Tomlinson is a well-known and respected figure in our ‘profession’. Here he is endorsing TEFL International, an organization almost equally as well-known in our ‘industry’. I’ve read lots about TEFL International, most of it of the ‘smoke indicates presence of fire’ persuasion. Let me just say that I have an opinion and I don’t want to risk getting sued for making it public on my blog. I have no idea about Mr. Tomlinson’s relationship with TEFL International and I’m not really interested in speculating as to what it might be. I’m merely using this as an example of how a notable figure’s endorsement can add gravitas to an educational franchise. You may wish to speculate that Mr. Tomlinson got paid a pretty penny for this endorsement (2). That wouldn’t, therefore, make him a useful idiot. Like I said, you might wish to speculate.

3) Lesser of Two Evils

‘The “lesser of two evils” technique tries to convince us of an idea or proposal by presenting it as the least offensive option. This technique is often implemented to convince people of the need for sacrifices or to justify difficult decisions. This technique is often accompanied by adding blame on an enemy country or political group. One idea or proposal is often depicted as one of the only options or paths. When confronted with this technique, the subject should consider the value of any proposal independently of those it is being compared with.’

Have you ever been in a staff meeting where an announcement was made that went along the lines of, ‘All things considered, the coursebook we’re using this year will be Headway.’ It’s my contention (3) that about two-thirds of all the copies of Headway ever sold have been sold on the basis that the book is the safe option. I have no particular problems with this coursebook series and I acknowledge the way that Headway completely revolutionized our profession. Nevertheless, don’t allow useful idiots to convince you that Headway is good choice because it’s slightly less inappropriate than any other option.

4) Bandwagonning

‘Bandwagonning is an appeal to the subject to follow the crowd, to join in because others are doing so as well. Bandwagon propaganda is, essentially, trying to convince the subject that one side is the winning side, because more people have joined it. The subject is meant to believe that since so many people have joined, that victory is inevitable and defeat impossible. Since the average person always wants to be on the winning side, he or she is compelled to join in. However, in modern propaganda, bandwagon has taken a new twist. The subject is to be convinced by the propaganda that since everyone else is doing it, they will be left out if they do not. This is, effectively, the opposite of the other type of bandwagon, but usually provokes the same results. Subjects of bandwagon propaganda are compelled to join in because everyone else is doing so as well. When confronted with bandwagon propaganda, we should weigh the pros and cons of joining in independently from the amount of people who have already joined, and, as with most types of propaganda, we should seek more information.’

Think about these little gems:

• If you’re not using twitter you going to get left behind in the 20th century education environment.
• If you haven’t adopted a dogme approach to your teaching ethos, you’re a dinosaur who has no place in the classroom.
• Words lists are only ever a bad thing. You have to give words in semantic sets or you’re a very bad teacher.
• You must be the only person who isn’t using this great new app for your android.
• Why are you still teaching grammar? Don’t you know you should be concentrating solely on lexis?

Shut up, idiot. Oh, and do some bloody research, too.

5) Card stacking

‘Card stacking, or selective omission, involves only presenting information that is positive to an idea or proposal and omitting information contrary to it. Card stacking is used in almost all forms of propaganda, and is extremely effective in convincing the public. Although the majority of information presented by the card stacking approach is true, it is dangerous because it omits important information. The best way to deal with card stacking is to get more information.’

Beware ELT forums. These places are absolutely full of card stacking useful idiots. For some reason, every discussion forum I’ve visited is populated with people who defend a country / school / culture / ELT sector to the hilt, providing evidence to show that they are the definitive authority on any given issue. You’ll also find the exact opposite, which is amazing. Why, after all, would anybody endure life in country / school / culture / ELT sector when all they can do is find negatives? There are, of course, many fine people dispensing worthy advice on forums. There are also useful idiots.

6) Pinpointing the Enemy

‘Pinpointing the enemy is an attempt to simplify a complex situation by presenting one specific group or person as the enemy. Although there may be other factors involved the subject is urged to simply view the situation in terms of clear-cut right and wrong. When coming in contact with this technique, the subject should attempt to consider all other factors tied into the situation. As with almost all propaganda techniques, the subject should attempt to find more information on the topic. An informed person is much less susceptible to this sort of propaganda.’

People who don’t use technology in the classroom are doing their students a disservice. Discuss.

 

Well, there are several more recognized forms of propaganda and thus more ways in which useful idiots are employed against us. Don’t feel too bad: there are such folk in every profession and they aren’t that difficult to spot if you keep you wits about you.

I’m done for now. The next post will be something touchy feely that will make you feel good about being a teacher again, I promise.

(1) I’m not suggesting that this is always the case. Far from it.

(2) My purpose here really was to show how a TEFL celebrity can add something to our perceptions of what we’re seeing. Good luck to Brian Tomlinson and TEFL International.

(3) Totally unfounded, I should add.

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