How the System Turned Learning Into a Tool of Division and Control

By Patrick Hardeman – In and Out of Darkness

From the top, let’s make one thing clear – too many people today use education as a weapon. To escape accountability. To belittle, insult, or dismiss others. Yet in doing so, they reveal their failure as human beings more than their mastery of any subject.

Earning a degree or a certificate should reflect competence and problem-solving abilities, not moral superiority. Somewhere along the way, we began confusing academic achievement with personal worth. At the same time, society started pushing the idea that blue-collar work was beneath respectability – not glamorous enough, not “educated” enough. But here’s the reality: the world can survive without a single mega-corporation; however, it cannot function without skilled labor – plumbing, electrical work, construction, and all the unseen hands that keep life running.

Like rank in the military, education should simply measure the level of knowledge needed to complete certain tasks. Yet there’s an asterisk: passing exams or writing final papers doesn’t automatically make someone competent, responsible, or capable of leading. A degree alone doesn’t create a better human being. How many honorary degrees have been handed out after the family donated another large lump sum payoff.

Look across the political, corporate, and judicial arenas. There are thousands of degrees among those in power – yet millions of citizens still suffer. The United States carries over $37 trillion in debt, and those responsible are the same “highly educated” minds trusted to run the nation. It’s pretty obvious that with the over 3 million degrees handed out each year – including from Ivy League schools – the America is not in a better place. In fact, many would argue as a whole we’re worse off today. Clearly, credentials don’t guarantee wisdom, integrity, or even basic competence.

And maybe that’s by design. There’s a reason America’s education system doesn’t prioritize critical thinking –

“It’s far easier to control a population that’s been taught what to think instead of how to think.

A Systemic Divide

When it comes to certain groups, especially within the Black community, a war of the sexes has quietly emerged. I understand the history: the media has long highlighted the failures of a handful of Black men while ignoring the systems that created many of those struggles. Yet historically, when a Black man learned a trade or skill, he shared it with his household and community. Knowledge was never hoarded; it was multiplied. He didn’t use it to insult his counterparts. Therefore his family and community grew stronger.

Then came government programs and social engineering that fractured the idea of the Black family – rewarding separation instead of unity. Incentives grew for Black women to become “better men,” not better partners. Over decades, a school-industrial complex evolved that often worked for Black women and against Black males.

Studies – going back to the 1950s and figures like Les Brown – show how young Black boys were labeled “problem children,” “unteachable,” or “mentally challenged.” Their reading scores were even used to predict how many prison beds to build. That isn’t coincidence; it’s design. A psychological operation that raised one group while quietly undermining the other. There’s a reason behind the book options from school to school. And equality has nothing to do with it.

Today, there are more scholarship and targeted funding opportunities for Black women than for Black men. That’s not an accident – it’s a reflection of decades of systemic strategy. But many have taken this educational rise and, instead of using it to uplift the community, turned it into a weapon of hierarchy. “I’m better than you because I have a degree.” As if a Black man with fewer credentials deserves less respect.

So I ask: Has the mechanism of systemic racism gotten better with all these degrees? If education alone was the solution, wouldn’t the condition of our people look different by now?

Masculinity and Misrepresentation

Our young men are bombarded daily with media propaganda that paints masculinity as toxic and manhood as dangerous. Many retreat into isolation or emulate the women around them – afraid to show strength for fear of being labeled. Look around at pre-game events or red carpets: you’ll see a generation of young men unsure whether masculinity is even allowed anymore. As we see handbags become the new wallets.

This isn’t about clothing or expression – it’s about identity. We’ve reached a point where educated voices with the loudest microphones are dismantling manhood while asking, “Where are all the good men at?”

The answer lies in the systems that taught them to silence themselves.

Reclaiming Unity

Our government devised and funded a plan that fractured us – and it worked. They didn’t have to destroy us directly; they found allies within to keep the plan alive. Historically, our community has always been a threat to those who profited from our oppression. They saw what we could build together – in Africa, in America, in every space where we were allowed to unite and create.

White culture has never truly feared Black women taking over – they’ve admired her resilience, envied her essence. But the fear of the Black man leading has always been absolute, because when we lead, we protect more than ourselves.

It’s not you versus me. We are not each other’s competition.

Our people don’t own the media outlets that glorify the “independent bad b!$c%” narrative, rewarding the idea that empowerment means isolation or sexualization. Meanwhile, our true icons – Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, Gladys Knight, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Cicely Tyson – built legacies of strength, intellect, and dignity. They didn’t weaponize their brilliance; they used it to uplift their people.

That’s the standard we must return to.

Education was meant to free us, not divide us. Until we remember that, we’ll keep mistaking degrees for deliverance – and keep losing sight of the real lesson: that knowledge without compassion is just another form of control.

Authors Note

This piece isn’t written for academic approval or validation. I’ve attended college for the sake of higher understanding, but I’ve also faced professors who resented awareness – who saw questions as defiance instead of curiosity. I refuse to accept information limited by their experiences and bias. Education, to me, has always meant searching for truth beyond the syllabus. No one questions a Mark Zuckerberg for leaving school early, yet simply being accepted makes him credible. My credibility comes from experience, study, and the courage to question what others accept without thought. And though I’ve attended several schools, I refuse to give them free advertisement as if they made me – especially after how difficult they made it to gain real access to knowledge.

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