Utopian Society-4

Colony Education and Technology


To form the colony each person would have a skill to offer the group. Something they have done well in the outside world. Religion, reading, math and writing would be taught to children. After they have learnt these skills they would then join an apprenticeship to learn the skills they need for the occupation they choose. Such as Farming algae, food, making wine, art teacher, or contributing to the business.

School will be a combination of teaching technical and social skills that the members need to contribute to the colony. Art, music and theater will be incorporated in to the colonies curriculum. Religious studies will be a combination of Christian values, art and history.

Art and music are very important in a persons development. This would all be financed by the money from the business. This type of education needs supplies. And unless people want to make instruments from resources found in their environment (which is entirely possible) the colony will need an ongoing stream of supplies coming from the outside world. But because the colony business is an export one, a colony member would need to leave regularly.

Hutterites system only goes up to a grade 8 level of education. The education system only teaches what the members only need to live and work on the colony. Some of this derives from fear of people leaving the colony. A colony would fail if people lived on it for a small amount of time and then went back to living in regular society.

Call me selfish, but I don't want to spend years of my life living and working with people with a typical grade 8 education level. I want to be exposed to good food, wine, art and music. To be able to live and work with a group of people I enjoy being with.

The biggest difference between this colony and other traditional Christian colonies is the lifestyle, a colony living in abundance rather than austerity. I have mentioned austerity many times.

In Hutterite tradition, they teach their members German, Bible studies, basic reading and writing skills and how to contribute to the colony business. Part of this school of thinking is keeping tradition, but another part is that people could not survive outside the colony with only these skills. Therefore they would have no choice but to remain on the colony. I view this as oppressive.

Yes, it is very important for members to remain on the colony and loosing people would be detrimental to a colonies survival. But I don't view austerity as the answer. I would rather create an abundant colony lifestyle filled with music, art, great food and drink as a way of having people remain on the colony rather than the members live in austerity.

Abundance is how humans were always supposed to live. And if Jesus had not been crucified, our world today would be much more abundant.

Artist touched by Gods hand are the most gifted artist on Earth. Therefore the art and music created by colony members would be wonderful because their only influence would be God.

The church could not only be built for sermons but also as a theater for music and plays, put on by adults and children. I based the members relation to the church on the Cane Ridge meeting house, of The Stone Campbell movement. I will talk more about that later:

Birth of Christians:

           In 1804, a small group of Presbyterian Priests from Ohio and Kentucky, including Stone penned and signed a document, The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery, at Cane Ridge that resulted in the birth of a movement seeking unity among Christians along non secular lines. They would call themselves simply Christian. The Christian church Disciples of Christ, The Church of Christ (non-instrumental) and the Christian Churches (independent) of the Stone Campbell movement based their origins here. The movement is often noticed as the first one indigenous to American soil.  Sited from web site.

Art and theater would be a part of the education but it would only for the members enjoyment. For personal growth and exploration, not to sell. Music would be a form of entertainment for the colony members. In the evening there could be theater and music concert to entertain the colony members.

Technology- internet is something that would only be used for business purpose. Colony members would not have computers in their homes or smart phones. Internet would only be used for business purposes. This is a privacy issue. The internet is a public domain and privacy laws of the colony do not coincide with the world wide web.

There would be no news papers because the point of the colony is to remove each member from the outside world. The colony would become the only world that mattered to the members. For some this  may mean not speaking to family members outside the colony.

For many this is not a sacrifice they would be willing to make. Someone who chooses this life has to be very unhappy with the current state of their environment. Many Christians feel it is impossible to live in today's society and worship God because capitalism represents nothing of God`s Kingdom. As a Christian living in modern society we are forced to choose a balance between the two, when in really this balance is impossible for a Christian.

You cannot serve God and man. Therefore a colony member would be leaving this dichotomy behind them, to serve one God.