The Demand for Security― an Educational and Military Problem

• DOI: 10.1177/106591294800100307
• Published date: 01 September 1948
• Date: 01 September 1948
• Author: Robert A. Walker
• Subject Matter: Articles

THE DEMAND FOR SECURITY—
AN EDUCATIONAL AND MILITARY PROBLEM*
by
ROBERT A. WALKER
Kansas State College
The citizens of the United States are a frightened people. With the
greatest wealth, the greatest power, and the greatest influence ever exercised
by any nation has come a sense of impending disaster. The dread and
expectation of war is commonplace. The fear of Russia and of Commun-
ism has reached a state of national neurosis. Within our own boundaries
we live in a constant state of apprehension over the evil intentions of
groups other than our own-of other races, other religions, labor unions,
big business, bureaucrats, fellow-travelers, and innumerable other ill-defined
spectres.
Evidences of this state of mind are commonplace. They appear in
any table conversation over the news of the day. They dominate classroom
discussion of contemporary aflairs-students are bundles of emotional re-
actions to current social and economic issues. The newspapers blare crisis
in the headlines; hyperthyroid radio commentators report the latest clash
of interest with the suspense of imminent catastrophe. Tales of conflict
in Europe combine with the ominous shadow of the atomic bomb to main-
tain a constant state of uncertainty and alarm.
The conflicts are real, the uncertainty is real, the bomb is real. Per-
haps it should be conceded that the fears are well founded and the time is
ripe for a rebirth of cynicism. In view of the extreme danger latent in
the present situation, however, it seems more useful to try to understand it
and explore its implications. Specifically, I want to examine the state of
mind described above from the standpoint of two professions, the military
officer and the educator. It is of a major importance to both of them.
The fear complex of our day is a much more fundamental thing than
our present worries about the race problem, labor agitation, monopolistic
exploitation, Communism, and so forth. These are only the passing symp-
toms of a disease. Put another way, they are the physical aspects of a men-
tal illness. It is the same illness that in other times and places has produced
the persecution of Christian martyrs, the Inquisition, the imprisonment of
Galileo, and the Gestapo. It stems from the menace of new ideas and the
*This paper is the outgrowth of a talk before the officers of the Ground General School, Fort Riley,
Kansas.
Since it was prepared the author has accepted the position of assistant director of
the Foreign Service Institute in the Department of State.
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resulting personal insecurities which social change engenders. Only in this
light, I believe, can we fully understand the peculiar spirit of our times.
Any nation, community, or social group indoctrinates its young people
with a set of ideas and beliefs. These include a moral code, religious convic-
tions, political ideas, and social attitudes. They are handed down by authori-
ties and are not to be questioned. The home, the church, and the school
are all, in one sense, a great conspiracy to implant ideas in the young mind-
implant them without critical examination and without rational understand-
ing. Some things are &dquo;good,&dquo; some things are &dquo;bad.&dquo; To doubt what we are
told we should believe brings reproach or punishment. This is the way
society establishes ideas about God, national greatness, racial superiority,
sexual taboos, and about a great many other moral, political, economic,
and social matters. The important thing to bear in mind is that this is a
non-rational, emotional process. These ideas settle deep into the recesses
of the mind and affect behavior throughout life, often with no conscious
realization of the fact.
In a community which changes slowly, with everyone sharing about
the same set of ideas, convictions, and attitudes, this process of non-rational
conditioning will turn out a relatively large proportion of well-adjusted,
secure personalities. Indoctrination is a reasonably serviceable way of pre-
paring the on-coming generation for its place in society. Looking at life and
its...