Voices from the Edge: The Radical Truths of Hank Van Vice — On Education as Indoctrination & The System’s Failure to Foster Real Learning
Interviewer: Charlie "Challenger" Green, New Thought Weekly
Charlie: Hank, you’ve been pretty outspoken about the education system and its shortcomings. You’ve even called it a form of indoctrination. What do you mean by that?
Hank Van Vice: [Smirking, leaning back with a glint of defiance in his eyes] Oh, it's simple, man—education is just the world's most elaborate babysitting service, isn’t it? They sell it to you as this grand opportunity to "expand your mind," but really, it's about turning you into another cog in the machine. They dress it up in diplomas and GPAs, but underneath? It’s a giant conveyor belt designed to stamp out any spark of originality.
They don’t want thinkers; they want followers. The second you start asking questions, the gears grind to a halt, and they can’t have that, right? No, they need you to memorize, to regurgitate, to blend in with all the other neat little drones. It’s not education; it’s indoctrination with a tuition fee. They’re not teaching you to be free—they’re teaching you how to fit into your box, lock the lid, and call it a career.
Charlie: How do you think this affects the way people think and behave as adults?
Hank Van Vice: It’s like they’ve got everyone on this leash, right? By the time you’re out of school, you’re already trained—fetch, sit, roll over. They’ve beaten the curiosity out of you and handed you a script: 'Here’s your job, here’s your mortgage, here’s your two weeks of vacation if you’re lucky.' You don’t rock the boat, because you’ve been taught that the boat doesn’t rock—you just keep paddling in circles and convince yourself you’re going somewhere.
And that’s exactly how they want it. A population that’s too tired to question anything, too scared to think beyond the status quo. They’ll keep feeding you just enough to keep you quiet, to keep you from realizing you’re in a cage of your own making. It’s diabolical, really, and the worst part is, most people never even notice the bars.
Charlie: How does QEA’s music challenge this system?
Hank Van Vice: We’re that annoying alarm clock, man—the one that won’t shut up no matter how many times you hit snooze. We want people to wake up, to realize there’s more to life than what they’ve been spoon-fed since kindergarten. Our music? It’s a weapon, a megaphone, a middle finger to all the lies and half-truths that keep people in line. It’s not about being loud for the sake of it; it’s about being heard in a world that wants you to stay silent.
We’re not just preaching rebellion for kicks—we’re demanding you start questioning everything. Why are you doing what you’re doing? Who told you that’s the only way? We’re trying to strip away the illusion, to show people that real freedom comes when you stop letting someone else tell you who to be. It’s messy, it’s uncomfortable, but damn if it isn’t real.
Charlie: What do you think needs to change in the education system to foster real learning?
Hank Van Vice: [Laughs sharply] Change? We need to blow the whole thing up and start over. There’s no 'fixing' a system that was designed to keep you complacent. You want real learning? Get rid of the tests, the grades, the factory model. Stop turning kids into data points and start seeing them as individuals with minds that need to be challenged, not caged.
We need to make space for creativity, for exploration, for failure without punishment. Teach people to think for themselves, not just follow the recipe. And for once, stop treating education like it’s this checklist for creating 'productive members of society.' We need to start asking, what does it mean to be human? What does it mean to live fully, to think freely, to question everything? Because until we do, all we’re doing is mass-producing more of the same. And I’m not interested in more of the same—I’m interested in revolution.
