Jesuits weren't dogma-free educators. They taught that a certain person walked on water, touched people to cure them and raised others and himself from the dead. They insisted on having cannibalistic-like rituals every Sunday where they pretend to eat the body and drink the blood of a fairy tale character. Most importantly, they also were very strict on obedience and blind allegiance to the church which they called holy. And everything is justified by 'faith' which cannot and must not be questioned. Fascist enough for you?
In terms of the best time to educate kids, I suggest that if you want to assert things to kids, you should wait till their age of reason is complete (say age 12 to 14) so that they can mount a critical evaluation of what is being asserted (especially religious dogma). What you can teach them at 7 is how to develop their reasoning abilities. You can also tell them stories, teach them art, music, poetry and literature. Math and science can also be taught with the ever-present proviso that we are not sure of our theories and that this is to the 'best of our knowledge'. The Jesuits and any church-based 'forming character' activities certainly do not respect the fragility of such early learners.
As for brainwashing, it has nothing to do with the message and everything to do with your intention to pass the information 'under the radar'. You can brainwash people and even yourself to do 'good things' such as in 'self-hypnosis'.
As for fascism, it is some merging of nationalism and authoritarianism. Wanting to have people think like you by getting to them when they're young and vulnerable is very authoritarian, even if you think it's for the greater good and even if you're, ironically, 'training' them to reject authoritarianism.
Finally, I'm sorry I'm being so hard on you in this comment when I think your article is well-written, important and raises some deep questions. There should be some think-tanks for this. My thinking is that the game society plays is much more important than what we try to convince each other. Unfortunately, we are stuck at the stage of having to convince each other to change the game. I further strongly agree with you that education is key. Where to go from here?
