"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be
insane by those who could not hear the music." -- Goethe
Is school not hell? Did you enjoy it? What did you enjoy? Try to remember the part(s) you liked. Most of us can think of a few friends, a teacher or two, recess, maybe a certain course that interested us -- only a few things. But out of twenty thousand hours, only a tiny fraction did we enjoy. The rest was boring, frightening, threatening, wasted time, being forced to do things against our will and/or better judgement,etc.
School denied us the chance to learn many things we were interested in, while teaching us things in which we had no interest, or were perhaps counter productive, even harmful for us.
School attempted to indoctrinate us in many ways. We learned that our interests were not important; that our questions or points of view seldom mattered. In recent years, schools teach that the group (including its collective thinking, called "consensus") is more important than the ideas of any individuals. This is training in collectivism, really Socialism.
School kept us captive for many years, telling us how valuable it was for us to stay enrolled while wasting more and more of our lives, both in school and with busywork called homework.
Those are descriptions of hellish conditions.
And when we were finished, did we feel educated? Did you give the school credit or did you realize that whatever the school taught you that had value was also available in several other places and ways, even though the school wanted credit for everything you learned.
I have proof. My youngest son did not attend any school. We did no lessons at home. He used no school books or materials. We called it unschooling, and he learned what interested him from sources he chose. And yet, he scored extremely high on the SAT and was a standout academically in college (Magna Cum Laude).
And we know lots of kids who had similar experiences.
Conclusion: School is a waste of time AND a hellish experience.
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2 comments:
Everything you've said here is absolutely true, at least for me, and thankfully I am aware of all of this so that my children won't have to go through it. Thank you for your wonderful blog. It reaffirms what I already know and reminds me that I am not alone.
The parts of school I liked could've very easily be done in a homeschool setting, most likely in a superior way, without all the parts of school I hated. One of my favorite classes, in fact, was an independent study in literature I took in 11th grade. I had an adviser whom I checked in with once per week to discuss whatever book I was reading. I also met with her whenever I finished a book to talk about it and to choose the next one to read. She made suggestions based on my interests but the decision was ultimately mine. I wish all my English classes had been run the same way!
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