: Chris: …I have made, and continue to make, a connectedness with life, living, and learning. Until this connection is properly made, I think school is a hurtful place. : DADDIO: I think we come INTO this world WITH that "connection" and public school does a superb job of making sure almost everybody loses it. This is primarily why I consider the U.S. public education system to be guilty of high treason, criminal negligence and is quite possibly involved in a conspiracy to enslave humantiy. I think its been made pretty clear that this institution, at the very best, is unbelievably ignorant of what goes into producing wholesome human beings and probably has no intentions of doing so, and, at worst, has systematically lulled us into a moral commatose from which we may never awake.
When I spoke of a connectedness between life, living, and learning, I got pretty vague. What I was trying to say, and will likely try to say many times over, is that until you are able to consciously choose to take care of yourself, and to commit to being self-reliant, school is not only useless, but hurtful. After such a commitment is made, I wonder if there would be any desire to lock yourself up for 12 years.
I think if you have made a mature decision to make the most of your life, school doesn't screw you up. If you are confident enough, and supported well enough, that you are unafraid/unnaffected by the teacher, and their methods, then much positive learning could occur.(theoretically) Unfortunately, we don't wait for our children to self-commit, before we send them to school. Instead, we send them at age 4 or 5 for no other reason than, they are 4 or 5. There is a short transition period of kindergarten, where I guess the theory is they are to get used to being imprisoned, then school must "get down to business" for grade one. Why? Because somebody once said that they have reached the age of reason - do you ask the child that?
One of the many strange things about school is its complete disregard for how the child learned before entering. Given a need, and an inspiration, the child has learned to walk, talk, dress, bathe, brush, feed itself, and relieve itself, all in an amazingly functional manner. The child has observed the world, and made sense of it with no formal instruction. The school system deems all of this a fluke; it takes the child away from the parents, and tries to help the child explore and understand the world, from the confines of one room.(In the Seinfeldian explanatory retort register) This should go on for twelve years.
My attitude toward school has frequently changed but today I view it this (negative) way. SCHOOLS HELP BIG BUSINESS INCREASE ITS CONTROL, OVER WHATEVER BIG BUSINESS WANTS TO CONTROL, BY TEACHING EVERY SINGLE CHILD OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, THAT HE OR SHE WILL REQUIRE SOMEBODEY ELSE TO GIVE THEM A JOB, AND THAT IF THE CHILD IS TO BE HIRED THEY MUST HAVE RECEIVED AN EDUCATION FROM THE ONLY PROVIDER OF EDUCATION: PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Almost every teacher will perpetuate this myth. Whenever they feel their control over a student or students is slipping away the child gets a recurring message that he or she would be useless if not for school and the great education it proivdes. Perhaps the worst part is that it isn't big business who enforces this phony rule of thumb, its the teachers. They are the front-line offenders in this "conspiracy to enslave humanity." The ignorance is theirs. But though the ignorance is theirs, the people above are to blame. These people being politicians, lobbyists, college of education teacher makers and deans, school board members, principals, and I honestly don't know who else. Teachers are over-worked people, who have been taught to only learn what they "have to." They don't know any better. Above them is the crud. These people know better but don't care. They should be removed or have their job descriptions seriously re-evaluated. You want to turn school into a useful place, make it optional, locally controlled, and have teachers who simply guide whatever learning journey the student has committed him or herself to. (I steal from John Gatto and Paulo Freire)
If kids are going to learn anything, it should help them know who they are. Have you ever been surprised that so many students graduating from high school have not a clue what they want to do? Perhaps because their schooling career never asks them what they are interested in. I believe that curiosity should lead the way. Let it take you far and wide and deep on your personal education journey. Part of the problem with schooling is that, a teacher attempts to simultaneously be a driving force in 30 different student journeys (every hour in high school) and ruins every one of them. The journey, for which I trust both in myself and God, will take me where I want to end up. I will create for myself a means to sustenance, in all realms, based on what interests me. I will carve out my own niche, not some government's bizarre creation of the "norm" or "good future citizen".
The question I pose is am I a better learner now, or was I better before entering school? It is quite possible that school has irreparably damaged my capacity to learn. On the other hand, when I was smaller, I wouldn't reflect on what was passing through my senses, nor had I made the choice to use knowledge to achieve self-reliance.
Daddio: One look under the hood reveals a system that, by design, is masterful at churning out complacent, junk worshipping, nimrods incapable of abstract or independent, critical thought. From the most underpaid, overworked, ghetto born janitor to the best dressed, white cracker, on-the-take, millionaire politician; From the trailer park, jalopy driving, gun toting meth dealer to the ivory tower, know-it-all, sold out, corporate bullshitting "scientist", Americans – thanks to public education - are mental, emotional, and spiritual dipshits.
: And the real shit-kicker is that everybody in the world knows it except us.
NOTE TO AMERICANS: An American should never defame himself before a Canadian, for upon hearing an American do so, a Canadian will piss himself with pleasure. Perhaps this is a small known fact.
Daddio: Television, that’s OUR culture. A 30 second TV commercial about nothing, that makes you want a pair of Nike shoes made by a 7 year old girl in a sweatshop. Let’s face it, we’re trash. And almost all of us are products of the public school system. Bad apple, bad tree. I say let’s take the sorry fucker out of commission with extreme predjudice. You still on board, Chris?
Do remember that the sorry fucker is a system, filled with people who think they are doing good. In fact, they are good people, but like you and me, they are flawed, and have been further flawed by schools. You cannot blame a two dimensional character for not seeing the third dimension, nor the three dimensional character for not even sensing the mathematically-proven fourth. My belief is that they do not understand the possibility of an alternative. They have fought long and hard, have spent their lives, and billions of dollars rationalizing and justifying what they have built. More bickering will equal more problems. For the time being, I choose not to create enemies, but will look for and help create examples of the better way. A Better Way, for a better end.
None.
