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American schools are doing what they're designed to do--crank out standard units of compliant citizens. Cf "Underground History of American Education" by Gatto

by cpr 9y ago

American schools are doing what they're designed to do--crank out standard units of compliant citizens. Cf "Underground History of American Education" by Gatto. Or see some of PG's rants on the subject.

wahern 9y ago
> American schools are doing what they're designed to do--crank out standard units of compliant citizens. Arguably, compared to most developed nations, that's where American primary and secondary schools are the absolute worst. Which isn't to say they excel at producing rational, free-thinking citizens. IMO we have the worse possible world--an exaggerated valuation of free speech and anti-government, anti-establishment sentiment without the requisite commensurate critical thinking skills. Among other things, this means we can deftly criticize but are crippled when it comes to providing constructive, substantive criticism or well-considered, concrete solutions. That has resulted in a dangerous, destructive political environment. It's why Americans elected Trump and the UK voted for Brexit[1], while France and Germany have proved more stable. The latter aren't smarter, but enjoy more uniformity. Uniformity has its benefits. [1] Not that I think Brexit is inherently wrong, but the ostensible reasons were ridiculous; namely, that the UK could leave without suffering significant economic consequences.
dragonwriter 9y ago
> American schools are doing what they're designed to do--crank out standard units of compliant citizens. No, even if that was the goal (I don't think it intentionally is, though American schools were largely copied from a system where they was an intentional goal), American schools are, by all evidence I can see, fairly bad at that. It's not like compliance or social cohesion in the US are notably high.
- Brockenstein 9y ago
  It probably depends on what you think is compliant or how absolutely universal things must be. You're never going to get 100% of the population to be totally compliant. However if the number of non-compliant citizens are a minority or can be convinced to work entirely within the legal framework of the system they're railing against that certainly smacks of compliance or at least superficial non-compliance. One should just look at voter participation, a majority of eligible voters don't. One could argue they're so apathetic that they'll just go along with whatever is foisted upon them by either political party, election after election, decade after decade. Somehow the status quo is largely maintained day in and day out, despite how loud activists from any position are.

by cpr 9y ago

wahern 9y ago

> American schools are doing what they're designed to do--crank out standard units of compliant citizens. Arguably, compared to most developed nations, that's where American primary and secondary schools are the absolute worst. Which isn't to say they excel at producing rational, free-thinking citizens. IMO we have the worse possible world--an exaggerated valuation of free speech and anti-government, anti-establishment sentiment without the requisite commensurate critical thinking skills. Among other things, this means we can deftly criticize but are crippled when it comes to providing constructive, substantive criticism or well-considered, concrete solutions. That has resulted in a dangerous, destructive political environment. It's why Americans elected Trump and the UK voted for Brexit[1], while France and Germany have proved more stable. The latter aren't smarter, but enjoy more uniformity. Uniformity has its benefits. [1] Not that I think Brexit is inherently wrong, but the ostensible reasons were ridiculous; namely, that the UK could leave without suffering significant economic consequences.

dragonwriter 9y ago

> American schools are doing what they're designed to do--crank out standard units of compliant citizens. No, even if that was the goal (I don't think it intentionally is, though American schools were largely copied from a system where they was an intentional goal), American schools are, by all evidence I can see, fairly bad at that. It's not like compliance or social cohesion in the US are notably high.

Brockenstein 9y ago
It probably depends on what you think is compliant or how absolutely universal things must be. You're never going to get 100% of the population to be totally compliant. However if the number of non-compliant citizens are a minority or can be convinced to work entirely within the legal framework of the system they're railing against that certainly smacks of compliance or at least superficial non-compliance. One should just look at voter participation, a majority of eligible voters don't. One could argue they're so apathetic that they'll just go along with whatever is foisted upon them by either political party, election after election, decade after decade. Somehow the status quo is largely maintained day in and day out, despite how loud activists from any position are.