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Well, I agree with the title, and some of the reasoning, but it doesn't go far enough. I think school in general is stupid. It's an extreme view, I know. I thi

Well, I agree with the title, and some of the reasoning, but it doesn't go far enough. I think school in general is stupid. It's an extreme view, I know. I think education is good. But that's not what school is. Everything a kid learns in 13 years could he learned in 5, and then they leave missing very important skills. Many kids that graduate high school then choose to take on 5 to 6 figures in debt as their first financial decision of their lives, out of this weird pressure to know what they want to spend the rest of their lives doing, which they're somehow expected to know after spending 13 of the previous 18 years of their lives having to ask permission to take a shit. In my opinion, school turns people, most of whom have amazing potential, into losers. The major motivation to have a mandatory school system is to take productive adults who would spend a decade caring for 2 or 3 children and put them to work and outsource the rearing of their children to one professional child raiser per 30 or so kids. Very economical. But it is hell on our kids, and hell on our civics. 5 years. That's all it takes to learn what you need to know in school. Reading, writing, some literature, arithmetic geometry and algebra, basic physics, chemistry and biology, some domestic history and civics and some world history, then toss in a bit about how to handle finances and you're done. 5 years. And that's much more than we are requited to know within the 13 we spend right now. And we can teach our own kids. And we should. If I can't be trusted to teach my kid what I learned in school, what does that say about the school I went to?

coldtea 5y ago
>I think education is good. But that's not what school is. Everything a kid learns in 13 years could he learned in 5 Everything except socializing witht their peers over a period of time they develop psysiologically (kid to puberty to adulthood). That school can be a hostile environment is part of this too, since even more so can be the rest of life it prepares people for. At least in school you can learn about bad people in a low stakes situation (not being part of the cool gang, getting mocked for your appereance, or not being invited to a party, for example) - in real life not knowing how to deal with such people can cost you your job, money, health, even life. It's also about what exactly kids will do when they're 10-12 (after those "5 years of condensed school"). Just run around when their parents work? And where does the optimism that kids can learn "in 5 years" what they are taught in 13? Most kids don't even learn what they are taught in 13 - even in the US where the curriculum and demands are laughable by European standards. >And we can teach our own kids. And we should. That would be a nightmare and is rightly forbidden in many parts of the world. The kid will not be socialized with his peers, will be taught what some (probably biased, abusive, or paranoid) parent wants to teach them, and generally be kept out of society. Forget abusive school environments, home-schooling is an order of magnitude better way to raise a dysfunctional adult. There are many ammendments that can be made to the greatly ineffictive school system, but "home-schooling" and "condense it to 5 years" are not the ones I'd choose. Well paid, highly motivated teachers would be a good place to start thou, as they can make all the difference - and old adults will still reminisce about those school teachers that made a difference to their lives or instilled them passion for this or that subject.
- betwixthewires 5y ago
  People socialized with their peers before widespread mandatory schooling existed. This is the first argument that usually comes up when someone makes the outlandish suggestion that kids don't need school, and if that is the main reason we should keep school then what is school but not a daycare center? Do we really need the government spending billions of dollars to force us to hang out with our friends? Where you spend day in and day out growing up is not a low stakes situation. What should kids do when they're teenagers? Whatever they or their parents want. Work with their dad, take up hobbies, spend time with their peers outside of government buildings, get jobs. The optimism comes from a rather unique experience and perspective. I was taught to read before I ever started school, and I went to a school for a period of my childhood where I learned far more than my peers in my country within a short period of time. We don't give kids enough credit, we slow the pace for the lowest common denominator and stifle high performers. We spend several years looking at pink and green dinosaurs and watching cartoons about stegosaurus and a is for apple and b is for banana. It is honestly ridiculous, and shows my point again, school is designed to keep kids somewhere so their parents can be off doing more important things than raising their children. It is state mandated daycare. Why do we just assume most parents are abusive? Some are, sure. But the solution to that problem is to round up every kid every day and stick them in a government building? And that solves the problem of abusive parents how exactly? People still exist in society without school, and I'd argue taking a kid to some building every day of their lives takes them out of society. Most kids do most of their socializing and learning about society during summer, when they're not required to be in school. I'd like to see some sources if you have them that home schooled kids are more dysfunctional than public schooled kids. Teachers are glorified babysitters.

coldtea 5y ago

>I think education is good. But that's not what school is. Everything a kid learns in 13 years could he learned in 5 Everything except socializing witht their peers over a period of time they develop psysiologically (kid to puberty to adulthood). That school can be a hostile environment is part of this too, since even more so can be the rest of life it prepares people for. At least in school you can learn about bad people in a low stakes situation (not being part of the cool gang, getting mocked for your appereance, or not being invited to a party, for example) - in real life not knowing how to deal with such people can cost you your job, money, health, even life. It's also about what exactly kids will do when they're 10-12 (after those "5 years of condensed school"). Just run around when their parents work? And where does the optimism that kids can learn "in 5 years" what they are taught in 13? Most kids don't even learn what they are taught in 13 - even in the US where the curriculum and demands are laughable by European standards. >And we can teach our own kids. And we should. That would be a nightmare and is rightly forbidden in many parts of the world. The kid will not be socialized with his peers, will be taught what some (probably biased, abusive, or paranoid) parent wants to teach them, and generally be kept out of society. Forget abusive school environments, home-schooling is an order of magnitude better way to raise a dysfunctional adult. There are many ammendments that can be made to the greatly ineffictive school system, but "home-schooling" and "condense it to 5 years" are not the ones I'd choose. Well paid, highly motivated teachers would be a good place to start thou, as they can make all the difference - and old adults will still reminisce about those school teachers that made a difference to their lives or instilled them passion for this or that subject.

betwixthewires 5y ago
People socialized with their peers before widespread mandatory schooling existed. This is the first argument that usually comes up when someone makes the outlandish suggestion that kids don't need school, and if that is the main reason we should keep school then what is school but not a daycare center? Do we really need the government spending billions of dollars to force us to hang out with our friends? Where you spend day in and day out growing up is not a low stakes situation. What should kids do when they're teenagers? Whatever they or their parents want. Work with their dad, take up hobbies, spend time with their peers outside of government buildings, get jobs. The optimism comes from a rather unique experience and perspective. I was taught to read before I ever started school, and I went to a school for a period of my childhood where I learned far more than my peers in my country within a short period of time. We don't give kids enough credit, we slow the pace for the lowest common denominator and stifle high performers. We spend several years looking at pink and green dinosaurs and watching cartoons about stegosaurus and a is for apple and b is for banana. It is honestly ridiculous, and shows my point again, school is designed to keep kids somewhere so their parents can be off doing more important things than raising their children. It is state mandated daycare. Why do we just assume most parents are abusive? Some are, sure. But the solution to that problem is to round up every kid every day and stick them in a government building? And that solves the problem of abusive parents how exactly? People still exist in society without school, and I'd argue taking a kid to some building every day of their lives takes them out of society. Most kids do most of their socializing and learning about society during summer, when they're not required to be in school. I'd like to see some sources if you have them that home schooled kids are more dysfunctional than public schooled kids. Teachers are glorified babysitters.