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I remember visiting Sri Lanka a while back and seeing in massive letters on the side of a school: 'Education is the only path to success'. I asked myself why I
by an9n 5y ago
I remember visiting Sri Lanka a while back and seeing in massive letters on the side of a school: 'Education is the only path to success'. I asked myself why I never, ever saw this kind of simple reinforcement during my schooling in the UK. The conspiracy theorist in me would say it suits them to deny the riff raff the tools to see through the diet of bullshit they serve us on a daily basis.
- Jensson 5y agoSaying that education is the only path to success would make students with bad grades feel bad. That is the reason. The goal is to shield students from real world pressure so that it all comes down on them like a hammer when they get out of school and can't get a job, at that point they are no longer the teachers problem so it doesn't matter.
- deepsun 5y agoAlso because in countries with low social mobility, the only path to success is inheritance.
- throw1122334 5y agoSo you're claiming that the UK has lower social mobility than Sri Lanka?
- kevinventullo 5y agoAs an American my first thought is “That’s not true in general.” There are many paths to success, many of which require a great deal of formal education, some which would at least benefit from it, but also some which are more or less orthogonal to education. Perhaps what rubs me the wrong way about that phrase in particular is it seems to imply that education is not only necessary but sufficient for success. A common anti-pattern I’ve seen in young adults is finishing 20 years of schooling, entering the real world, and saying “Wait, now what?”
- tim333 5y agoI think in the UK that would quickly get graffitied with "except being born royal or landed" or similar.