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> The objective of public school is to break down the regional identities of old and assimilate the youth into the “new” national identity. Having read a bit o

> The objective of public school is to break down the regional identities of old and assimilate the youth into the “new” national identity. Having read a bit of history about how many modern national identities were constructed over the last three centuries, that's a disturbing sentence to see written so casually. Phrases like 'breaking down regional identities' and 'assimilating the youth into the "new" national identity' remind me of the forced assimilation of Sami peoples in Norway and Sweden or the historical efforts of French governments, both republican and monarchist, to ruthlessly crush regional languages in the name of a 'right' to common language. A more accurate way to understand the purpose of public schooling might be: the objective of public school is to break down regional identities of old and forcibly assimilate the youth into the 'new' national identity so that, as adults, they will become a more compliant, fungible labor supply which is more easily legible to the state and elites. That deeper purpose, which you either left unspoken or weren't aware of, is what many people in the US have against public schools. There are a lot of regional identities in America that don't have much in common with mine, but I'll stand should to shoulder with them against attitudes like yours and against the policies that follow from those attitudes. Doubly so in cases where their identities were crushed in the past, which is sadly common even in America.

mikhmha 3y ago
I say it so casually because I also find it disturbing. Don't worry, we share similar views. And yet, I went through public schooling, learned the "national" identity but I still retained my own unique identity and cultural practices taught at home by parents. And in the process, I forged a new identity, much like the settlers who immigrated to this country before me. Is it because my parents did not embed the great insecurity into me? To reject everything taught from the onset because it may lead me astray? They did nothing like that. They told me to attend school, make friends, and learn new things. I learned both the good and the bad of the dominant society I lived in, simply by observing it for myself. And I became familiar with the archetypes of the elites and the poor.
- sfRattan 3y ago
  > Why are people in the US so against public schools? > Don't worry, we share similar views. No, we clearly do not. If you held similar views to mine, you would not have posed the question, nor followed it with a false dilemma between breaking down regional identities and, "everything sucks. And there is no cohesion between peoples." > And yet, I went through public schooling, learned the "national" identity but I still retained my own unique identity and cultural practices taught at home by parents. To the extent that an American national identity exists, it is rooted in shared ideals and beliefs. Those ideals predate the system of public schooling devised by Prussian officer-aristocrats in the mid nineteenth century. Our ideals have certainly taken a beating under that system. Hopefully, they will also postdate it. Given that you believe you learned the American national identity in a public school, I do wonder a bit about how well you understand that identity. Especially in light of your initial question, which implies a lack of understanding of why Americans might oppose a major institution.
  - mikhmha 3y ago
    You read too much into my initial post. I would not have been so blunt if it wasn't to point out the great irony of public schooling and its inception coinciding with modern nation states. I pose the hyperbole question because I see the greatest opposition to public schooling from Americans and religious peoples. "everything sucks. And there is no cohesion between peoples." Because at the same time I understand the brutal truth. The nations of today where this process of state centralization did not occur, or occurred under coercion from colonial powers are much worse off. And there people viewed as backwards or uncivilized unable to compete in the modern world, even though they admirably continue to resist modernity. >"Given that you believe you learned the American national identity in a public school..." I'm not American. I'm Canadian. And no I did not learn the national identity strictly through school, it was through the people I met at school. My peers, friends, etc. It was those interactions that were facilitated through the public school system.
    - aaomidi 3y ago
      > The nations of today where this process of state centralization did not occur, or occurred under coercion from colonial powers are much worse off. You're dropping these opinions as if they are facts.

mikhmha 3y ago

I say it so casually because I also find it disturbing. Don't worry, we share similar views. And yet, I went through public schooling, learned the "national" identity but I still retained my own unique identity and cultural practices taught at home by parents. And in the process, I forged a new identity, much like the settlers who immigrated to this country before me. Is it because my parents did not embed the great insecurity into me? To reject everything taught from the onset because it may lead me astray? They did nothing like that. They told me to attend school, make friends, and learn new things. I learned both the good and the bad of the dominant society I lived in, simply by observing it for myself. And I became familiar with the archetypes of the elites and the poor.

sfRattan 3y ago
> Why are people in the US so against public schools? > Don't worry, we share similar views. No, we clearly do not. If you held similar views to mine, you would not have posed the question, nor followed it with a false dilemma between breaking down regional identities and, "everything sucks. And there is no cohesion between peoples." > And yet, I went through public schooling, learned the "national" identity but I still retained my own unique identity and cultural practices taught at home by parents. To the extent that an American national identity exists, it is rooted in shared ideals and beliefs. Those ideals predate the system of public schooling devised by Prussian officer-aristocrats in the mid nineteenth century. Our ideals have certainly taken a beating under that system. Hopefully, they will also postdate it. Given that you believe you learned the American national identity in a public school, I do wonder a bit about how well you understand that identity. Especially in light of your initial question, which implies a lack of understanding of why Americans might oppose a major institution.
- mikhmha 3y ago
  You read too much into my initial post. I would not have been so blunt if it wasn't to point out the great irony of public schooling and its inception coinciding with modern nation states. I pose the hyperbole question because I see the greatest opposition to public schooling from Americans and religious peoples. "everything sucks. And there is no cohesion between peoples." Because at the same time I understand the brutal truth. The nations of today where this process of state centralization did not occur, or occurred under coercion from colonial powers are much worse off. And there people viewed as backwards or uncivilized unable to compete in the modern world, even though they admirably continue to resist modernity. >"Given that you believe you learned the American national identity in a public school..." I'm not American. I'm Canadian. And no I did not learn the national identity strictly through school, it was through the people I met at school. My peers, friends, etc. It was those interactions that were facilitated through the public school system.
  - aaomidi 3y ago
    > The nations of today where this process of state centralization did not occur, or occurred under coercion from colonial powers are much worse off. You're dropping these opinions as if they are facts.