Perier, Harpers And That Good Ol' Cynical Feelin'

[nfotxn]

On my way home last night this title caught my eye in the latest issue of Harpers as I perused the magazine rack for a stimulating read to accompany my lime Perrier: Against School.

It's of course a much longer essay but here are the closing punches.

Maturity has by no been banished from nearly every aspect of our lives. Easy divorce laws have removed the need to work at relationships; easy credit has removed the need for fiscal self-control; easy answers have removed the need to ask questions. We have become a nation of children, happy to surrender our judgments and our wills to politcal exhortations and commercial blandishments that would insult actual adults. We buy televisions, and then we buy the things we see on television. We by computers, and then we buy the things we see on the computer. We buy $150 sneakers whether need them or not, and when they fall apart too soon we buy another pair. We drive SUVs and believe the lie that they constitute a kind of life insurance, even when we're upside-down in them. And, worst of all, we don't bat an eye wehn Ari Fleischer tells us to "be careful what you say," even if we remember having been told somewhere back in sc hool that America is the land of the free. We simply b uy that one too. Our schooling, as intended, has seen to it.

Now for the good news. Once you understand the logic behind modern schooling, it's tricks and traps are fairly easy to avoid. School trains children to be employees and consumers; teach your own to be leaders and adventurers. School trains children to obey reflexively; teach your own to think critically and independantly. Well-schooled kids have a low threshold for boredom; help your own to develop an inner life so that they'll never be bored. Urge them to take on the serious material, the grown-up material, in history, literature, philosophy, music, art, economics, theology—all the stuff schoolteachers know well enough to avoid. Challenge your kids with plenty of solitude so that they can learn to enjoy their own company, to conduct inner dialogues. Well-schooled people are conditioned to dread being along, and they seek constant companionship through the TV, the computer, the cell phone, and through shallow friendships quickly acquired and quickly abandoned. Your children should have a more meaningful life, and they can.

Mandatory schooling's purpose is to turn kinds into servants. Don't let your own have their childhoods extended, not even for a day.

First, though, we must wake up to what our schools really are: laboratories of experimentation on young minds, drill centers for the habits and attitudes that corporate society demands. Mandatory education serves children only incidentally; its real purpose is to turn them into servants. Don't let your own have their childhoods extended, not even for a day. If David Farragut could take command of a captured British warship as a preteen, if Thomas Edison could publish a broadsheet at the age of twelve, if Ben Franklin could apprentice himself to a printer at the same age (then put himself through a course of study that would choke a Yale senior today), there's no telling what your kids could do. After a long life, and thirty years in the public school trenches, I've concluded that genius is as common as dirt. We suppress our genius only because we haven't yet figured out hot to manage a population of educated men and women. The solution, I think, is simple and glorious. Let them manage themselves.

Of course I don't take it all as gospel. Although it's in context the copious use of "your children" becomes really cloying. This is pretty standard in literature about education though. I was gonna provide some annecdotal evidence about my horrible experiences in public school (summary: school didn't learn me nothin') but it's too darn late.

Comments

Loved that article!

[telemann.livejournal.com]

I was going to make a post about it this week, but didn't get a chance, thank you for doing it.

[infobear.livejournal.com]

You really must read "The Disappearance of Childhood" by Neil Postman. You'll dig it. It's relatively short, and perfect for a portion of your TransAtlantic flight.

[abearius.livejournal.com]

Unadulterated Rousseau, but he is right, even if his philosophical roots are French. :-) The other side of he coin is the desirable comfort of a stable, regulated society.

Looming behind his argument is a social phenomenon that started in and after the Industrial Revolution: The transformation of the basic unit of a country from Citizen to Consumer. The Citizen is the smallest political unit in a Democracy; the Consumer is the smallest political unit in a Capitalist Dictatorship.

[loganbeary.livejournal.com]

Well I agree with this philosophy for the most part, I don't necessarily believe in the conspiracy aspects of it. I think it just a natural outcome of a society such as ours. Lazy people will always take the course of least resistance, and of course are the ones who complain most about the state of their lives, and often place blame upon others rather than where it belongs, within themselves.

And of course, the devious people will take advantage of the lazy people. Just as the lions and tigers prey on the weak and stupid ones in the herd.

Personally I think this lesson should be the very first thing taught to children. And it should be taught in the cruelest manner possible so that they get it right away. They don't need to be told parables and stories, they need to experience it first hand. Teachers should make sadistic fun of children who whine. Then teach them the lesson that they have a choice, they can either go through life being a victim whining all along the way, or they can learn from their experiences to avoid becoming chronic victims and forge their own path through life. Yes, life is harsh, life isn't fair, why are children taught otherwise?

I also don't believe presenting an article full of typos is effective when arguing against schooling, even if the writer's skill is a result of such schooling.

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

I also don't believe presenting an article full of typos is effective when arguing against schooling, even if the writer's skill is a result of such schooling.

Actually that was just me transposing the article from print at 3AM after a few beers.

I'm a big fan of natural systems although I think intent ("conspiracy") is dubious on a macro scale and the net effects of your described system are the same regardless.

If you get a chance I'd highly recommend reading the entire article in Harpers this month.

[loganbeary.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I suspected that might have been the case, you did already mention being up real late. :o)

Does Harpers have this stuff on a web site?

[abearius.livejournal.com]

A child's peers in elementary school provide adequate demonstration of himanity's potential for unfairness and cruelty. Teachers are there to set the standard for adult behavior and responsible citizenship, which are difficult values to teach in any case. I don't imagine that these qualities would be more effectively taught with the swift brutality commonly associated with bad toilet training. I consistently appreciated the teachers who showed me the way to act with poise and restraint in the face of people who mocked me. I also appreciated the teachers who showed me how to research facts, histories and politics before formulating my opinions. I have found these tools more valuable than humiliation and rage.

[keanubear.livejournal.com]

"Teachers should make sadistic fun of children who whine."
Really? Would that have made your life better?

What purpose would that really serve? Sure they may learn a lesson about life, but what lesson? Sometimes life is fair, sometimes it is good, sometimes it is filled with grace and luck. Sometimes it isn't.

Making sadistic fun of children would only teach them the cruelties of life. There is more to it than that.

Also, education based on negative reinforcement is not as successful as education based on positive reinforcement. As my grandfather used to say...
"you get more flies with honey than you do with vinegar"

[loganbeary.livejournal.com]

I don't know, it probably made my life worse. I know one thing, after the first few times I did learn stop whining and complaining about being picked on. I learned at an early age that I couldn't count on anyone to take care of me, that was my responsibility.

I also know I don't go through life expecting hand outs or whining about how unfair life is. It is what it is.

I suspect we come from very different upbringings, there are no rose colored glasses in my world. For example, in my world events such as 9/11 are not shocking, not unexpected. That's the real world, pretending it doesn't exist isn't going to make it better, it will in fact make it worse.

The strongest memory I have of my grandfather, getting backhanded across the face for having too much fun playing in the giant snow drifts when I was 10.

Like I said, different worlds. In my world nothing is taken for granted, nothing is assumed, nothing is a given. And no matter how hard you work to build and earn something, it can disappear in the blink of an eye.

I think its better to be trained to deal with the shit life throws, that way instead of becoming catatonic when the world falls down their ears, people can pick up the pieces and start over again.

Sorry to be such a dark cloud casting shadows on your rainbow world, but then again, if it weren't for the dark clouds, there wouldn't be rainbows.

Peace.

[keanubear.livejournal.com]

"I suspect we come from very different upbringings, there are no rose colored glasses in my world."

Well, there are no shit colored ones in mine. :-)

I have no illusions that the world owes me anything, or that anyone else is responsible for me.

The real world is indeed out there, and it's a dangerous, beautiful, exciting, and sometimes scary place. I live there too.

Of course when you talk about 9/11, one could make the argument it happened because of US poicies and actions that US citizens are responsible for. But that is another topic entirely.

Peace on you too.

[earth-walker.livejournal.com]

Great. A generation of kids graduating from 'the school of hard knocks'. A society accepting status quo with stoic pessimism because they lack the imagination to envision change and are too afraid to be labelled a 'whiner'. Even if they could recognise the need for change, their spirit was crushed a long time ago and they are stuck in inaction. Very macho.

[loganbeary.livejournal.com]

Better than the generation of kids now who value designer jeans more than life, who think they're entitled to everything they want, and whose spirit has been sucked out of them a long time ago.

And in case you didn't know, adversity is the motivating force behind the majority of changes throughout history.

What's with all you namby pambies? I wasn't advocating grinding kids into submission, I'm advocating not coddling their "whiny, spoiled brat, I deserve everything handed to me on a silver platter" attitudes.

Sheesh!

[keanubear.livejournal.com]

Namby pambies????

Because we don't think children should be treated cruely?

"What's with all you namby pambies? I wasn't advocating grinding kids into submission, I'm advocating not coddling their "whiny, spoiled brat, I deserve everything handed to me on a silver platter" attitudes."

Do you actually work with children at all? Most of the kids that I see don't have those attitudes.

Again, the world can suck, but it can also be cool.

More peace.

:-)

[loganbeary.livejournal.com]

Me? Work with kids? With my temper?

I think everyone would agree that its a very good thing I don't work with them.

Grown men cower when I blow my top, kids would probably melt into jello.

I have a lot of respect for you people who can deal with those little monsters day in and day out.

Me, I have enough trouble dealing with them out in public. :oP

[loganbeary.livejournal.com]

Me? Work with kids? With my temper?

I think everyone would agree that its a very good thing I don't work with them.

Grown men cower when I blow my top, kids would probably melt into jello.

I have a lot of respect for you people who can deal with those little monsters day in and day out.

Me, I have enough trouble dealing with them out in public. :oP

you big softie!

[keanubear.livejournal.com]

Oh I don't know, I bet under your gruff exterior you are really a big cuddly dude. All hugs and kisses and stuff.

:-)

Re: you big softie!

[loganbeary.livejournal.com]

Actually it the exterior that is all bug and cuddly and huggy and kissy. The gruff part is the inner me, and when it comes to a boil I explode in a fit of rage.

I think I'd rather be all naked an sweaty with other men rather than wasting mental time and energy on this political junk. But I don't get that as much anymore so my idle mind tends to dwell on such evil things. :oP

[keanubear.livejournal.com]

Obviously the problem with society is not too much education.

As a school teacher (k-5 classroom music ala Orff Schulwek), I cringe whenever I read essays like this.

Most teachers I work with (sadly not all) try to teach critical thinking skills, not how to be good consumers.

Typically the people that complain the most about schools, are ones that are not very involved in schools.

As a second comment, I will add that we get the schools we pay for. Public schools are very often under funded, and asked to do way more than simply educate children.