It's no secret that the US educational system doesn't do a very good job. Like clockwork, studies show that America's schoolkids lag behind their peers in pretty much every industrialized nation. We hear shocking statistics about the percentage of high-school seniors who can't find the US on an unmarked map of the world or who don't know who Abraham Lincoln was.Read the rest of the article here.
Fingers are pointed at various aspects of the schooling system—overcrowded classrooms, lack of funding, teachers who can't pass competency exams in their fields, etc. But these are just secondary problems. Even if they were cleared up, schools would still suck. Why? Because they were designed to.
How can I make such a bold statement? How do I know why America's public school system was designed the way it was (age-segregated, six to eight 50-minute classes in a row announced by Pavlovian bells, emphasis on rote memorization, lorded over by unquestionable authority figures, etc.)? Because the men who designed, funded, and implemented America's formal educational system in the late 1800s and early 1900s wrote about what they were doing.
Are there any school teachers in the house this Presidents' Day afternoon? Parents with school-age children? Students? Anyone who can shed some light on the thesis of this article?
What say our always enlightened and gentle readers about all this?
9 comments:
All I'll say is that I'm mad that I had to learn trig functions, literary devices, etc. in high school, but the public education system never even taught me how to do my damn taxes. Doesn't make much sense, does it?
these could be schoold designed by and for liberal democrats.
They never seem to learn.
youse guys dont no nuthin bout nuthin. I done gone to pubic scools and everthin is just rite ifn ya askin me.
not the most popular thread around here. perhaps we need a new post.
Deschooling Society
I read this 30 years ago and it stuck. It is even more pertinent today. Anyone interested in purity of thought should have a read.
Read More
Hope my html tag works
"not the most popular thread around here. perhaps we need a new post."
Don't judge a post by the number of comments, anonymous You'd be surprised at the number of people who've read this article. My web stats software indicates it's being read far and wide.
Curiously, the most popular post on this blog in the last month (judging from web stats statistics) is this.
That's another that didn't get too many local comments.
This article has been passed around incessantly since its first posting, and accessed from many notable sites, (including the U.S. Congess,) not the least of which is Halliburton Corporation, yesterday, V.P. Cheney's old stomping grounds.
Thanks for you article The-Ogd.
For those of us who are interested in this subject, it was most enlightening
Why thank you for your comment, The Legendary "Lovely Jennifer."
Don't be a stranger here!!!!
(I'm constantly cultivating posts from all the "smart," well-educated people.)
(wink)
Thanks Keisha for taking notice
New comments are not allowed.