The purpose of school.

[futurebird]

There were not as many responses to the 2nd post as the first. But, I think that something is starting to develop.

(Purpose.) What's wrong with the way public schools are used?

The first thing to fix about schools is the PERCEPTION of the value of schools, whether the kids think they can REALLY be successful, and to take it seriously. If you dont

Comments

Emancipation vs. incarceration

[sophia_sadek]

Education can be viewed either as a form of emancipation or a form of incarceration. For someone like Frederick Douglass, it was essential to emancipation. He fought for his own education and advocated for his own children to attend the same school as "white" children.

For others, school serves the purpose of indoctrinating children into an us/them paradigm of vicious programmed ignorance. Formal education teaches that social restrictions are necessary to maintain a "free" society. People walk around with a caged mind thinking that their subjugation is the highest form of freedom.

Re: Emancipation vs. incarceration

[anfalicious]

As much as one may feel that school is indoctrinating and incarcerating, if you're unable to read, write and think critically, you will be much more susceptible to indoctrination and incarceration.

A lecturer of mine put it well the other night; you need to learn the rules, to learn how to conform, before you know how to break the rules. Young James Joyce wrote conforming to the rules, and once he had done that he was able to break the rules and give us Ulysses.

Re: Emancipation vs. incarceration

[geezer_also]

You say that like Ulysses was actually a good read.

For what it's worth I got no farther into Joyce than I did into Rand ;)

Re: Emancipation vs. incarceration

[anfalicious]

True literature is rarely "a good read". It might be enjoyable, but only if you like challenges.

Re: Emancipation vs. incarceration

[geezer_also]

"True Literature" is why I only spent one semester as a lit major. (since my over-all riding major was G.I. benefits I rarely spent more than 2 semesters as anything :D)

When I finally decided I really wasn't cut out to be an intellectual, I decided to go back to the criteria of my youth, if I enjoy it, I read it.
It doesn't have to be fiction, but since I don't play video games, watch almost no TV and rarely go to movies, it's my relaxation and escape...heck life has enough challenges to spend my down time analyzing Swift :D I mean think about it, Dickens and Burroughs wrote to get out of debt..so OK Tarzan may not be true literature, but hopefully you get my point :D

Besides there is always *talk_politics* if I need to stretch my thinking/reasoning capacities :D

Re: Emancipation vs. incarceration

[sophia_sadek]

Much of it depends on how and why one goes into education. In the case of Douglass, it was something he sought out. In the case of the average high school dropout, it is something imposed by the dominant culture.