Road Scholars on an Eduvacation!
Yes, we're moving on again, but this time like we mean it. In an RV.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

More reasons I am anti-school


Is this supposed to be inspiring?? Based on commentary I have seen in various places, it appears that most people think so. Which just goes to show you how brainwashed our society is.
Let me let you in on how MY brain works when I see things like this.
What jumps out at me is that these school children are suffering from three main things:
1. Boredom. Their teacher (and the subject matter) is dull, tedious, monotonous, and a complete waste of their precious time on this earth.
2. Condescension. Due either to the ineptness or disinterest of their teacher, the subject matter being presented to them is far below their capacity, as evidenced by the obvious intelligence shown by the boy in his note. Thus, being forced to sit in rows and listen to this stupefying information is completely condescending.
3. Humiliation. The teacher's use of public humiliation as punishment is wrong and uncalled for. No one should be treated this way. She seems gleeful to have caught someone she can disgrace in front of the class (perhaps she was just glad for the interruption from her own boredom), which is just sickening. Why adults feel they have the right to prey on children this way is beyond me, and it's a TERRIBLE example being set for the rest of the children in class as well. Their reaction of anticipation shows that they already enjoy watching peers being publicly humiliated, and explains why peer activity in schools is so cruel and insensitive.
A potential #4 is that children this age should be enjoying their childhood as children, not playacting at adult romantic relationships, but this falls under the Things-Wrong-With-Mother-Culture category more than the category "Reason-#1094-I'm-Relieved-My-Kids-Aren't-Wasting-Their-Childhoods-In-School," so we'll leave that for another day. ;)

7 comments:

greenmeg said...

I agree with you completely! How is it you're able to homeschool in CA with it being illegal???

NancyG said...

And on the other side of the fence...I don't think you can base all public education and all teachers on things like this...I can guarantee you that neither I nor many of my coworkers (I can't speak for all as I didn't see them all teach) use, or used, humiliation or condescension, nor do/did we teach this way.

Now, I'm not a product of public education because it was definitely not for me, but I learned from my own experiences and I wanted to make public education better for students whose parents either can't afford private education or have to work multiple jobs and can't homeschool, either. There are a lot of us out here like this...

Kelli said...

Meg - Where did you hear that?? It's not illegal to homeschool anywhere in the USA, as far as I know, although some states have stricter policies. (It's actually a breeze to homeschool in CA, compared to a lot of other states.)

Nanc - I do realize that not every school is run in this manner today, and that there are some educators working to change the dynamic. But not enough. Most schools are still institutions where, sadly, this is very much what it looks like.

That's not really the point I was trying to make with this post, though. The point is that almost everyone who sees propaganda like this sees a certain thing - the romantic narrative, how "cute" the kids are, and wow, look what inspiring things can happen in schools if I give money to literacy projects. Now OBVIOUSLY, I'm not against literacy, but I am totally against perpetuating this dangerous brainwashing - nothing about that tableau was inspiring. It was downright creepy.

My intention, after seeing this video lauded in multiple places, was to walk through an alternate viewpoint, MY viewpoint, which tends to differ from that of the majority. I really hope to inspire someone (even one person) to learn to look at what is fed to us through a different lens (whether it's about education, medicine, or just some crazy infomercial; the material is immaterial). It's just a basic "Question Authority" sort of thing, really, but it's not necessarily an easy thing for most people to learn to do without examples.

greenmeg said...

Patrick found it online, and Kelly Fisk also read that it was illegal. I didn't read anything myself. I thought it was weird - I think of CA as a much more liberal state - but then why are they finding this info??? I'll have to look into it myself....

greenmeg said...

see http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08030503.html
There are several other articles, but that's the most recent I found.

Kelli said...

Ah, yes. Old News! That was one crazy rogue judge, and the ruling was overturned in August. :)

Nydia said...

Internet here is bad, so I'm so sorry I can't watch this video... Anyway, I wish homeschooling was ok in Brazil, you know, specially after what happened yesterday... When you have soime time,. read my page to undestand what I mean.
Kisses, my friend, to you and to your babies (and baby-to-be!).