School Is Where Brilliant Kids Go To Die

 

“Ideally, what should be said to every child, repeatedly, throughout his or her school life is something like this: 'You are in the process of being indoctrinated. We have not yet evolved a system of education that is not a system of indoctrination. We are sorry, but it is the best we can do. What you are being taught here is an amalgam of current prejudice and the choices of this particular culture. The slightest look at history will show how impermanent these must be.You are being taught by people who have been able to accommodate themselves to a regime of thought laid down by their predecessors. It is a self-perpetuating system. Those of you who are more robust and individual than others will be encouraged to leave and find ways of educating yourself — educating your own judgements.Those that stay must remember, always, and all the time, that they are being moulded and patterned to fit into the narrow and particular needs of this particular society.”

― Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook

 I posted the above quote, as I always do, on my facebook wall. Then a friend sent me the above response that I loved:

 

''I like your post about education. Except for one line in it. It's the "It's the best we can do" line.

Because it's not the best we can do. And the part right before it, the "We're sorry" part.

We're not sorry.

We purposfully designed the system this way.

We have it the way we want it.

What that line should say is "We hate children. We hate children because we are jeαlous of them. We hate that you have fun and a lust for life that we lost. So we designed this system to drive that same sense of fun and lust for life out of you so you will be more like us, so we won't constantly be reminded of what we lost. So suck it you little fuckers!" Yea, that's more like what that line should say.

But there are a few of us that are sorry that the system is this way, but we still use this 'tired' 'bullshit' line. We say that "it's the best we can do" because of our own laziness and lack of imagination.

It's time we stop saying I'm sorry and actually do something to be worthy of forgiveness.''

 I loved this response, so honest and true.

My very own brief experience with state schools confirmed this.

Since we both see eye to eye on matters of education and I am very into such views on schooling, I asked permission to post this friend's educational vision here, as food for thought.

Enjoy!



''I think that school is where brilliant kids go to die.
If the kids are set free to learn at their own speed then kids will graduate from high school sooner.

The entire system should be reorganized.


Instead of having the traditional 12 grade system I'll change it to 4 grades. K-3 in one grade, 4-6 in one grade, then all of junior high school in one grade and senior high school in one grade.

Instead of a strict time schedule, schools will be open 24/7.

Students will be able to go to school whenever they want. There will be no books within this new system. Instead all students will receve a IPad style device.I think that this system will be cheaper in the long run if the school system didn't need to buy new books every few years.

The IPads will be able to be updated regularly with the latest knowledge.

There will be atleast 3 teachers in a class room at one time, perhaps less during the evening and night hours. But the teachers themselves will not be holding classes but instead be there to help students as needed. 

The primary source of learning will be done by the IPads themselves by means of video lectures, and also by their fellow students that have already passed that level of education.There will only be a few classes in other rooms that will be on a schedule. The only ones that I can think of at the moment will be Music, Physical Education, Religious Studies and Home Economics.

These classes will be held every hour so the individual student can dictate their own schedule as needed.
These classes will be in the standard manner however the main class room will be quite different.
They will be quite a bit larger, able to hold more students at a time.

Instead of desks lined up in rows like military formations the classroom will be filled with couches, chairs, carpets to lay on. It will feel more like a home. It will be filled with plants and animals that the students that wish so  will care for. 

I will also be changing the Parent/Teacher dynamic.
Gone will be the days of the parent teacher meetings, usually initiated by the teacher to make the parent feel less of a parent for not having a child progress the way the teacher feels is best.
(As I've seen personally and heard from you)

The teachers will be there anytime for the parents to talk to and review their kid's progress.

To progress to the next grade will not be that different from what they are now. The kid will need to show that they have the level of knowledge to progress to the next level.

With this new system we will eliminate the embarassment of being undereducated and be held back. Going on to the next grade will no longer be dictated by the age the kid has or how societiy feels a kid should develop.


The child will develop naturally with love and understanding instead of forcing and condemnation.''

                                                            
                                                      Love, peace and breakthroughs

                                                                       Eirini