John Taylor Gatto: Schooling is not Education - Part 1

[Vote4RonPaulLiberty]

I homeschool my child and let me tell you I've yet to find a libertarian homeschool group from which she can make friends. So far the groups seem to be as oppressive, structured, and establishment loving as is public school. Very disappointing.

[IWantMyVisionBack]

@OculiUbique

True words of wisdom!

Do not settle for complacency and mediocrity!

[BigMessInPinkHeels]

I'll go to high school soon,but I don't want to.Although I'm young,I know a lot,but I still always fight with my mom and grandma and everyday I'm told that I'm worthless without school.I wanna do what I love,not what they want me to! Study hard,go to school and WASTE your whole fucking life living like a ZOMBIE! I.DON'T.WANT.TO!

[IWantMyVisionBack]

@BigMessInPinkHeels

Stay strong my friend, stay strong.

I'm currently in my senior year of highschool and I understand how you feel. Your parents are just running a program where school is the norm and a must.

I don't want to tell you to endure the schooling, but maybe you can try and do homeschooling for take the ged during your first year of highschool.

Peace & Good Luck!

[TheChertron]

Turn on, tune in , drop out of college. Regardless of how well you do or resourceful a college is, time is wasted in not utilizing. luckily, I went somewhere that specialized in a 4yr learning trade. For my friends that went to state colleges, they still have no idea what they're doing, and feel useless still.

[tanrat7]

@Joe2000King thats a cold shot

[tanrat7]

@Joe2000King In one of gatto's videos, he talks about how in Switzerland, the wealthiest nation in Europe, only 1 out of every 4 children goes beyond elementary school. If so few people in Switzerland further their "education" then why is Switzerland so wealthy and prosperous? Apparently children dont need to go to school for as long as some people think.

[tanrat7]

@Joe2000King it's writing, not "wrighting" Learn to spell.

[tanrat7]

@Joe2000King When he was a teacher he was only doing what the school board told him to do, same with all teachers. However he left teaching because he no longer wanted to do what the school board wanted him to do and didnt want to keep "harming children", as he was quoted as saying.

[LadyRavenhaire]

@Joe2000King Evidently you are a product of the US education system!

[ion010101]

@OculiUbique Even if you just had an anxiety, school doesn't help. John Holt said, "the first lesson you learn in school is to seek out and have contempt for weakness in others". School preempts your time, so it's nigh impossible to ever grow out of anything; and it makes your problems worse than they would be otherwise. I did all my growing between age 20 and 40 that I should have been doing between 5 and 20.

[tanrat7]

I think Gatto's educating since he quit teaching has been more valuable than anything he taught before

[SovereignBeing]

School and University is all Mind Control.. ! Pompous People Puffed up with their Degrees, PHD's and MA's thinking they are more intelligent that everyone else. Spouting their left brain based programming to others.. It's all just a terrible indication of how malleable and gullible they are..!

[CANCAL420]

wow such little views...how sad...

[dutytocareforothers]

Yes college and high school are both abhorrent brain damaging wastes of time!

[bnjmnpayne]

The dude rocks TWO watches.

[LadyRavenhaire]

Pavlov taught his dogs to respond to the sound of bells. They use bells in school: Its actually a central part of schooling. Hmm...

[LoveVanillaRose]

AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET US FREE

[TheDavid2222]

@LoveVanillaRose According to many philosophers the truth could destroy us.

[mccluskey]

i recall reading Simon J wikler and Robert Manatt Martin who added their bit

[strangefacekid]

I left school when I was 13 years old. Completely aware of the absolute and abhorrant scam that was unfolding before me. I was labelled a troublemaker because I constantly questioned the authority, relevence and practicallity of the curriculum. I may not have been ''smart '' however I was clever enough to see the pointless irrelivence of '' SCHOOLING ''

[RoanCarratu]

Shut up, Slaves! If you listen to this video, we, your Owners, will take away the little permission slips we force you to use, so you will die from lack of food or medical care. Be happy or we will take away your 'internet'! We let you have it only because it is so useful in letting us find the slaves who would rebel against us and make sure they are culled in the 'eternal war'. As for your latest attempt to be free, the Zeitgeist Movement, we will end it eventually. Forget hope! Obey!

[ultimatedbzgtdbfan]

@RoanCarratu And to that I say "Hell No! Fight the power!" lol.

[SUpersaiyajinjerkbag]

Public schools will always suck.  Americans pretending they have a good higher education system is the problem

[shaunindia]

whew! we no longer have coimmunities just networks.. some biting thoughts here

[dionstrezlecki]

seriously all you need to do is learn how to learn by watching listening asking etc after that nothing else matters...

[onegreeneye]

a place to stick kids, so parents have time to run the rat race, so that those at the top, can steal your $, by taxes, of which are not legal, unless someone has a actual business..so many minimum wage workers taxed unfairly..meanwhile, child is picking up not to be desired character issues, of which they WILL spend life unlearning or paying 4 by consequence.Gods more concerned with your heart, your learning your Purpose, & gaining wisdom, then prosperity with a purpose...not mans gov.

[miketonon]

I've been telling people for years that schooling is only a form of education, often not a very effective one. so true!

[MsTheresaKelly1]

It's not the goverments nor the schools responsibility to create a "whole," person! It's the parents responsibiltyto nurture the spirital and moral aspect of a child!

[Fretanation]

@MsTheresaKelly1 how can they when the kid is in school for their most productive and absorbent hours and the parents working three jobs to put food on the table, roof over head and pay all the ridiculous taxes, bills and penalties heaped on by the state...? I know i'll create a whole person at the end of a 12 hour shift at 9pm when the kids tired and i'm tired and none of us can think straight...someone needs a re-think before spouting off

[TenderTrap86]

@Fretanation It's been said that where there's an absence or abidication of personal justice and responsibilty, the desire for social justice becomes rampant. Usually the people who talk so keenly on social justice aren't very big on personal justice in their own private life.

Who exactly is it that makes all those policies that make things so very difficult for decent, working people? Most likely it's the people who weren't nutured the proper way by their parents.

[FAKEPAIN]

@MsTheresaKelly1 i agree but they have deliberately molded our minds, enprisoned our inner lives and just fundamentaly brainwashed us! that aint fair. most parents are too much brainwashed to be a good parent

[Gyzmyk]

I don't want to bring my children up in the US. I am American, but America is no place for children. I grew up here and compulsory schooling taught me two things- math and cursive. My brother taught me everything else. Even so, the West has a habit of exporting its vile education system to the places it has colonized. I've seen too many kids turn their backs on their heritage before they even knew what it held for them, and then trying to return when it was too late.

[adinfinitum77]

The entire concept of "education" in a modern sense, is based on huge and fallacious, but sadly, widely accepted assumptions. The Government tries to instill a Protestant, "nose to the grindstone" work ethic in everyone, mainly to increase work productivity and thus keep the capitalist machine running smoothly. But is it really worth forsaking your own individuality and creativity for a lifetime of passivity?

[mccluskey]

Gerhard Fischer wrote a book on what australia was up to during the world war 1. Which i feel gives a good insight on my own experience growing up here. Orwell's 'such, such were the joys' was another good one.

[weasleymogul]

I have been through this whole thing, and have never agreed this much on any one thing.

[TimothyBragan]

Tough shit.

[primitiveskills]

The institutionalized mind runs on a baseline of fear and apathy. Organic learning creates self actualized human beings that are of independent thought and impossible to control or manipulate.

[artifactingreality]

The value of something you taught yourself, or that you were taught by a friend or loved one, is very high. The value of something you were taught in institutionalised learning is practically zero.

Hands up who remembers anything useful from school? No one? Well how can that be, you spent almost a quarter of your life sitting in class rooms. As this man so eloquently put it - schools are irrelevant. They act as little more than baby sitters, so the children's parents can work and pay taxes.

[distressed7]

This is one of the main reasons why I have felt controlled and manipulated even when by myself. I have been fighting this system within all of my life. I grew up with education and TV. Never was I really free. The last attempt to be something collectively speaking came with the counter cultures culminating in the Hippy Movement that never is really taught.

[LadyBludgeon]

I wish people stop blaming teachers. It's everyone faults for allowing the corporations to take over. Most people need to look at the politics & economics of education before pointing the fingers at teachers, but people are too lazy. Some teachers do their best to teach critical thinking skills while at the same time make sure their students are ready for the exams (corporate garbage). It's the exams that suck creativity out of education. BTW, love the video, thanks and peace.

[someonex011]

my history teacher allways lies to me????

[LadyBludgeon]

@someonex011 Most of them do... History is always told by the ruling side. If your country is ruled by the white elite (which it is), than history will always be told by that sides perspective. It's why history is usually told from the middle and upper class point-of-view. Most history teachers skip the poorer classes of that era. I always do my best to not leave anyone out, but time is my enemy. However I always tell the truth, since I hate fables. EX: Columbus was a murdering bastard. Peace.

[Petalklunk]

School is the closest thing on earth to hell itself.

[ALoserIsFred]

@Petalklunk You got that right.

[ALoserIsFred]

@Petalklunk And prison/jail as well.

[TENNSUMITSUMA]

so he sent two 1 year olds with some stranger in a truck....and there parents allowed this, yeah those parents should be killed

what if something happened to them

[MJimiD]

@TENNSUMITSUMA 13* 13! Of course, in this society, we see those things as dangerous, but figure this: Most dangers of this society are dangers created by the collective mentality that Gatto is speaking out against. Even then, we have horrible misconceptions at just how dangerous going out into the world alone at that age is. Contrary to the messages of the garbage films and television stories (Which Gatto is against), truckers aren't dangerous. In fact, most are kind individuals.

[Ckordobah]

Roger Waters had it right about schools and schooling !

[ThePintsizeslasher]

Why is he wearing two watches?

[ThatGuyWithTheHat]

Perhaps he knew someone who was in a different timezone when the picture was taken and had one set to that time?

[OURPLAYLISTSSSS]

timezones?

[shawnandchrissie]

@ThePintsizeslasher ...John wears two watches to remind himself how short is the time remaining to us! ...

[LadyBludgeon]

@ThePintsizeslasher

[onelittlebuffalogirl]

I think that John Taylor Gatto is a very wise and perceptive observer/ teacher BUT what he said about people who work in front of computers was a little naive and mean. My lovely husband works from home as a web developer, and is a very fine man We homeschool our four boys and he is a very loving, sociable, nature-loving, generous, fun-loving, hands-on, involved husband, father, provider. He just loves computers! But he is not useless in any way, and we all adore him. Don't stereotype, John!

[ANDROID697]

@onelittlebuffalogirl

Q.What will your husband do if/when the web shuts down?

A. Shut down also.

This is fact!

[ThePintsizeslasher]

The web shuts down? Go back to your hole troglodyte.

[ANDROID697]

@ThePintsizeslasher

You're mind is in turmoil, your left brain is conflicting with you're right.

Belie you're own heart to attack others is unitelligent.

Seek......

[ThePintsizeslasher]

First:

/watch?v=IBdSl7yeIiw

Second, "belying"

Third, your eastern mystic crap(projection, really) and armchair psychology doesn't negate that you spoke out of your ass about things that you are ignorant of.

[ANDROID697]

@ThePintsizeslasher

unintelligent*

[immayhem]

oh no! somebody stole the internets!

[OURPLAYLISTSSSS]

My husband work on computers too, and we both "work" in front of one. With that said..

they don't call it the WEB by accident..

[scientiaestpotentia]

He did not say that people who work in front of computers are mindless. Listen again, starting at 5:37. I'll rephrase it. The purpose of schools is to control a mass of individuals. But the successful in society are the independent thinkers....not the mindless controlled. Schooled individuals are taught to do nothing more than sell razor baldes, push papers, or sit mindlessly in front of a computer, therefore, the "well-schooled" are irrelevant.

[cankorgbr]

wow, changed my perspective on the issue.

[Eldel15]

Genius!

[harrissasha]

Gatto references the founders of our educational system but doesn't seem to know what it was like for children who didn't attend school or, who's parents wouldn't let them attend school? During this time in American history there was a labor crisis. More and more industrialists used child labor to drive down production costs. Wages spiraled downward as adults lost their jobs to children. Working conditions in factories were horrific. School wasn't even a choice for a great many children.

[Ckordobah]

@harrissasha What you just Described is exactly what our Nation lives off of every day of our Lives. Slavery and Child labor to sustain our Life style and our Pure Materialistic Addictions. You are making a complete counter distinction. He is against the Current Educational System and the what it produces. Putting Children through an educational System that is Designed to Dumb them down and to Co Op them into a System that is bent on Exploitation is no Different than Forced Child Labor.

[Ckordobah]

@harrissasha Forced Indoctrination Does not Compensate for Forced child Labor... I was forced as a Child to Go get work and help my family.. Are you going to say this Is Horrible..... The System is Preventing Humans from Maturing into Men and Woman and this is his argument.. Into Perpetual Childlike States for the rest of their lives. My Grandfather never owed someone a Dime his whole life and he was completely independent and my Family Rebelled against him. For he tried to Get them to Follow..

[Ckordobah]

@harrissasha the same Principle and to have Honor and Dignity.. Today we are pure Materilists

[harrissasha]

Thants a pretty thin argument Ckordobah. I think the real target of your enmity, and perhaps Gatto's as well, is the business establishment that continues to try and direct educational reform to fit its narrow goals. This was true in the late 1800s when reformers sought ways to make schools turn immigrants into qualified laborers the second industrial age. Business drove educational reform in the 50's and 60's. Today business is behind Obama's "Race to the Top" accountability agenda.

[harrissasha]

Your real beef is not with schools at all, but the non-education based policy makers and free marketeers who hold the real power over how the system works. Like anything in our society, there are examples of schools the work, educators who "get it," and there examples of bureaucrat who toe the line. Indicting the entire educational establishment is like blaming the dog's tail for getting wagged.

[harrissasha]

But of course, recognizing the shortcomings in our education system means actively doing something to help fix it, and as reformers have experienced for well over 100 years now, business always trumps reform.

[Ckordobah]

@harrissasha The (First) reform we should have is to let and Force Parents to be Responsible for their Child's Maturity and Education. What you have said is Basically What Gatto is Describing. Yes Busness has alot to do with our Poor Educational System and he admits this. It is also a system bent on Conformity. there is a Difference from Teaching Someone how to read from What to read.

[Ckordobah]

@harrissasha We need to move the State out of the way and put Social Programs back into the hands of the Public (The People)... These Educational Programs that are Successful that U mention are Programs that the People have Control over and they have a very Strong Influence over. I am totally for Education, We would be worthless without it !!!! But we need to move toward an enlightening Educational System, one that is Controlled by the People not Business or Gov...

[Ckordobah]

@harrissasha I think that in Essence you and me agree with what Gatto is bringing across to us. People just think that the System is to big to Change... I strongly believe that we as Americans need to return back to a Community based People. Having Strong Community's that have your Family and a Large Extended Family will breed More Bright and Healthy children that grow up into Maturity.

[harrissasha]

@Ckordobah I forgot about this thread - but it's a good one. The problem with the solution you propose is that poor, immigrants, and minority communities (the ones who are "failed" by public education) are usually ineffectively served by the larger municipalities they are attached to consequently, civic participation is low. In economically successful and/or culturally strong communities civic participation is much higher. Good education systems require and receive strong civic participation.

[harrissasha]

@Ckordobah At it's face, I would agree that the trend toward consolidation of education systems in large municipalities has been disturbing and clearly unsuccessful, both from an education and a civic participation standpoint. But these poor/minority/immigrant communities also need support if they are to survive and improve their schools. Abandoning them would be more disastrous. The answer, of course, lies in regenerative schools that promote social justice and civic participation.

[harrissasha]

@Ckordobah This is, in effect, the opposite of socialism or communism as some of Gatto's proponents seem to be saying, it's democratizing.

[caliNYCdoja]

Thats irrelevant

[TheVedicStudent]

Well the Government like to keep people stupid, Stupid people are easy to control the Catholics and Romans did this for many years. It's all Rascaldom..

[djlookwood]

Alice Miller writes "Resistance (to abuse) is not a matter of intelligence; it is a matter of direct access to the true self"

Education is by design an attempt to alienate those who comply from their true selves.

Obedience is thus dishonest. Disobedience is honesty.

[sawaugust]

i have to go to prision/school in september1st fuck no education is ment to be fun and adventurous but school classrooms take that away the only way to learn education is you have to learn it for yourself school dosent let you do that witch i horrible i youst to think quiting school was a bad thing but now i see its the other way around.

[leereyno]

If you are going to post something criticizing formal education as it exists today, PLEASE take the time to use proper grammar and punctuation.

Posting a single run-on sentence that suffers from a complete lack of punctuation, as well as terrible spelling in some places, only serves to undermine whatever the argument is that you are trying to make.

This is especially true when you are criticizing our educational system.

[moomoo4u2moo]

No. Posting with bad grammar is just more proof that the school system failed with that poster that you are criticizing.

[ET253]

are you being sarcastic?

[cycomerlin14]

Please do. It's your life.

[hypnofan35]

They never figure out what you can do, but only what they can do to you and how they can get away with more, for status and money. The legend of Jesus being tortured and mutilated by "experts", "leaders" and other "authorities" continues to endlessly play out, except the keepers of the story have to lie about it and threaten to exhibit ownership and authority over the lies.

[hypnofan35]

Not to be mean, but indoctrination seems to be more key to belonging and status than any other single thing. I was personally overdosed on 2 conflicting indoctrinations. Starting at 4 Jehovah's Witnesses, who would say outsiders would die, and then at 6 yo, Post WWII style patriotism which maintained i should be destroyed for being a JW. Stupid; yes, alienating; for sure; destructive to personhood: More than anything besides actual death. Screw them all for that. Patriotism and God suck!

[hypnofan35]

Perhaps a good question migh be: Why are people so status bent. Status is like the opposite of creative problem solving. You do what you are told, and you will not die or go to jail. Status people always act like they are doing something good, while they are threatening your being. I think it will all end in nuclear holocaust, because people are just too selfishly status oriented and condemning to make it keep working. The leaders are usually the biggest dummies. Who will destroy whom next?

[MrPMcMichaels]

Useless to Others, useless to themselves...

[Nikhil381029]

The purpose of school I think is to mold and shape each person into an obedient and diligent member of society....ALL for the benefit of the government. How? School is meant to train students in the fields that helps the government, but gives YOU little personal freedom. Gov't likes when you are educated with a job, because they get more money for themselves through your taxes! And they DON'T use the money wisely, as you know the current economy is terrible.

[MultiSmartass1]

@Nikhil381029 Excellent analysis. It is precisely what I have been saying on numerous youtube pages. The function of all schooling is to provide enough formal learning so that the next generations of workers can man the machines, serve as clerks, mop the floors and serve Big Macs. Also, fealty to the state. No other reason for it.

[hypnofan35]

Hierarchy always sneaks up on people. We are in a difficult era. We compete and consume. My idea is to get back to agriculture a good deal more. It is odd how life works though. Status and wealth seem like the most tangable things in a materialistic world. A logical answer to many problems would be to have hydroponic algae farms to produce bio gas and liquid fuel. It is supposed to produce a great deal of biomass;10x other best plants. It would stabilize many marginal populations.

[TheRealElectroPig]

A quicker options would be to "mine" the methane hydrates in the oceans, bogs, permafrost, etc. and use those as fuel sources. Since these are huge resources that, if allowed to naturally release into the atmosphere, "could" cause the atmosphere to become flammable, first we need to sequester those assets to protect the planet's atmosphere...but while doing that, we will obviously be storing a tremendous energy resource for future use.

Algae farms are also far more costly than growing hemp.

[hypnofan35]

It might be possible to extract methane hydrate, but it would still add CO2. Plus there is the fact that people could create and recycle fuel "where they live", and it would be an effective harvesting of the Sun's power. It would begin to decentralize energy production as well as promote parallel agricultural interest while creating new invention. A possible difficulty might be that it would make deserts desirable places to live. Costly? in terms of what? Money's just collapsing.

[TheRealElectroPig]

That's why I said "first sequester...methane hydrates." The immediate explosion threat would be removed FIRST, and then we could worry about using it as a future fuel source.

100% correct: Decentralization of power generation of all forms NEEDS to be done to secure our energy future, but big energy money doesn't want to see this happen.

The "more costly" part comes, as hemp can be grown anywhere on the planet TODAY, with next to no new investment required. Algae farms would need BIG $.

[hypnofan35]

i wish i were a "super" expert at bio mass production. It seems like it might take more of a concerted effort than high tech to get it done. Algae is said to be the biomass champ by far, plus it could likely be harvested on a multi day basis from a small growing area. Seems like you could grow it on your roof and it could be done robotically. There would likely be a way to keep it from smelling bad. What if you could grow all the energy you need per year in 1000 square feet?

[hypnofan35]

If algae was small particles, it would be simple to dry and compress to be used in that form, or stored to be converted to methane. Methane could be stored in depleted gas wells, and it transports well by pipe line. CH4 is good because it could be used to capture and use all the energy at a residence level. It would take a small CH4 powered generator that would capture the heat energy in an H2O heat reservoir to be used later. We now discard the usable heat energy. It would be like printing $.

[TheRealElectroPig]

I had that "giant water tank heat store" idea myself when I was a kid...I was told at the time it was a stupid idea.  (Surprise, surprise!) For those with pools, you could use the pool during winter as a heat store as well, although a highly insulated cover would be needed, you'd just keep running your solar heating all year long. d=^)

There's also electrically splitting water itself, and using the gases (H & O2) to run generators, which could be great at the beach! q=o)

[TheRealElectroPig]

Yeah, the biggest problem with it is that it needs new technologies, and that would come at a steep price before it was widespread enough to be of benefit.

It's not at all a bad idea, I just get the feeling that we're going to have more immediate needs, and just growing hemp is the quickest and lowest-tech solution, as well as being among the best options we've got available to us, for the widest possible range of problems we're facing.

That and people don't like stuff on their roofs. ;o)

[74u73hjd]

Do schools kill creativity? If creativity was a person schools would be it's concentration camp! I think that young people are going through a creativity holocaust perpetrated by teachers especially ones who hate their jobs. Everyone who agrees this is a disgusting inconvenient truth give me a thumbs up. BTW I'm only twenty years old and I understand this.

[Saalyg]

It should be abundantly clear to most people by our age(I'm 20 as well) that that is the case. I look at our culture and wonder what happened to the human spirit. We're now truly cogs in a great machine and nothing more. I need to read more from this John Taylor Gatto. Schools are obviously fascist institutions, but these facts and the connections between them are very, very interesting. This man needs to be our secretary of education.

[74u73hjd]

The problem is that we have no one to represent us. I actually noticed this disgusting fact about school the first few months of 6th grade. My parents were divorced and public education was making them more and more incompetent so the problem was I was at the mercy of societies stupidity. Now that I'm older I plan to do something about it. Commenting on youtube is a minor ineffecient step but, it will hopefully lead to some awareness that will lead to a bigger movement.

[TheRealElectroPig]

One thing almost never mentioned is the fact that the human brain grows the most within the first 5 years, yet "education" is not begun until after 5 years of age has been attained.

The "education system" therefore deliberately waits until the vast majority of brain development has already completed before attempting to rewire the child's thinking into a communal thought process where individuality is discouraged, and individual thinking is punished.

Different = a bad "school" experience.

[AnduinX]

Great comment! I'm 24 and I vividly remember my days of public education. I will never put my children through that ridiculous waste of time and potential they call public education.

Those places are about taking individuality and creativity away through repetitive exercises. They're there to train you to become a working drone that does not question things.

Cheers!

[TheRealElectroPig]

George Carlin said it very well: "They OBEDIENT WORKERS.  Just smart enough to run the machines, and just stupid enough to go along with whatever crappy job they can get." (Paraphrased)

[TheRealElectroPig]

Yes, you are 100% correct. Any "child" who thinks differently is immediately told they are wrong, in one manner or another, and "forced to comply with the group mindset" or face penalties. I remember spending time in "detention" for no other reason than that I refused to believe when a teacher told me something that I KNEW was wrong, and teachers HATE being corrected by "some dumb kid."

[Saalyg]

Precisely. The system makes it easy for people like me to just continue to do nothing when I see group exercises and group thought being the central ideas of a class. We need kids to learn to work as a team, that's not bad at all. But the individual aspect of education, especially for the exceptionally bright students, should be touched upon in all classes. School should prepare you for living after school, too, rather than simply making sure you have the skills to fit into the workforce

[LordShivasServant]

@74u73hjd Belated response: but isn't it funny how our age-group is really clued into this travesty?

My life ended slowly in classrooms. But luckily I got a new one just recently. :)

Thumbs up

[madhippyhome]

@74u73hjd i have always said schools are concentration camps for kids - glad to see i am not alone xxxx

[DrBakshandeh]

@madhippyhome I have a new and improved profile now!

[DrBakshandeh]

@74u73hjd dang 50 thumps up huh then you'll love my new profile!

[Nikhil381029]

People who are in school have NO choice on what they WANT to learn or not. Schools control childrens' minds in a way where it forces them to learn something that has NOTHING to do with the real, diverse world. All school does is help allocate people to "jobs" of a world where everything is regulated and controlled by an over powerful government. At the end of the day, we are all slaves of the government to some extent. School = Job = Government control = Taxes for the rest of you life.

[HoRuSHoRiZoN]

the reason theres no one left behind is because your just being trained to enter your future job ... thats it. Your not supposed to learn more .... if you learn more ... than you'll invent new jobs which corporations can't profit off of ... see the circle ?

[ihavesmallnips]

im a junior in HS as a freshman i scored a 160 IQ and my state test scores were off the chart... but i couldnt progress any faster than the other students in my HS due to the thought it takes every student 4 years to acheive the required credits to move on to college... how ever, i believe to move up in education u should be able to move on to college or the next level on your own pace... im well aware i could have been in college by my ability while the educational system halts me

[neothomist1275]

"The purpose of Compulsory Education is to deprive the common people of their commonsense." -- GK Chesterton

[Windysmoke]

This man has just conveyed within minutes what I have been experiencing for years: cold, isolated, controlled "schooling" in place of true education. As a sophomore in high school and victim to this cruel system, I only wish that the rest of society would open their eyes to this.

[oldthinkernews]

Windysmoke,

I know how you feel. I went through the "system" as well, but don't be discouraged. Continue to educate yourself outside of school, that's where you'll do real learning. If you haven't yet, read John Taylor Gatto's books. Maybe start with one of his shorter ones, like Dumbing us Down. I think it will help make sense of why you experience certain things in the public school system and realize it's not just you.

Stand strong and don't let it beat you.

[SCordeliaB]

@Windysmoke

same

[IWantMyVisionBack]

@Windysmoke

I'm going into my junior year in september and I feel the same way.

[joepeeler34]

@Windysmoke We all went through it, but at least you have resources like the internet that weren't available to many of us older guys. If you are interested in going a little further down the rabbit hole, read Murray Rothbard's essay "Anatomy of the State." I learned about Gatto from Austrian economics sites. Rothbard's essay is a good introduction to this school of thought.

[Solechnaya]

We, in Western society at least, are taught only to find a way to make more and more money. To serve authority. To "open" more doors to "better" jobs and bosses.

Well, I say, "fuck 'em!".

[kieronj]

lol! classic!

[Solechnaya]

Thank you.

[Subutubiata]

Hallelujah to that! Fuck 'em all. Bureaucrats, bosses, technocrats and administrators. Be the author of your own destiny if you can. Who dares wins!

[Solechnaya]

Exactly! Good to hear another who knows what to do. Kind of like an entrepraneur. But it doesn't have to be in the same sense.

Hell, just live life by your terms.

[MattMoose23]

This is just great! I'm so excited to start thinking in fresh ways how we can bring out the best in our children, as though their minds, choices and happiness really matter. Thanks for posting this.

[crypter27]

I was lucky enough to have a dad who lived threw some history,my dad always asked me what I learned. In school if he knew what she taught me was a load of crap,he would let me know. Allot of times it involved my history teacher!

[mpolzkill]

A beautiful man.

[GnosticNinja]

It IS amazing how nobody seems to notice. To say wow is an understatement. This goes way deep and is intentionally done.

[spiro56]

all I have to say is wow..

[christianfishy]

This man is amazing. =]