How Schools Impact Business

This post was adapted from something that I had previously written.

Many people praise the schools for what they have been doing for the children. It may be true that college graduates have better careers than high school dropouts, but I don’t think that this is because the children are the priorities for the schools. They are looking out for the businesses that hire the mindless drones that they produce.

I could argue that the schools value businesses more than children, but that could be a little misleading. In reality, the schools don’t know what businesses really want. Instead of adapting to the desires of employers, employers feel obligated to operate based on the staff that the schools produce.

In America, we define quality of life purely by our wealth. When we look at what we think is best for our kids, we insist that we have to raise them to have great careers. In the modern world, it’s nearly impossible to succeed without schooling (thanks to educational discrimination). For this reason, we push our single rigid system on everyone regardless of individual needs.

By the time children are five years of age (frequently younger), they are expected to make schooling their highest priorities. While lower grade levels generally ease up on the structure, their goals are essentially to ensure that students care more about schools than personal development. In comparison to experiences prior to schooling, this is essentially throwing them into a high-pressure, high-stress, and highly controlled environment.

After students have had several years to become accustomed to the schooling environment, it is fairly common to provide students with career aptitude tests. These tests generally push children (still too young) to make a huge decision regarding their career paths. Students will be at an advantage if they prematurely commit to a government-defined job (the government is influences most of these tests) when they should still be developing as individuals.

Plenty of time passes between these initial aptitude tests and career searches. Students should be working on their values and personal strengths during this time, but they are instead forced to focus on their careers. We are failing every single time that these early tests successfully reflect who these children are when they enter the job market because they can only be accurate at that early stage of life if the students never evolve.

The amount of pressure that we have placed on students ensures that the majority will sacrifice personal development in favor of conforming to a suggested career. Most businesses find it easier to hire someone when they know what they are getting rather than hiring someone with a unique and unfamiliar set of strengths. Not only that, but evaluations from the schools can reduce the need for businesses to find their own methods of evaluation.

Those who have developed properly as individuals are not going to meet the mandatory level of conformity. They may have unique strengths that businesses should be able to utilize, but they are far less likely to get the job. These people generally have strong educations, but their educations come primarily from outside of the schooling environment. It is a common practice to discriminate against people who learn in this more efficient and more responsible manner.

Since the people who get the jobs are all essentially the same, businesses adapt to better take advantage of the common characteristics. If a business loses an employee, it’s a lot easier for them to replace him or her with someone who is essentially the same. Since the schools do not actively consult businesses, this effectively requires American businesses to allow the government-run schools to define jobs.

This goes beyond high school. We have seen more and more jobs turn to colleges. Actually, I should say that the colleges have taken over more and more from businesses. A lot of these colleges are government controlled (state level), which has allowed the government to define a significant number of jobs in America. The point that I’m trying to make here is that the government essentially controls the job market.

What do you call it when the government maintains control over its businesses? Socialism. That is what we have in America. In a capitalist nation, each business would be run differently. This would allow those who do not fit into a single mold to still maintain hope for success. If one employer doesn’t fit, another could be sought. Unfortunately, our government’s control eliminates this option.

I have lived in a socialist nation my whole life. I can assure you that the concept does not work. Anyone who develops individual strengths will not fit the government’s ideals. They will be treated as inferior specimens, and they will spend their lives as outcasts. Maybe we should quit pretending and officially make individuality illegal in America.

Conformity will only hold us back. Conformity requires us to aim low to ensure that all can succeed. Conformity will emphasize the development of common skills and discourage the development of unique strengths. Conformity embraces redundancies while ignoring anything outside of a narrow perspective. Conformity prevents progress.

Conformity and socialism promote regression in overall quality of life. We have invested heavily in the wrong path. If we continue, things will continue to get worse. We are a lot closer to binding people to early age career aptitude tests than people think. We already use them to pressure children to sacrifice themselves to the almighty schooling system.

Another option that appears to be further down this road (besides the cliff that we will be led off of) could be government-assigned jobs. Some people might like this idea because they wouldn’t have to look for work. I personally believe in freedom. Taking away options in favor of increased government control is a bad idea.

The removal of freedom is the primary reason that I hate the concept of socialism. In socialist America, we have already lost several core freedoms. One of these freedoms involves learning outside of the schools. What many people don’t seem to understand is that schooling is a highly socialist concept. I believe in capitalism (when handled appropriately), but capitalism will never coexist with this harmful process. Capitalism requires businesses to decide who they want to employ. This should not be a decision made by our government-run schools.