What’s wrong with humanity?

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

Society is deteriorating. Civilization has become uncivil. We are rapidly regressing. We act like the least intelligent species on this planet. What’s happening?

There are a lot of little problems that have contributed to our current situation. For example, we use the argument that everybody should contribute just to force them to sacrifice themselves to fill a relatively meaningless role. Being a good person is not nearly as important as having a good job.

There is one contributor to these problems that stands out above the rest. Currently, the government takes young children away from their parents so that they can be raised however the government sees fit. The government’s primary goal is to control its citizens. Since independent thinkers are less likely to show blind obedience to the government, they demand the destruction of thought and individuality.

Could this be? Am I talking about the schools? If you visited this blog more frequently (or just looked at where I posted this rant), you wouldn’t have to ask. Of course I’m talking about the schools. The schools have done such a good job of portraying themselves as an intellectual pursuit that people are afraid that they will look unintelligent if they think that the schools are anything less than the greatest accomplishment of man.
 
The problems of the schools come in many forms. Even those who develop problems and drop out can associate their problems with the schools. I’m not saying that the unschooled are flawless, but am I the only one who has noticed that dropouts are more commonly associated with trouble than those who have never been subjected to the schooling process?

One reason people drop out is to rebel. Rebellion has people going against what they are told what’s right. Who tells them what’s right? The schools. If the schools frustrate students enough, they might rebel against the schools and what’s right.

Even those who have steered clear of the schools could run into problems with our over-schooled society. We openly discriminate against those who learn outside of the schools. Some of these people are bright. Since survival is more important than thought, some who have effectively lost all hope may resort to undesirable behavior.

Usually, people use this to insist that schooling produces wholesome citizens. At the same time, they overlook some of the influences that the schools have had. If they justifiably hate the schools, they could very well resort to unjustified actions. If the schools succeed in convincing these people that they should always let others tell them what to think and believe, they could become more vulnerable to peer pressure.

Those who have not finished school may run into serious problems, but these problems are not as reliable as the problems found in graduates. The more schooling people finish, the worse they seem to be on a more personal level. Graduates are generally arrogant and mindless without a foundation of fundamental values. The more schooling people receive, the bigger jerks they seem to become.

We have a hat trick. There are three different scenarios where the schools can harm the individual: staying in school, dropping out, and not being subjected to the process. How can we win? The simple reality is that we can’t win as long as we insist that mental harm is to our benefit.

Most problems around today can be associated in some way with the schools. The obvious problems are selfishness, stupidity, weak values and beliefs, and gullibility. Just look at Barack Obama. He acted in a racist manner, and then used alcohol to make things right. He has been spending money as though there are no consequences. He is dividing the country just so he can ram through poorly thought out bills. He is ensuring a dark future for the entire country just so he can take credit for anything that improves in the short term. He graduated Harvard Law School, but may be our worst president to date.

What’s interesting is that the fear of looking unintelligent has convinced people to come up with quick arguments in support of the process that actually helps show the flaws. I had someone criticize me for insisting that students need to have control over their educations. The person who criticized me insisted that kids would rather play video games than learn. Video games generally appeal more to high school students than kindergarteners. The argument that students need the schools to push them to learn relies on the idea that kids who have spent years being told that learning has to be a chore don’t want to learn.

When flaws of the schools become visible, parents become scapegoats. The argument here is that the teachers’ jobs are not to raise the kids, but to teach them. Teachers obviously don’t know what they’re doing. Their job exists so that they can raise children for the government. They are not supposed to teach the students. Of course, their argument does not make the schools look good. Teachers keep complaining about the inadequacies of parents, but these parents have more schooling than ever before. If they are unsuitable parents, the schools are certainly not helping them.

Some people will go even further. Some people insist that the schools aren’t working because people these days are too stupid to succeed in school and parents are too stupid to raise children. We have never been more reliant on the schools than we are now. If this reliance has come with declining intellect, why do we jump to the conclusion that schooling develops intellect?

While people feel obligated to support the schools, very few will insist that the system is perfect. Whenever the schools appear to be failing, we come up with the same general conclusion. We insist that they need more money. This argument comes in many forms ranging from smaller class sizes to making them the highest paid profession. Ultimately, they don’t want people to fail to earn a piece of paper that requires conformity to the role of a mindless drone. While I disagree with the beliefs of the masses in this situation, let me summarize what they are saying. The best way to solve the problem is to become more reliant on the cause.