If the Schools Are Right

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

The schools insist that they prepare people for the real world and teach them what they need to know. They insist that they are responsible for turning children into model citizens. They insist that they are responsible for who we all become. In reality, they are completely wrong. For the purpose of today’s rant, I will cut them some slack. I will discuss this world as if schooling is vital to personal development.

If the schools are right, we need them. We can’t develop the necessary skills to survive the modern world without their help. Things have advanced, and we can’t advance ourselves well enough without them. A school-less society is too primitive, and would push humanity backwards.

Humanity as a whole would need schooling. If we are to progress, we would need the schools to develop the skills to push beyond our previous skill sets. Advancement of mankind would be totally reliant on what we would learn in school.

If the schools are right, they are responsible for teaching you everything that you will ever need to know. If they don’t teach it, it’s not important. Anything that you learn elsewhere is irrelevant. Everything that mankind will ever need to know is already a part of their curriculum.

Whenever someone succeeds in this world, the schools are quick to point out that they couldn’t have succeeded without schooling. The ability for anyone to accomplish anything in this world is because of the schools. Your accomplishments are the schools’ accomplishments.

The importance of schooling is so great that every child who drops out has an inability to contribute to society. The lack of schooling needs to be addressed. When children drop out, we look to fix any problems that may have influenced the decision. We try to find anything that would keep this from happening again.

Whether you succeed or fail in life, the schooling years are vital. If you succeed, it’s thanks to the schools. If you fail, you either failed the system or the system failed you. Either way, your ability to succeed comes down to your schooling history.

Another belief shared by the schools seems to be that careers define who we are when we grow up. If you are a doctor, you are the kind of person who tries to save lives. If you become a teacher, you must be someone who cares about the future. Since they are viewed as underpaid, you are clearly willing to do it out of the goodness of your heart. Never mind the deeper reasons for your decisions, filling a role is the single most important duty of any good citizen.

If the schools are right, what we are is more important than who we are. Whether or not we are good people is irrelevant. Our intentions are meaningless. We must put our careers above anything else, including other people.

Since our schooling is so vital to whether or not we succeed, our schooling defines us almost as much as our careers. College graduates are well prepared to push humanity forward while dropouts are drains on society. Our schooling histories alone can divide the good from the bad. Who we are is developed not by our parents or by ourselves, we are products of the schools. The schools have more say over who we become than we do, and our lives our not in our hands.

What makes us human? Why should we support humanity? What should make humanity worth saving? The basis for humanity should be our ability to think for ourselves, make meaningful contributions, and bring our unique strengths together. We should strive for overall quality of life. Even if the schools are right, we lose these values. If the schools are right, the ideal basis for humanity is eliminating the characteristics of humanity.

Believing in the schools relies on the oversight of common sense and history. The weaknesses are obvious, and the strengths are questionable. Even if the schools are right, we have reason for concern. The scenario above is not far from the criticism that has become common in my educational rants. If the schools are wrong, we are in big trouble. If the schools are right, we are in big trouble.