Over the years, I have been writing about misconceptions regarding the schooling process. The purpose of these posts is to explain why I disagree with various comments that I have heard people make about schooling. These are meant as personal thoughts rather than conclusive proof, and I will admit that I'm not always the best at explaining my thoughts. Regardless, I have decided that I should be willing to share these posts when I encounter someone online who makes an argument that I have already discussed.
Many people believe that we should all attend school because the process is vital to mental development. My personal experiences pointed to the exact opposite.
The schools try to measure objectively, although there are usually subjective components to our mental lives. A large majority of thought can't be classified as right or wrong, but right or wrong is really the only kind of thought that can be tested. This means that most thought is worthless in the eyes of the teaching profession.
A right-or-wrong mentality is less mentally demanding. Instead of pursuing new ideas and generally thinking for yourself, you are trained to find the answer your teacher wants you to. While it can prove beneficial to know that one plus one equals two, not everything the schools address is factual.
Among the problems is the simple fact that teachers are not perfect. I have already shared an example of a teacher being wrong in my schooling history. At least in my example that I linked to, my teacher acknowledged the mistake. I can assure you that is not always the case. Sometimes, you have to be wrong in order to convince your teacher that you are right.
Another problem is that teachers tend to mix opinion and fact. For example, there are a lot of suspicious components to how they portray the Civil War. They tell you that officially, there were numerous factors, but it was really all about slavery. If that's the case, why didn't the war start earlier? Why did the South secede when they could already practice slavery? It seems to me like the North liked slavery because it was something they could hold over the heads of those who live in the south. When the south felt that they were not being served well by the federal government, they decided to form their own government. From what I can tell from the limited information the schools provided me, the Civil War was an unjust war started by the North over the right to secede. Imagine trying to give your teachers that answer, especially in a multiple choice test.
Schools also exploit the mix of opinion and fact. They frequently provide skewed information regarding education. Students who have developed tendencies to let their teachers dictate their thoughts are among the most active in supporting levies, teacher strikes, and various forms of pro-schooling legislation. Of course, I'm heading off on a bit of a tangent right now and need to get back on topic.
I wanted to provide another example. For this one, I'm going to go with the seemingly objective subject of math. Imagine a teacher wants a student to add five three-digit numbers together, and asks the student to show his work. Now imagine that his work looks like the following image.
How would math teachers respond? They would likely be concerned that their lessons are built off of the more traditional approach. They would also likely show concern over others understanding the work. They would almost certainly demand that the student changes how he works.
Another argument for correcting the student comes from the fact that this student might have to explain his system. Teachers view it as easier to change how a student performs a task than to have each teacher have to learn how the student functions. Why does this student not show why the first three became a four? It's because his work simplified things enough that he felt it was obvious.
There's a slight problem with all of this. In this example, the student clearly figured out his own way of doing things. It's really no more complicated than the traditional approach, but it will be considered wrong. Ultimately, a student like this will face discouragement for independent thinking and learning.
In addition to the discouragement of mental activity, I could address issues such as the detrimental impact the excessive emotional abuse found in schools has on students, but I feel that I have already done a decent enough job explaining that one. Mental development is not just about thought. Causing mental problems that linger into adulthood clearly should not be considered vital.
The point that I'm trying to make is that teachers discourage mental activity. If a student shows signs of independent thought, that student will be considered to be doing something wrong. In most cases, these wrongdoings can harm grades. Since schooling is generally presented as vital to success, most children embrace mental suppression. We are legitimately training children to rely on others to dictate what they think and to live mindless lives. Instead of developing minds, we're destroying them.
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