Is Traditional Schooling Hindering True Learning?

[Evo]

The school system in America is contemptible. It is more about "control" than education.

Learning the basics of "reading & writing & 'rithmetic" as the old song goes of course is critical. Access to a free education is a good thing for those children that otherwise would have no means of learning, but for the majority of the kids, formal schooling, as it exists today, (after the basics) can be a hindrance to higher learning and creative thinking.

I will relate my own personal experience with the school system.

I hated school. I loved learning and did so on my own from a very early age. The result was that I was so far ahead of my classmates that starting in the third grade, my teachers would take my schoolbooks away so I wouldn't get too far ahead of the rest of the class. I would have to sit there all day listening to the other kids struggling, it was maddening. The public elementary schools where I grew up had no special programs (this was a long time ago).

When I was 11, I had a teacher new to the school... I won't go into all the details but as a result of her help I was continually "jumped" ahead and finished high school when I was 14. I don't know how I could have survived school otherwise.

So do not give up hope or let school hold you back. If you have a thirst for knowledge - GO FOR IT. Do not limit your education to the classroom. Since you are on this forum, I think that you are already doing this to some extent. I know it's awful having to put up with the Cr*p that goes on in school, but hang in there.

If your school has a gifted program, these usually are less structured and have smaller groups allowing students a bit more freedom to learn in their own way. Also, you can take tests showing that you already have knowledge that will allow you to skip having to actually take certain courses. This will allow you to graduate early. Maybe that would be an option for you.

 

[Mr. Robin Parsons]

Humm, school is the reason why I know what a "Van Der Graff Generator" is, what Deoxyribonucleic Acid is, the reason why I understand how a car's induction coil works...(the collapsing magnetic field) it is the reason why I know about Shakespeare and his writings, it is where I learned to add two plus two, and is the only reason why when taking a computer course when it was explained how a computer "multiplies" and "Divides" that I was able to follow the theory and understand that simplistic reality of math, it was the place where I was introduced to machinery (that I otherwise would never have used) in shop classes (in both metal and wood) and got to see, and do, first-hand, some of what, later on in my life the understanding of, came through much cleaner/clear'er.

School, No I didn't like it much, but that's an "all bad" memory thing, cause, (like most people) there is a more balanced experiance, everyone wants to 'rag on it' with the group, as to be a part of the group, not pointing out, (if they bother to think about the ALL of the experiance) that there are probably some places where it was actually something that helped, even if it is only in sociality/social-ability/social-environment. We still all learn things that help, that is "why" school, that, and at that early an age, it is when it is more will likely "sink in" as there is an absence of judgment in a the youthful/child state of lessor knowledge.

 

[Vosh]

Originally posted by Mr. Robin Parsons
Humm, school is the reason why I know what a "Van Der Graff Generator" is, what Deoxyribonucleic Acid is, the reason why I understand how a car's induction coil works...(the collapsing magnetic field) it is the reason why I know about Shakespeare and his writings, it is where I learned to add two plus two, and is the only reason why when taking a computer course when it was explained how a computer "multiplies" and "Divides" that I was able to follow the theory and understand that simplistic reality of math, it was the place where I was introduced to machinery (that I otherwise would never have used) in shop classes (in both metal and wood) and got to see, and do, first-hand, some of what, later on in my life the understanding of, came through much cleaner/clear'er.

School, No I didn't like it much, but that's an "all bad" memory thing, cause, (like most people) there is a more balanced experiance, everyone wants to 'rag on it' with the group, as to be a part of the group, not pointing out, (if they bother to think about the ALL of the experiance) that there are probably some places where it was actually something that helped, even if it is only in sociality/social-ability/social-environment. We still all learn things that help, that is "why" school, that, and at that early an age, it is when it is more will likely "sink in" as there is an absence of judgment in a the youthful/child state of lessor knowledge.

Fortunately, my raggin' on school isn't about being bitter over bad experiences. That would be just immature and intellectually barren. Learning is as natural as breathing. It can't be stopped; only perverted. I have very good memories of learning about Archimedes and simple machines in the sixth grade. This doesn't mean that I learned thanks to school. The fact that I was in school when this happened is *incidental*. You may not be able to imagine it; but learning experiences would also happen in a world that never knew that institution we know of as school. I know that schools weren't invented in the name of growth and learning. They were put into place because there was some considerable concern by the captains of industry during the Industrial Revolution, among some others, that everyone know the same things at the same time and become mostly predictable and compliant adults. It was about creating the labour class etc. etc. etc. This is not a secret history. You can look it up (but you won't hear about it in a college teacher school)! No one ever came forward with a theory of learning which said civilization needs a program of coerced instruction (of any kind) without which children would become mute wolf children unable to even say the word, "technology" or "modern". Think of this: if someone took you when you were 5 years old and kept you in a place until you were 18 (think about that; 5 years old -- you were a toddler just yesterday!) so that your imagination would be diminished, if not entirely quashed, you would be indifferent (just one example: in CPR training you are taught that when calling for someone to dial 911 that you should point directly at someone in the crowd; otherwise no one will bother to be the one who goes and dials 911), to experience an extended childhood (so called adolescence) -- You're probably thinking, "I'd notice something was wrong". Here's the thing: NO, YOU WOULDN'T. You grew up this way; everything seems normal to you!

At the end of the day, however you feel about it, one thing remains true. There is no good reason to have schools (as we know them; there could still be places where ppl. could go the same way we go the public library now). This fact doesn't change because you have good memories associated with it. Further more, consider this: if you think schooling is an indispensable part of the fabric of civilization then why are there more and more ppl. opting for homeschooling every year (and I'm wondering why some ppl. have an easier time intuiting what is wrong with the notion of schooling while others fumble with questions like, "how will I learn?" "what about socialization?") This is something ppl. have the liberty to do and as this concept gets around, mostly by word of mouth, it grows and grows. At last count there were two million homeschoolers (officially). In 5, 10 years how many will there be? How long will the number of them keep going up? If you think all of this is just too radical for this world, your schooling really was successful!