The Education System Is Broken
Why schooling as we know it must be abolished
Schools are problematic by design. They were created for a very specific purpose. Control. That function has been perpetuated over the centuries, consciously and unconsciously, ever since. I believe we can do better.
A Short History of Schools
Young people have been grouped and educated together in preparation for adult life since the very earliest human civilizations. However, state schooling really began with Plato, who believed that education and schools were the most important function of the state.
Plato believed that school should be designed by the state to perpetuate the state.
Later on, the Church took charge of education and learning became fixed within the boundaries of the Church’s interests. Philosophy and science that contradicted dogma was rejected.
Joann Fichte, a Prussian leader in the push for state schooling, argued that schools should be used to create a compliant citizen who would be used to following orders, willingly submissive to a larger authority, faithful to the virtues of the state, and familiar with hierarchy.
In the end, Prussia’s educational theorists created a model for schooling built around centrally controlled curriculums, constant fragmentation of days into changing classes at the sound of a bell, obedience, and teacher-directed classroom groupings.
Children both belonged to and were the responsibility of the State.
By 1819, the system was in place and was being adopted all over the world. The elites could see that schooling would be the most effective way to divide the masses, who would remain separated and unable to unite into a dangerous whole.
It is this compulsory school system that exists today, worldwide. Schools that are mere tools built for the maintenance and proliferation of the system.
The most important lessons consistently taught by schools under the state are to obey arbitrary authority, to accept the imposition of other people’s priorities on our lives, and to stop daydreaming. When children start school, they are self-guided, curious about the world they live in, and believe everything is possible. When they finish, they are cynical, self-absorbed, and used to dedicating forty hours of their week to an activity they never chose.
The Problem with Schools
As I’m sure it is clear to you now, schools probably need to be #cancelled.
School’s focus on testing, evaluation, control, and authority is heavily detrimental to the development of children and young adults.
The education industry undermines student health and contributes to creating an unequal society, dividing students of various backgrounds and identities. Children are sorted and standardized, creating inferiority and superiority complexes. Sexism, racism, bullying, homophobia, transphobia, gender segregation, information suppression, and misinformation run rampant.
Students memorize useless facts while their mental and physical health are utterly degraded. The uniqueness of students various learning styles and intelligences are ignored. Schools don’t even teach the skills necessary to assimilate into this crappy society.
It is insane how we’ve normalized the chronic stress of children.
What is to be done?
Education & Freedom
Anarchists like Leo Tolstoy, Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, and countless others in Rojava, Brazil, and elsewhere have organized nonhierarchical schools centred around the idea of free inquiry. Students are left to learn what they want to learn, while teachers serve as aides helping the students learn and explore their chosen subjects.
“Trust children and they will learn. Because when you entrust kids with their own so-called “education” — which is not a thing after all, but rather an ever-present action — they will learn continually, each in their own way and rhythm.”
Instead of teachers and compulsory classes, we should have aides that guide children in surviving childhood; expressing emotions healthily; cooking and sewing; woodworking and repair; developing their unique creative potentials; taking charge of their own health or caring for sick people; dealing with gender violence, domestic abuse, or alcoholism; standing up to bullies; communicating with parents; understanding their sexuality in a respectful way; finding meaningful work and safe housing; and other skills young people need to live.
My ideal education system consists of the wider society helping the youngest to pursue their education unhindered. Grades, testing, and standardization ignore the complexity and diversity of thought and development. They must all be abolished. Life is so much more than the dismal rat race we’re being forced to run.
Children don’t need structure. Children need freedom.
I’ve created a video that goes a bit more in-depth on this subject, you can check it out here:
You can follow Saint Andrew on Twitter @_saintdrew.
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