Excellent 5 part interview on this subject by John Taylor Gatto: The Ultimate History Lesson. Highly recommended.

John Gatto is one of the best teachers this country ever had.

Edit: "Dumbing Us Down" is one of his (five) books. It's a great, short read. Recommended.

This is brilliant. Thank you for taking the time to put these ideas together. You may also want to post this to /r/C_S_T you may get more interaction.

No, thank you! Education is one of my favorite topics. We need more posts on the subject.

I agree.

What would you call the study of indoctrination?

Whatever it is we are moving towards as an analyzation group.

We are the re-education society.

The deliberate dumbing down of America:

http://www.amazon.com/Deliberate-Dumbing-America-Revised-Abridged/dp/0966707117

Brilliant write up. I actually wrote a paper about Mann's trip to Germany. He saw the kindergarten and his mind was blown. Mann would love common(er) core to say the least.

Schools used to be a place of learning, even enlightenment. At one time the knowledge accessed in school was greater than what could be attained outside of the school. Today, sadly that is far from the case. The public school system is becoming a hindrance to progress. The search for the answers that have already been decided begins from infancy. When the answer is in the back of the book there is no incentive to actually think about the possibility of other answers. Now in mathematics there is a rigid organization that requires a formulaic answer. But, there is no reason for the humanities to have all human aspects ripped from them. In this world of false dichotomies the rigid right and wrong system is foundational for a lifetime of choices given. When people are given choices by an authority figure they lose free will to make up their own minds. Schools diminish the honest pursuit of truth by strictly dividing students, time, and subject. Slapping the hand of the boy who scribbles a poem instead of hearing the lecture. Discouraging art for rote repetition. One used to learn to think. Now they learn to repeat. Boredom destroys the joy of learning.

The structure of the Prussian school deliberately teaches acquiescence to authority. The traditional school which had multiple age groups stratified learning throughout the community. The teacher would teach the oldest children, then the older children would be tasked to teach the younger. This taught the children how to work together. Today the teacher and the text book are the sole sources of authority in a class room. The teacher may not know but the hierarchical structure of the classroom is a tool of indoctrination. Children do what they are told and the ones who follow the instructions without any resistance get the highest marks. The one who is the best as doing what they are told becomes the valedictorian. The grading structure actually promotes competition between students who should be learning together. All students are meant to listen not interact. The teacher has all of the answers and the answer is not up for debate. How does this influence critical thinking? How can multiple choice, which has been worded intentionally fucked up, foster thought?

What people do not realize is how the public school system increases class divide. The affluent choose to send their children to schools with children of the same class. They spend their entire youth groomed to be heir apparent without leaving their special bubble. Rich kids are taught to see the poor as vermin. That the poor are the cause of their own downtrodden existence. The rich have abandoned the public schools or built schools in their rich neighborhoods that receive exorbitantly more funding; generally due to the tax structure that funds schools through local property tax. Simply put, property that's more valuable pays more tax. Now that the elite have left so has the funding. Plenty of money for prisons and police, but, when Sally needs a new book the excuses fly. Politicians and Wall Street bankers do not send their kids to the same schools we send our kids to.

The state takeover of schools was fundamental in destroying the Black community in the united states. Before curriculum was mandated by the state Catholics would teach what they saw as important, Cherokee, Creek, Protestant communities, Black, Polish, Italian, Chinese would all teach their own American experiences. Catholic schools if they were to get state funding the had to teach the state sanctioned curriculum. Which was usually formulated by protestants. Catholic, and other communities subject to the imperial school structure, naturally rebelled to the power of the state. The Black Power movement during the civil rights era was directly fueled by radical Black teachers. The teaching of Pan-Africanism and African culture was an attempt to regain what was lost in the long night of slavery and Jim Crow. Segregated schools had segregated staff. Being a doctor, teacher, school administrator were some of the few powerful jobs people in the Black community were able to access. At a time when white doctors would not touch a black person being a black doctor was a path to success. This fosters independent cultural communities independent of the greater empire. In this same way independent community control of the school system allowed people to teach what they saw as important. For example the biblical story of exodus showed parallels to the struggle for acceptance and freedom faced the American Black population. When states took over the schools and integrated them they shipped in white teachers. Obviously white parents were not going to have their children taught by a man who goes to black panther meetings on the weekend. But, if I was a parent I sure as hell would want the person teaching my children to be ideologically similar to me. And if that means they are radical so be it. You can see how the regulations introduced by the state take over of the school made every school in the country the same. This is an imperial tool that solidifies control over a population.

I see functional literacy as the main obstacle our society faces. People need to just learn to read. People will tell you they can read and do read. But, in reality they are only functionally literate. They read articles in Buzzfeed and can interpret a Stop sign but to pick apart John Milton is a near impossibility. To read comes from the old English Raedan which means to guess. i.e. I read his intentions on his face. People who are good readers are good at guessing. This increases the ability to quickly make decisions and interpret their surroundings. Reading and critical thinking go hand in hand. Reading long complicated works rather than excerpts grows the intellect more than any repetitive grammar exercise. Ask people and they will boast about not having to read. In this TV world reading had become a chore. People are actively discouraged to read by the TV culture. Reading is for the nerd. The winner can get by and succeed without reading.

Very nice comment

WOW! Very eye-opening, op! Thanks for posting.

Read John Taylor Gatto's, The Underground History of American Education, it will change your life. Hell read all of his books, but start with that one.

Anyone who thinks this sounds far-fetched should do a little research into the history of eugenics in the United States before WWII.

Eugenics, the social movement claiming to improve the genetic features of human populations through selective breeding and sterilization, based on the idea that it is possible to distinguish between superior and inferior elements of society, played a significant role in the history and culture of the United States prior to its involvement in World War II.

Eugenics was practised in the United States many years before eugenics programs in Nazi Germany, and U.S. programs provided much of the inspiration for the latter. Stefan Kühl has documented the consensus between Nazi race policies and those of eugenicists in other countries, including the United States, and points out that eugenicists understood Nazi policies and measures as the realization of their goals and demands.

source

These were some of the prevailing beliefs at that time, and it took the horrors of the Nazi regime to make them unpopular.

This isn't fringe theory. It's established history that nobody ever wants to think about.

The 40 hour work week and 9-5 hours have to be forgotten about.

the 50 and 60 and 70 hour work week.

some are being worked to an early grave or at least being broken, depending upon economic conditions at any one time.

boom bust on a seven year recessionary cycle.

where I work CNC peoples are saying fcuk it and going off to drive grain trucks and similar boring low status jobs, funny thing is they get paid better for it than doing CNC.

Why people put up with this schedule I never understood. I get that the businesses and corporations want to extract the absolute maximum out of their employees, basically working them into the ground. If employees willingly allow themselves to be ass raped by their employers, why not. Exploitation to the max. If only the common pee on had a brain. And if only the business execs realized that production is actually stifled by long work hours we might have a happier society. Alas they are blinded by greed.

This is the Key Statement!

"purposefully designed its school system to create obedient soldiers, workers, and civil servants"

Context I'm 30, my dad is now a retired army officer. When I was little he would comment that schools were trying to turn me and pretty children into little fascists. Much later my little bro is in school and my dad comments how they're making them into little socialists.

Regarding what your dad says about "making them into little socialists," maybe he's not wrong.

I'm nearly 30 myself. For years I've noticed there's been an increase in the anti-government movement. In general, society is now extremely wary about the government and doesn't trust it whatsoever. What if this was done strategically for a purpose? The elite businessmen would like more power. But how are they going to get it with the government in their way? "Order out of chaos" definitely comes to mind.

I read a book by Smedley Butler called War is a Racket. In it, he talks about how he was propositioned by wealthy businessmen to stage a coup of the government, specifically to overthrow the President. He lead them along until he knew all the details, and then spilled the beans to Roosevelt about it.

I'm an anthropology/sociology major at a large US university, and in every single class this semester we're spending lengthy time on Marx. Nearly every semester in the past, I've had at least one class that goes over Marx in considerable depth. One of my professors repeatedly says that most people would rather be flayed alive than admit they're agreeing with Marx. Another repeatedly talks about when she was getting her PhD at the University of Chicago in the 90s, professors on average spent one lecture going over Marx. Even in economics we're heavy on Marx these days. I recently read an article that was published in The New Yorker that said, "There is a Nobel Prize waiting for the economist who resurrects Marx and puts it all together in a coherent model."

While I don't disagree that there is an inherent flaw in capitalism, and that I do think Marx was right that capitalism cannot be sustained, we need to all consider what will happen if we just overthrow the current system.

I too have read Smedley Butlers book. He was a well known and respected general. They actually had a congressional inquiry to his claims. Found them to be true and then nothing further happened.

Scarily it seems that lots of movies with a corporate dystopian future seem to be more and more accurate. Even that tv show continuum has that as a theme, even in a somewhat positive light.

Corporations funding lobbyists to make congressman do bad things to make them less trustworthy with the public could be one crazy long con.

Definitely seems like a crazy, long con. In the current system the government bends to the corporate will a lot of the time, but it must be a real pain in the ass for elite businessmen. Wouldn't it just be easier if they were directly in power? Maybe I'm wrong here, but since it seems to be that the modern capitalist system won't last forever in its current state, a New World Order with a more "socialist" government ran by the elite businessmen (instead of these "shady politicians") seems to be the way that we're heading.

Also on a side note: my professor in my economy class showed a pretty interesting graph the other day. Up until the late 90s, government spending was nearly equal to savings. Notice that around the time of 9-11 almost all of the money was going to the capitalists. When I saw this, Smedley Butler instantly came to mind.

Cool graph, if you noticed savings it's starting to match the government spending again.

They're in charge without any of the blame. Think about it, they can dictate policy through the politicians. When the politicians get blamed for policy they never blame their donors who asked them to pass a bill. And later those same politicians work for the corporations like that general at jpmorgan or any politician basically every in Congress. You get what you want as a rich person without any blame or exposure. It's genius, I don't blame the CEO of Johnson& Johnson for wanting EPA regulations loosened, but I bet he gave money to politicians since if it passed he'd earn more money due to reduced production costs.

The Koch(I probably spelled it wrong) wanted to be famous Republicans and put themselves out there, get some of that crazy Republican pussy.

I'm still pissed about how much of my childhood was wasted in prisonschool. Thank deity for libraries - what an ignoramus I'd be without them.

As a recent high school graduate, I can testify that the public education system seems to follow what OP mentions.

As a past high school dropout, I can testify that the public education system seems to follow what OP mentions.

As a drone in the work force, I can testify that the brainwashing works.

The public schooling system is, in all seriousness, worse than any disaster or war that has ever happened. They stole our very lives. 14 years of your and my life simply stolen, which our parents complacency. Millions of years worth of human life, stolen and wasted. I only hope you skipped school as much as I did, so that it wasn't entirely wasted.

Precisely why we have withdrawn our kids from school and are home educating them. The drivel they were being exposed to was preparing them for a life of servitude and reeked of nazi youth.

It is also important to note that many public schools across the nation are being privatized and turned into charter schools. Two of the largest players now in the American school charter movement are the Walton's (Wallmart owners), and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Here's an interesting article related-

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/32682-how-the-billionaire-kingpins-of-school-privatization-got-stopped-in-their-own-back-yard

Edit for spelling

Thanks for the good read. I came from very modest means but attended a pretty wealthy school, and became so turned off from what I was seeing, I stopped attending my junior year. I learned computer programming on my own in my early 20's and now make a fair income. While it's not as much as I probably should be making, I have no student debt and got an extra 6 years of my life to do what I wanted and not be stuck doing schoolwork.

If I ever have children, they won't ever step foot in a school. This is one of the big reasons I'm hesitant to have any. While several of my teachers saw my talents, my inability to focus on what I saw as BS homework kept me from getting good grades and ultimately put me on a path to the lower class, which I took upon myself to avoid.

I doubt nothing about this information. Reddit itself is a perfect example - it's stunning to me that the Conspiracy subreddit is as quiet as it is. The hivemind insults alternative thinking openly and turns members into conformers, due in part to a likely presence of shills who search for and ridicule those who expose truths.

Public schooling is the NUMBER ONE scourge upon humanity. Take the children, force them to WASTE their entire childhood doing absolutely nothing productive or useful, force them to associate "learning" with tedious and mediocre work, then they go home and associate "fun" with tv and the media. Teach the children to hate learning, to love being unproductive, and guess what? You may as well have killed them. You may as well have raped them. You have taken everything from them, and they don't even realize it.

It is the worst crime ever committed, the worst institution ever conceived of, yet no one talks about it. Ever. Those that do are ridiculed.

We should be ANGRY. They took away the one thing we can never experience again and never get back, our childhood. We should be livid, we should be viciously tearing apart the people organizing it. Yet no one cares, they just let it go.

Spot on mate. Further more the mere fact the it is Compulsory and parents are threatened with arrest and having their children stolen from them by the government if they do not comply should in itself tell anyone, everything they need to know about the system and its goals. I remember hearing a story once about what happened with the Prussians about a hundred years after they instituted compulsory schooling, had something to do with a guy name Adolf something, don't really recall the rest right now.

You may as well have killed them. You may as well have raped them.

Bit extreme, no? Force them to waste time learning "absolutely nothing productive or useful"? Kids in school have every opportunity to learn useful and interesting trades, sciences and such over the years. I don't know what school you went to but it must've been a shit one.

I'm guessing you're thinking back to school as some sort of regimented prison system full of pain and misery, but I look back and see a place where I met all my favourite people and learned almost everything I know about the world. I fulfilled my curiosity by asking questions and getting answers, and even if there were things I didn't like about it (and still don't like), I wouldn't have traded it for anything.

But grr, mandatory anything is bad, fuck the new world order turning us into mind-slaves!

School can be great for lots of people, but it's not for everyone. There are lots of bright minds who, instead of being groomed and refined to accomplish real things in life, are held back through a combination of slow advancement in challenging material and a group of peers who encourage this drawn-out process. I personally did not see good grades as an accomplishment. Maybe it wasn't ingrained in my head enough, maybe I'm delusional.

I spent the vast majority of my time in school writing, creating charts, inventing card games, building imaginary statistic sheets, just random crap that kept me stimulated. I was always scolded for it, and I held the resulting frustration for a long, long time. Most people will tell me "you should have been paying attention." But for me, that's a whole lot easier said than done. You can't fake interest in something.

So yes, the fact that there is a mandatory system you must move through is not the best solution. Meeting friends in school was not enough to give me fond memories of it and enjoy it. I was introverted and it wasn't until I stepped into the real world before I learned where the need is for skilled workers, and decide what, of those careers, I enjoyed most. I always saw the educational benefits as fraudulent, however obscure that view might be, and I feel like how my life has progressed has cemented that viewpoint.

I don't ever look down on those who enjoyed school and benefited from doing well in it. In fact, I'm a little jealous they spent more of their lives in happiness than I did. And for most people, it works. But a mandatory system shaped around the average majority is wrong, plain and simple, and is not the best for producing great minds. But as this supported text clearly states, that is not the goal of the system, and that in and of itself is the serious crime here.

EDIT: As far as the "rape" comment...yeah, that's not entirely fair. But the notion that sucking most of the joy of childhood out of you does qualify as a form of trauma, and is something people who didn't fit in experience. It resulted in depression for me in my early adulthood, which I've been fortunate enough to overcome as well.

Mind-slaves!

Yup.

You should read weapons of mass instruction

Wish I could give you more than one upvote.

You're on point. Have you read The Curiosity of School by a young author named Zander Sherman?

The Cato Institute, really? The Koch brothers' think tank... FFS. Assuming it's right along lines with their agenda to replace public schools with charters.

Julian Huxley was the architect and founder of UNESCO. Robert Muller was the most powerful man in the UN's history, by far. He developed Common Core.
Both of them were involved with Alice Bailey who wrote the extremely astute plan ''Education in the New Age''
All of their writings are pretty accessible to anyone interested, for free online.
http://www.lucistrust.org/en/books/alice_bailey_books/paperback/the_destiny_of_the_nations is another important book.
Every single secretary general speaks about Djwhal Khul, as their spiritual guide, in the new age cult known as the UN.
Sounds far fetched, eh? Avoid theory and just google any SG's name with Djwhal Khul.
Google this "the United nations is a spiritual organization"
Have fun folks!

Great post, but you only listed 5 of the 6 goals.

This is from John Taylor Gatto's book, The Underground History of American Education

1) The adjustive or adaptive function. Schools are to establish fixed habits of reaction to authority. This, of course, precludes critical judgment completely. It also pretty much destroys the idea that useful or interesting material should be taught, because you can't test for reflexive obedience until you know whether you can make kids learn, and do, foolish and boring things.

2) The integrating function. This might well be called "the conformity function," because its intention is to make children as alike as possible. People who conform are predictable, and this is of great use to those who wish to harness and manipulate a large labor force.

3) The diagnostic and directive function. School is meant to determine each student's proper social role. This is done by logging evidence mathematically and anecdotally on cumulative records. As in "your permanent record." Yes, you do have one.

4) The differentiating function. Once their social role has been "diagnosed," children are to be sorted by role and trained only so far as their destination in the social machine merits - and not one step further. So much for making kids their personal best.

5) The selective function. This refers not to human choice at all but to Darwin's theory of natural selection as applied to what he called "the favored races." In short, the idea is to help things along by consciously attempting to improve the breeding stock. Schools are meant to tag the unfit - with poor grades, remedial placement, and other punishments - clearly enough that their peers will accept them as inferior and effectively bar them from the reproductive sweepstakes. That's what all those little humiliations from first grade onward were intended to do: wash the dirt down the drain.

6) The propaedeutic function. The societal system implied by these rules will require an elite group of caretakers. To that end, a small fraction of the kids will quietly be taught how to manage this continuing project, how to watch over and control a population deliberately dumbed down and declawed in order that government might proceed unchallenged and corporations might never want for obedient labor.

Very excellent piece. Edit necessary:

I get that this all sounds a bitch far fetched.

Begins the second paragraph after the list of functions of schools.

Of course, enslaving the world has very logical reasoning. It's still evil of an unbearable magnitude.

I don't think evil is the right word. Try pathetic, scummy, meaningless. Evil is a word that deserves respect; The elite don't deserve respect, they deserve painful, slow (very, very slow) death as they are the parasites of the earth and the people.

There are a number of schools named after Horace Mann..

Back in the early 1960s and 70s when I was a kid in school quite a few teachers were ex-military, and we were afraid of them. They ruled their classrooms with no nonsense tolerated. There was the threat of sitting outside in the hall ostracized, being sent to the principal's office, staying after school or detention, and though all were trifling punishments, some of us kids were scared shitless. I don't know how many eventually got beyond feeling afraid all the time.

"A bitch far fetched". I almost pissed my pants on that one.

It's crazy because no one has noticed

Plenty of people did, but nothing comes from pointing out an obvious typo. Everyone knew what was meant. Laughing at it is about as mature as laughing at 80085 on your calculator.

I apologize for laughing at something I found funny. I'm sorry I'm not as mature as you.

i thought it was a hilarious play on words, myself. but i figured pointing it out wouldn't be received well here. i'm glad someone did.

Eye did...

Thralldom-Based Education A documentary which explores the origin, purpose and contemporary manifestation of government-controlled education.

Excellent post. The recent Common core only enforces this. Why Publiv Universities still expensive- they won't or can't really dumb them down- but Community Coleges they can...and they are making or trying to make them free for all, hmmm.

the common core definitely enforces this. and while i can see why it could seem nefarious to think making community college free, i think it's important to note that it's just hard to get a good job without a degree, and maybe some people want to do this nefariously, i think some people just want this so more people have an opportunity. if done correctly, it could be a good thing.

it also could just lend to bachelor's degrees being even more worthless though.

I have to disagree, I think that college falls right into the aforementioned goals. It most certainly achieves artificially extending childhood EVEN further, creating massive amounts of debt and dependency further enslaving the populous, divides people into social classes even more so and strengthens very specific ideology that benefits the elite in a major way.

no, i agree with you, i'm just saying that maybe SOME of the people advocating for free college are just trying to compensate for that reality. people go through public school and are disadvantaged. i am sure some people, whether in the minority or whatever, are just trying to help the disadvantaged get access to opportunities they would be without otherwise. i generally disagree with the school system, but i recognize that it is hard to get a good job without a bachelor's degree (at least), and i think free college is, at least for some, a small attempt to help the commonwealth.

i'm not saying it's the right answer, i just don't think that everyone fighting for it is in the wrong.

Very true. But if childhood education wasn't intentionally designed to have this impact, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Imagine if Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose were taught to everyone, corporate and government reliance would disappear in a generation, as it once was.

And as an adult I feel like I can only do science if I'm paid by the government.

Good read. Add testing of talented children, followed by abusing them, to the list.

A good documentary called Shooling the World: http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/schooling_the_world_2010/

I get that this all sounds a bitch far fetched. Like, why would the government implement an evil school system?

No, it's not far fetched AT ALL. What other reason would the government desire to have a formalized, structured education system? Surely not out of the goodness of their hearts. Everything the government does is intentional to further its goals. It is NOT in the interests of the government to have an educated, logical, rational, skeptical public. Which means that the reason for schooling must be something else - something that furthers the ends of the government.

Whenever the government has a program, ask, cui bono? (Who benefits?)

"cui gives a shit, it's got a friggin bow on it."

sorry, i just couldn't help myself.

i do agree with you. i don't think the government, or any big business, or any group seeking an ends of any kind ever does anything without assessing how it will benefit itself.

I find it difficult to believe that teachers in certain key subjects -- US History, for example -- are not controlled agents. I mean, imagine if teachers across the US were teaching kids what really happened on 9/11.

Here is a thought. If you look up education's etymology. You will find it means "to lead out" now mainstream thought says we are to be instructed then regurgitate the information back. True education comes from within not without.

Your writing needs to be polished, but you have some good sources and info here.

Cheers.

(Yes, I realize the irony of my comment; however, if you want to change the world your rhetoric has to be top tier. They have companies, marketing firms, etc; you have only your words.)

Just gonna leave this here
http://youtu.be/8xe6nLVXEC0

amazing video, thanks

Whats the alternative? No school for everyone and a nation of morons?

Yes the only 2 choices are mass indoctrination of non-thinking citizens or no schooling what-so-ever.

Thank you for you insightful comment.

Do you have children? If so, what part of their school do you feel is indoctrination? I feel like so far mine is learning things that matter.

Common core, memorization, no emphasis on the classics. They do not learn to think in context, they learn to apply cases.

Sounds like you got schooled in the kind of thought they wanted you to have.

user/alexmtl definitely lacks critical thinking skills making them the optimal votor

It can only be one or the other, right?

Heads or tails is what the populace choose in a democracy. What they don't realize is it's still just a coin. And just like government remove the I (individual) from coin and you get...

Did you see the article that something like 60% of Americans are now for the creation of a new party/candidate? The Red vs. Blue bullshit is just about done. The citizens realize its really always been purple vs. all of us.

This is why they've turned the elections into a circus. Those 60% will not vote for either of the two candidates and the other 40% split 50/50.

It's nearly to the breaking point. The cracks are so large now, it's impossible to not see them. The most fucked up potential candidate is the one people are backing by and large. It's yet again a select the least bad, not the best proposition.

yes which allowed me to earn a great living and travel all over the world to really open my eyes to cultures versus just arguing on reddit about how the school system sucks

Yes because this is the only way, without this way there would be chaos. How about teaching kids to think, and have compassion and respect for the world they live in and the life in it, both human and animal. How about instead of making kids feel inadequate for not being good or interested in all subjects, helping them find and build up on their natural skills and interests. How about teaching kids REAL nutrition, so they don't poison their bodies with what passes as food these days, how about teaching kids what money is and how to manage it property so they don't get out of school and fall in a crippling debt. I can keep going, you really think that this system is the only system, and without this system we'd just have retards on the loose? No, in fact most children are naturally good, only outside influences like uneducated parents or a education system made to conform that breeds more people that are not fit to be parents or even part of a utopian society.

I can only speak for my experience, but I feel like I had a great childhood and was able to pick exactly the kind of job I want to do in life (engineering). I also am a father, and I feel like the system in which he is learning is excellent, and will allow him the same opportunity.

It must really suck to be you guys and feel like everyone just wants to control you and live in a world of fear.

Sounds like this isn't the sub or thread for you. You disagree, awesome, but you aren't providing very well thought reasoning or arguments as to why. You're simply declaring you're disagreement (and the fact that you're wealthy with to travel the and have kids)

I still dont know what system you guys think would work better than whats in place???

That's besides the point. The point is that the first step to addressing a problem is acknowledging there is one. You won't even do that here, you're here to argue that the problem doesn't exist. If it doesn't, great, but it does. OP did a very thorough job evidencing that. So again, if your only contribution here is "nuh uh!", this really isn't the sub for you.

Well people come to this sub for different reasons. I come mainly for the laughs. But this thread I just found even more dumb than usual. It outlines the schooling system as if something was wrong, when in my view it's one of the things that works great in our society. Look no further than countries with a bad education system, and look how bad their population have it. Essentially the better/more accessible the education system the better the citizens have it, so bashing the education system seems like just wanting to make noise for the sake of making noise. The OP also points out how teaching children to "work" is somehow bad?? wtf?

I just don't understand what's wrong with the values of : -having a great, fun childhood learning things (which is what most people in western countries have as far as I know - maybe it's just the schools I attended and am completely biased)

-eventually make it to a age where you can decide what kind of work/career you want to have

-go through college/university and learn a trade

-make an honest living doing something you like, grow older with a certain wealth that allows you a comfortable living, and make a family of your own - give your children the same opportunity you had

What's wrong with that? I mean everyone here seems to agree with OP and think the system is flawed, so surely you must all have SOME idea of how you would change it or change society? I mean I'm sure we would all love to live in some utopia where no one works and robots do everything and we just sit on our ass watching TV but at this point it seems like this is the best model we have to build functioning societies.

You're missing the point, again.

This isn't a discussion on solutions. You want to make it that so you can argue those solutions, rather than participate in the discussion about the problem itself. Any solution presented would be inadequate to you because you don't see the situation as requiring one at all in the first place.

If you think there's no other education system better than the current, you're extremely naive. America doesn't have "the best education system ever", yet your whole issue seems to accept that as gospel truth. Forgive me if that makes me laugh, as it's said like a true blue believer - again, the type of which doesn't typically garner a warm welcome in this sub.

Enjoy your yucks.

I know the point isn't finding a solution, after all this is a sub about complaining about society not about finding solutions. I'm not american so I don't know why you're bringing that up. I'm talking about western countries education system in general, which is pretty similar everywhere except for tuition cost for college/universities - but the general idea of teaching kids about work ethics is the same everywhere.

Don't worry I'm enjoying my laugh, enjoy your "conspiracies". Win-win for everyone :)

Goalposts, and trolling. Again, you don't belong here.

Lucifer is god in the public school system

Yeah best idea: send your kid's to bible school so they can learn about intolerance, bigotry, incest, and the all knowing invisible man in the sky. So much knowledge to be applicable in your daily life.

John Gatto is one of the best teachers this country ever had.

Edit: "Dumbing Us Down" is one of his (five) books. It's a great, short read. Recommended.

the 50 and 60 and 70 hour work week.

some are being worked to an early grave or at least being broken, depending upon economic conditions at any one time.

boom bust on a seven year recessionary cycle.

where I work CNC peoples are saying fcuk it and going off to drive grain trucks and similar boring low status jobs, funny thing is they get paid better for it than doing CNC.

You're missing the point, again.

This isn't a discussion on solutions. You want to make it that so you can argue those solutions, rather than participate in the discussion about the problem itself. Any solution presented would be inadequate to you because you don't see the situation as requiring one at all in the first place.

If you think there's no other education system better than the current, you're extremely naive. America doesn't have "the best education system ever", yet your whole issue seems to accept that as gospel truth. Forgive me if that makes me laugh, as it's said like a true blue believer - again, the type of which doesn't typically garner a warm welcome in this sub.

Enjoy your yucks.

Why people put up with this schedule I never understood. I get that the businesses and corporations want to extract the absolute maximum out of their employees, basically working them into the ground. If employees willingly allow themselves to be ass raped by their employers, why not. Exploitation to the max. If only the common pee on had a brain. And if only the business execs realized that production is actually stifled by long work hours we might have a happier society. Alas they are blinded by greed.

amazing video, thanks