The case for homeschooling

Today, I lamented over just how little I learned in high school. History, government, science, economics, whoops, all down the drain. Despite AP/Honors curriculum. Does anyone feel the same? After doing some searches, I found some compelling arguments for the intellectually- dead conditions of our schooling system. Some of it overlaps with what I learned in Soc of Ed last semester, mainly that the main purpose of schooling is not to educate, but to indoctrinate.

A high school valedictorian's graduation speech takes a surprising turn as he lambastes the public education system for its cookie- cutter, thought- suppressing pedagogy. As he says, "the spirit of intellectual thought is lost."

Points from Everett Reimer’s School is Dead: Alternatives in Education, An Indictment of the system and a Strategy of Revolution.

He writes that institutionalized school fulfills four distinct functions:

1. Custodial care: this is where most of the school budget goes - child care
2. Social-role selection: the sorting of the young into social slots they will occupy in adult life
3. Indoctrination: children learn conformity, hierarchy, and dependency on others for learning what is deemed important
4. Education as defined in terms of the development of skills and knowledge: The real question, writes Reimer, is whether children can’t learn more/better on their own outside of compulsory schooling. “People forget that there were educated men (sic) before there were schools…” (92)

Reimer calls school an “institutional prop for privilege”. School creates a hierarchy of privilege; the education system is the indoctrination of youth into a technological, capitalist system.

Quotes from Nobel prize winners who denounce public schooling.

Question is, before long, why were most of us, the students, already uninterested in learning? We hardly even wonder, question, ponder, or seek truth. Ignorance is a highly effective form of social control, then.

It's a wonder tall trees ain't laying down..

Wikipedia states that:
A Meritocracy is a system of government based on rule by ability (merit) rather than by wealth, race or other determinants of social position.

What has been drilled into us from an early age is that intelligence, ability and especially effort will get us where we want to be. "You can do anything you set your mind to!" That statement fills us with dreams and so much hope, yet countless people will drag this unrealized hope to the grave. But we only hear about the triumphs of people who started out with nothing and worked their way to the top. Those stories, however, are the exception and not the norm.

America is not a meritocracy, but everyone believes it to be, to a certain extent. Why else would there be an "American Dream" and immigration issues? Evidence against it:
- The power of social networks : "It's not what you know, it's who you know"
- The privilege of the wealthy
- The overrepresentation of minorites in the working and destitute class
- I'm sure you can think of plenty more examples in your own life.

Anyway, do we truly want a meritocracy? We all clamor for it like it's a good thing, but do we really want everyone to start out on a level playing field? But also, don't we want the most able people running our country? I dunno about you, but the implementation of this type of mechanism for social stratification strikes fear in my heart. (I may get good grades in school, but what does that really mean or measure?) Having this sort of rule means that I would not be able to enjoy the plentiful benefits of growing up in a middle class family, which includes being able to pay for SAT prep, more parental involvement and influence in the schools, riding the "model minority" stereotype, networking by getting to know my professors, and learning how to work the system. There is no working the system if status is based on merit. So people with advantage want to keep it - what's wrong with that? Well, someone/ some group has to get screwed, so who's it gonna be?

In a hypothetical situation, having a meritocracy would probably produce some very unexpected and undesireable results. To simplify measurements, let's consider the use of an IQ test to measure intelligence (based on M. Young's satire The Rise of the Meritocracy):
- Privileged parents would get very nervous if their kids weren't very bright. There will be no extra tutoring or preparatory schooling, since intellectual ability is something you are born with. So there will be a significantly large mass of frustrated parents who are upset that they cannot transfer their huge capital to their children, that maybe their children have to fend for themselves and stop living in an unearned lap of luxury (what an idea!).
- What about the people who aren't "smart"? They will have all the reason in the world to be depressed, since they cannot blame society- they were given an opportunity to prove themselves, and they did. What should be done with them, if they're "stupid" and not very useful?
- What about education? Should the state educate all students, or not waste time with the "stupid" kids and just seek to develop the potential of the "smart" kids? In a way, this is also a dilemma in the real world. There is a thing called tracking which puts kids in different levels of "tracks" according to their perceived ability. Perhaps you were in Honors/AP/IB courses in high school, rather than in Regular. Even though the measurement methods for placing kids are quite inaccurate, it still happens and many students fall in the cracks. But it's efficient, no? Is it fair? What's the point of the education system? Now that's a whole 'nother debate.

OK, so you say, "Silly Frances, success in America is acquired not only by one's intelligence, but through hard work and diligence. There are geniuses who are total idiots when it comes to communication and social skills, and that prevents them from getting the best jobs." You are very correct, but that still doesn't get you off the hook: would you want to live in a society where everyone is rewarded for his/her own efforts only, and there would be no such thing as working the system? It resounds with much more fairness, but it's a chilling concept. The sentiment of response generally seems to be "yeah, that's good for everyone else, but let me do my own thing."

O, I should end every post with something like: it's more complicated than it seems.

Provocative quotes drawn from a relevant reading:

"How could men be equal in the eyes of God and yet unequal in the eyes of the Psychologist?"

"As men became more like machines, machines became more like man."

"All babies are creeping socialists and some never grow out of it."

"There are so few clever parents with nothing but stupid progeny, with a whole brood of ugly ducklings."


On an entirely other note,

Wal-mart grows, looms and threatens..
p.s. Future Economist, this issue should be especially important to you because they are are a huge threat to global economics. article

"We want clean air, clear water, good living conditions, the best health care in the world - yet we aren't willing to pay for anything manufactured under those restrictions." That's right, America!

Blank slate

Listening to: "Come On Feel The ILLINOISE"

I was chatting with my high school valedictorian/friend last night and after admitting that I took no high level math classes in college, he suggested that I take some (like abstract algebra) and teach them to my future students. Seeing as how I would probably be teaching kids simple arithmetic, I gently disagreed. But he persisted in encouraging me to become an outstanding educator who would explain the whys and not just teach the whats so that they would have a foundation for all math and science. Hella hard! But it would be base of me not to take on this noble effort. Now if someone would only instruct me how to do that exactly..

405

Listening to: The Magic Numbers! "Love's A Game." Apparently even your mom and grandma will like this stuff (assuming they're American).

Highlights from the Northwest:
- Being impressed by American Airlines, their inflight radio stations featured some very up and coming or hypey bands, like Bloc Party, Everything But the Girl, the Dukhs, Husky Rescue, the Decemberists, Prefuse 73, Robbers On High Street, Clem Snide, A Girl Called Eddy, Lemon Jelly, and Aqualung. Hats off to them.
- Eating excellent Chinese food plus getting to have some of that Cantonese fare.
- Driving along the 405 in Seattle and then realizing that DCfC made a song about it, which I own. It's a subtle charmer.
- Eating maple syrup cookies.
- Blasting the Pixies and Junior Boys in a humongous house in which we stayed.
- Breathing mountainy fresh clean air every day.
- The awesome skinny mirror in the hallway.
- Hearing little kids speaking Chinese. It's too cute, really, I could hardly take it.
- Hanging out at Vancouver's Stanley Park- raccoon, comedic shuttle driver, hollow tree, Guinness Bridge, field trip children, dense foliage and all.
- Checking out the Zelda ocarinas at a stand at Seattle's Pike Place Market.
- Wearing a snowboarding helmet while riding a pink little girl bike around their neighborhood. Loved the stares. Amazing what you will let yourself get away with when your visage is hidden.

I really felt like watching Willy Wonka (the new one) the whole week, but it doesn't come out til the 15th. Movie stars are no heroes, but I'm starting to develop more and more respect for Mr. Depp as an actor. What a successful weirdo!

Purchased a 10" Toca Percussion djembe today. It should be coming in the mail in the next week. I've already been developing beats on various makeshift practice areas, like my thighs, a huge plastic bubble, bongos, and hard tables. The goal is expression, not perfection. Which is also another excuse I use to validate my laziness.

In the news, bill passed that gives teachers in Texas a raise. Yeah! Maybe I won't have to move to Connecticut after all. I really wish the US would grow a brain and start paying their educators a lot more money. Not so much because I'm in anguish over the measly paycheck, but that America's youth, in their most formative years, are in their hands. Look to the future! I read another article awhile back about how we are having to recruit foreign engineers, scientists and other smart people because there's not enough of them here to fill some jobs that require a high level of intelligence.

Apparently, while the North Pole is melting fast and losing glaciers, the South Pole is simultaneously freezing up, which means the earth will be lopsided.

OK, gonna go upload the most fanciful pictures of the week onto PHOTOGS. Get ready.