The U.S. school system was modeled after German schools created in the 1800's for the express purpose of producing obedient soldiers and factory workers... The German system was extremely successful in achieving its goal in Germany and was therefore copied by other countries, including the U.S. The great American tycoons and Robber Barons were big supporters of the German system in America since they wanted literate but obedient factory workers. Our schools are operated pretty much the same way today in the 1990's as they were back when Thomas Edison was kicked out for being "addled." Creativity and independent thought and action were discouraged because such traits were problematic in a war or a factory. Today these traits interfere with our cookie cutter, mass production educational system; a bureaucratic system which is unable to change itself.
Itchy_turd - 12/17/2006 08:28:00 AM
I had to search the web to get the full article you are citing. It seems to be comparing "addled" Edison to someone in school with a learning disorder and/or exceptionally creative.
To quote it (or one version of it) further:
Obviously the brightest and most creative kids are going to have the biggest problem dealing with this restrictive environment. I've had many people tell me they give their child Ritalin "only when they're in school" to prevent behavioral problems. It would seem in those cases that the school is the real problem. Traditional schools emphasize rote memorization and drill above everything else. A child's natural curiosity and willingness to learn are not harnessed, rather, they are ignored in order to make time for more drills. Students take a passive role in learning, and class sizes are large and impersonal. The trend lately has been for more assigned homework and less time in recess or learning the arts. In general, teaching and rules are the focus rather than real learning by the student. Creative and gifted kids often have independent and fickle learning styles which are completely incompatible with this traditional approach. And when they act out or space out, the ADD label is applied.
The paragraph in your OP drew the mental picture of a something like in The Wall ("How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?"). I would characterize public schools as teaching to the lowest common denominator, which leads to alot of conformity and untapped potential. That would be as far as I would assert they are trying to mold us into obedient wage-slaves though.
Chuck - 12/23/2006 02:25:00 PM
I don't suspect anything sinister, except unchecked tradition. I would like to see a system that rewarded those who are critical instead of teaching bland, erroneous half-truths.
I never realized how cookie-cutter the system was designed to be until I got to a four year college. I think I suspected it, but never was able to verbalize it, and that created a lot of angst for me.
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