Schools, Concentration Camps?

This is just my belief but hey ..

I think it's horrible the things children are being taught in schools.... it has NOTHING to do with the state of the world... and nothing to do with what they should be learning.. its horrible that children these days are less intelligent than children in the 1800's.... granted these children know more about technology and have "some" advantages ... but realistically they are less intelligent.. and have less credibility...........

Perhaps.. this war on drugs is a war on intelligence.. or rather.. different lines of thinking... I don't believe children in the 1800's were accused of being stupid or irrational because they used natural "drugs"

I think that schools have become a place to keep the most intelligent people "at bay" ... or interested in something other than the reality around them... I've talked to lots of highschool students.. and half of them have NO clue as to what is really going on in the world.. conspiracy or no conspiracy.

My argument is that the smartest people are being placed in a "concentration camp" .... and it's become mandatory for children to be in school, although I myself know some dropouts who could make the professors sound uneducated..

Anyone else feel similar or understand where I'm coming from?

Doesn't it make you wonder what all those kids would be doing if they weren't in school? .. a lot of kids in school are HIGHLY intelligent and could be making a difference in the world but they're stuck in school.. now I'm not saying there shouldn't be schools.. but what I'm saying is that children who wish to attend should attend.. children should have a desire to learn .. not be forced to do it... it takes the fun out of it totally.. and thats what learning is supposed to be realistically.. I don't want people to think I am against schools per-say.. just the fact they're run like factories or militant camps.. although a lot less strict.. lol in some cases not though .. metal detectors and such, because our societies mentality is "I gotta get paid" accents on the "I"

I totally understand what you're saying dnero.
I think that kids can't be truly "freethinkers" with the way schools
are run now.
Public school has a "cookie cutter" mentality. As you say it's like a
militant or factory run operation with no room for each child's unique intelligence to flourish.

And they're not taught about the "real" world. Or really how to
survive in it realistically.

[edit on 23-3-2005 by elaine]

now don't get me wrong, that is what I'm saying .. I don't mean to flip-flop around ... but it could be a really useful tool.. even in the fashion it is.. because its a no nonesense learning enviroment really.. no time for "real life" as most call it.. how many times have you heard someone say.. I can't wait to get out of school to "start" my life... that is the worst thing I could ever hear from a youths mouth .. it hurts actually to have people thinking they haven't started life until they're past the most important years... 0-25 ... I think our government needs to become a tool instead of a dictator.. governments aren't supposed to make rules.. they're supposed to follow them.

I like what you say about schools being more "fun". It should be a
place where kids look forward to learning.

Any ideas on that?

I'd agree and disagree in the same time. The school truly, in most cases, makes robots out of smart, free thinking kids.

I remamber myself at the age of 10, the whole world was made for me. My thinking was free. Yet by the age of 18 I was already a "zomby" - while understanding that I have no benefit from school, I was still going there ( because everybody does so, because I was programmed to do so, because "you need to do good in school to find a good job" ) and, as I now remamber, I was living by a program without understanding it - morning: to school, then eat dinner, go out for a walk & back to bed.

But now, thanks to certain events in my life, I was forced to start useing my own head and, bit by bit, had awaked from that zombie-state of mind. Now I am running my own company and am getting fun from doing it.

Yet, I believe, there are lots and lots of kids who are not predisposed for thinking on their own and ( probably ) would do nothing else then listen music if not send to school... I don't know... but I'm sure in 1800's schools, with their strict moral and corporal punishment, were much bigger "zombie-makers" then they are now.

So, in my understanding, those who are predisposed to think on their own would, sooner or later, start thinking. Yet others part of the society ...

yes i would have to agree.
spacificly i think of "english" classes. what is an english class? one would asume that this means reading and writeing right? nope try puhing philosify down our throats. one class i remember spacificaly (i didn't do too well in this one :lol. in one part the teacher was trying to show us how rock music corrupts us. in one class she mentioned how rock bands caused crime by useing such expensive instruments causeing us to want them. acording to her this causes people to steal and participat in criminal activities so we can have these expensive instroments. that sounded like bs to me so i questioned it. i asked her why would a proffesional musicion want to use the best instument? would that not be like a mechanic useing expensiive tools like snap-on? because they were seen to be better quality? or a doctor useing expensive medical tools? would this then cause people to commit crimes? shhould a mechanic use 19.95 tools? a doctor a steak knife? man did she get pissed off she could not give me an answer.

tehn we had to write out the lyrics of a song, and do a presintation to show how they corrupted us. i faithfully did this, then i played the song in class and it occured to me i had it all wrong i had misunderstood the premis of the song. while not the best message it wasn't all that bad ac-dc marry for the money (not sure if title or not). i tossed my notes and presented my newer realization. i was again in trouble for not doing what she wanted. (truth is i had and i realized i was wrong in my conclusions).

lol we then read a couple of books where kids had done drugs or booze and run away. we were asked to write a story in partners. inwhich we were to come up with a reason for running away. my friend and i decided that we had unknowenly been the wheel men in a bank robery.

what we would take. well my friend and i then robbed a popular gun store nearby leaveing money and takeing hunting rifles and a hell of a lot of ammo. and camping suplies. and a couple canoues from la barron's a camping suply store again leaveing money.

where we would go. well my friend and i both prefered the north to the city so i dug out a top map of timmogamy an area that i was familior with and had a native tribe i knew people at within two days trvel by canoue.

how we would get there. well i stated we stole a van and switched plates three times with simmiler vans that were not used much, thus our plates would match the vehicle and not come up stolen.

what we would do on a day to day basis like a journal just like the diary and other book we read.

i put a lot of hard work into this story as i was close to failing. only to have the teacher say that while it was a great story we did not do as she WANTED so we got yet another poor grade. even tho she had not stated we must go live downtown and become street people this was what she expected. i angrely complained that for one i would never run downtown and live like trash but i woud always go to the empty north. where i knew i could scratch out a life. and that in the other book that we had read he went to a park near town and to be honest he sucked at camping out.

there was the drug project as well where the info i was able to find showed the drug not to be so bad so got a bad mark because i "glorified" drug use, by useing my findings and not scewing the facts. my friend and i were again told good work worth an a except.....

this was an "english" class. my work was good but my philosiphy was not on line with what was expected therby getting a bad grade. i was not judged on my reading and writeing skill but on pholosiphy?

i had many problems within school due to not "thinking" the same as others i got screwed on technicalitys quite often. it seems i was not there to expand my mind but to conform it to the way that the government wanted.

Originally posted by elaine
I like what you say about schools being more "fun". It should be a
place where kids look forward to learning.

Any ideas on that?

It's almost to sad to say... but it would take a total revamping of western society altogether... It's to the point where collapse is enevitable... we are slowly degenerating because all of our truly free thinkers and "positive" thinkers are in a negative enviroment.. being forced to do anything isn't good.. people forced to have sex is called rape.. people forced to go to school is called humane..
you can't NOT learn..
You learn everyday, you have no choice.. but when your forced to learn, when it comes to actually learning something outside of school, you associate that with freewill and since your not being forced to do it, you'll choose a different avenue.....
Trying to explain anything to an "adult" that has been out of school is useless... if it isn't something they're already familiar with, they will stop you dead in your tracks.. and say NO!!!!! because I was forced to learn it this way..

We the people need to assemble our government again, the "western government"
There needs to be DRASTIC changes to our foreign policies.. we need to stop thinking communism and all that crap still rules our world and will "take over" again .. this is something NEW that has never happened in history before.. EVERYONE wants to decide for themselves.. to have choices for themselves.. just like us "westerners" do ... they don't want to take us over.. contrast to that we're trying to force ourselves upon them, when they just want to take what they want, and leave the rest.. because our western life has a lot of problems. Education and Policing is a big issue...
The biggest problem with the "westerners" is they have a lack of TRUE understanding... because instead of being in the REAL classroom (the world) .. we've stuck them in buildings shaded from the sun, almost like a prison, they learn about the world from within a box... a building with walls.

I hope enough people can amass together to save humanity before we (humans) destroy the planet.... our children aren't even aware of whats really going on... shielding the youth only makes it harder to bear later. When it's the youth that will save this world.. but we've ignored them, we call them silly and irrational... we don't even pay attention to WHO our children really are, instead we pay attention to what they CAN be or WILL be... not what they want to be, or what they truly are. They are the future but we enjoy our present live so much we won't let them create the future, instead we muddle with ours more and more until we'll destroy their future. There should be a law for congress or any powerful position... a law that prohibits anyone over a certain age.. or a law that prohibits being in that position for more than a year.

So I guess my idea would be to ask the children of today what their opinion on the FACTS are...

I think that schools have become a place to keep the most intelligent people "at bay" ... or interested in something other than the reality around them... I've talked to lots of highschool students.. and half of them have NO clue as to what is really going on in the world.. conspiracy or no conspiracy.

I'm currently a student, and i can tell you that you are right on. Except for one thing here. You say half of the students have no clue as to what is really going on in the world. Make that about 85% of the students.

I've realized those students who to understand this. Who do realize that the main purpose of school these days is to dumb us down, are the same students who are failing most of their classes. Not because they arent smart. But because they realize it is pointless.

Ive noticed from my experiences, all of the straight A students, who do all their homework and do their best in school, are all some of the dumbest people i have ever talked to. I swear, with 90% of them, a teacher could tell them ANYTHING and they would believe it like there is NO WAY it could be wrong. They dont think for themselves the least bit. And its sad and pathetic. Talk about making school a depressing place...

Originally posted by dnero6911

Originally posted by elaine
I like what you say about schools being more "fun". It should be a
place where kids look forward to learning.

Any ideas on that?

It's almost to sad to say... but it would take a total revamping of western society altogether... It's to the point where collapse is enevitable... we are slowly degenerating because all of our truly free thinkers and "positive" thinkers are in a negative enviroment.. being forced to do anything isn't good.. people forced to have sex is called rape.. people forced to go to school is called humane..
you can't NOT learn..
You learn everyday, you have no choice.. but when your forced to learn, when it comes to actually learning something outside of school, you associate that with freewill and since your not being forced to do it, you'll choose a different avenue.....
Trying to explain anything to an "adult" that has been out of school is useless... if it isn't something they're already familiar with, they will stop you dead in your tracks.. and say NO!!!!! because I was forced to learn it this way..

We the people need to assemble our government again, the "western government" There needs to be DRASTIC changes to our foreign policies.. we need to stop thinking communism and all that crap still rules our world and will "take over" again .. this is something NEW that has never happened in history before.. EVERYONE wants to decide for themselves.. to have choices for themselves.. just like us "westerners" do ... they don't want to take us over.. contrast to that we're trying to force ourselves upon them, when they just want to take what they want, and leave the rest.. because our western life has a lot of problems. Education and Policing is a big issue...The biggest problem with the "westerners" is they have a lack of TRUE understanding... because instead of being in the REAL classroom (the world) .. we've stuck them in buildings shaded from the sun, almost like a prison, they learn about the world from within a box... a building with walls.

I hope enough people can amass together to save humanity before we (humans) destroy the planet.... our children aren't even aware of whats really going on... shielding the youth only makes it harder to bear later. When it's the youth that will save this world.. but we've ignored them, we call them silly and irrational... we don't even pay attention to WHO our children really are, instead we pay attention to what they CAN be or WILL be... not what they want to be, or what they truly are. They are the future but we enjoy our present live so much we won't let them create the future, instead we muddle with ours more and more until we'll destroy their future. There should be a law for congress or any powerful position... a law that prohibits anyone over a certain age.. or a law that prohibits being in that position for more than a year.

So I guess my idea would be to ask the children of today what their opinion on the FACTS are...

This is a Socialistic view. Communism is Socialism on drugs. I do not and will not subscribe to the idea the U. S. embrace Socialism as John Kerry did in his failed run for president. Kerry would rationalize the death of his own mother before he would raise a hand to defend this country.

The best and fastest way to destroy America's freedom is to work from within our governmental system and Socalist are working 24/7 to destroy America.



So I guess my idea would be to ask the children of today what their opinion on the FACTS are...


Ask them ... and be very fearful of what the majority tell you for they have been taught by teachers, who all belong to the National Education Association.

"Two hundred high school students organize teach-in and rally against the war." - Just who taught those students how to accomplish that?

indybay.org...

Any parent with a child in a public school should be aware that our education system is little more than a vehicle through which liberals indoctrinate our children with socialist ideology.

Our educational institutions at all levels are under the wing of the National Education Association, which controls teacher certification, resists higher standards and has great influence on curriculum at all levels.

In his 1932 book "Toward Soviet America", William Z. Foster, head of the Communist Party, USA, stated, "Among the elementary measures the American Soviet government will adopt to further the cultural revolution are the following: schools, colleges, and universities will be coordinated and grouped under the National Department of Education and its state and local branches. The studies will be revolutionized, being cleansed of religious, patriotic, and other features of the bourgeoisie ideology. The students will be taught on the basis of Marxist dialectical materialism, internationalism, and the general ethics of the new socialist society."

www.newswithviews.com...

Norman Thomas, socialist and member of the Civil Liberties Union, boldly told the world, “The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened.”

In 1936, the National Education Association stated its position, from which they have never wavered; “We stand for socializing the individual.”

Paul Haubner, specialist for the NEA, tells us, “The schools cannot allow parents to influence the kind of values-education their children receive in school; . that is what is wrong with those who say there is a universal system of values. [Christians?] Our (humanistic) goals are incompatible with theirs. We must change their values.”

John J. Dunphy wrote in the Jan/Feb 1983 edition of The Humanist, “The battle for mankind's future must be waged and won in the public school classroom . The classroom must and will become the arena of conflict between the old and the new . the rotting corpse of Christianity and the new faith of humanism.”

proliberty.com...

- An elementary school in Oklahoma pulled all references to Christmas from its holiday play at the last minute, but left in references to Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.

- A first-grade teacher in Sacramento Co., Calif., says her principal has prohibited instructors from uttering the word “Christmas” in class or in written materials.

-A high school principal canceled a dramatic performance of Charles Dicken's classic "A Christmas Carol," partly because he feared it would raise questions about the place of religion in public schools.

- Christian group is not allowed to participate in Denver's annual Parade of Lights, because church members sought to sing yuletide hymns and proclaim a "Merry Christmas" message on their float.

- Kindergartners at a public school in Oregon were invited to bring cards to a Christmas party, but a teacher barred one student from distributing his holiday greeting because it mentioned Jesus Christ.

- A charity Christmas CD has been banned from distribution because it mentions the baby Jesus.

- A teacher replaced "Christmas" with "winter" in a carol to be performed during an upcoming concert.

- The Colorado ACLU is threatening to sue a school if the principal refuses to censor Christmas for its students.

- School bans Christmas, but OK with Halloween.

- A first-grade teacher in Sacramento Co., Calif., says she's been ordered by her principal not to utter the word "Christmas" at school.

- The American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit challenging a Pennsylvania school district that teaches alternatives to the theory of evolution alongside Darwinism.

Socialism is designed to destroy capitalism and they are training your children to fight their Communist/Socialist battle. Guess what? They are winning while you sit in front 42 inch plasma TV, with beer in hand - watching the Playboy channel.

Chief

What I've noticed in my peers at school the ones with good grades think in small boxes and spit on the first logical but out of the norm statement made. 60-75% with lower grades are kinda like the 75-100% mark student but are far more isolated with self problems and thinking about what others think about them. I think the school splits these people into catagories along with free thinkers that so happen do horrible in school are the ones who express there views and get shat on by book smart students. I noticed these people with bad grades but seem more down to earth can't get a personal belief or a view across to these box thinkers I like to call them i notice they try explaining there view to a teacher or a member of the general public they seem to take it in and evem some say fu*ck that makes alot of sense but rules it out of there mind because its out of the norm a day or so later when it enters converation again.

I think our schools have been turned into goverment training facilitys for the new technology advanced public but a box thinking straight forward seen as a number not a individual public not a free thinking one

Very intersting thread i think!!!

Peace

Originally posted by drogo
yes i would have to agree.
spacificly i think of "english" classes. what is an english class? one would asume that this means reading and writeing right? nope try puhing philosify down our throats. one class i remember spacificaly (i didn't do too well in this one :lol

. in one part the teacher was trying to show us how rock music corrupts us. in one class she mentioned how rock bands caused crime by useing such expensive instruments causeing us to want them. acording to her this causes people to steal and participat in criminal activities so we can have these expensive instroments. that sounded like bs to me so i questioned it. i asked her why would a proffesional musicion want to use the best instument? would that not be like a mechanic useing expensiive tools like snap-on? because they were seen to be better quality? or a doctor useing expensive medical tools? would this then cause people to commit crimes? shhould a mechanic use 19.95 tools? a doctor a steak knife? man did she get pissed off she could not give me an answer.

tehn we had to write out the lyrics of a song, and do a presintation to show how they corrupted us. i faithfully did this, then i played the song in class and it occured to me i had it all wrong i had misunderstood the premis of the song. while not the best message it wasn't all that bad ac-dc marry for the money (not sure if title or not). i tossed my notes and presented my newer realization. i was again in trouble for not doing what she wanted. (truth is i had and i realized i was wrong in my conclusions).

lol we then read a couple of books where kids had done drugs or booze and run away. we were asked to write a story in partners. inwhich we were to come up with a reason for running away. my friend and i decided that we had unknowenly been the wheel men in a bank robery.

what we would take. well my friend and i then robbed a popular gun store nearby leaveing money and takeing hunting rifles and a hell of a lot of ammo. and camping suplies. and a couple canoues from la barron's a camping suply store again leaveing money.

where we would go. well my friend and i both prefered the north to the city so i dug out a top map of timmogamy an area that i was familior with and had a native tribe i knew people at within two days trvel by canoue.

how we would get there. well i stated we stole a van and switched plates three times with simmiler vans that were not used much, thus our plates would match the vehicle and not come up stolen.

what we would do on a day to day basis like a journal just like the diary and other book we read.

i put a lot of hard work into this story as i was close to failing. only to have the teacher say that while it was a great story we did not do as she WANTED so we got yet another poor grade. even tho she had not stated we must go live downtown and become street people this was what she expected. i angrely complained that for one i would never run downtown and live like trash but i woud always go to the empty north. where i knew i could scratch out a life. and that in the other book that we had read he went to a park near town and to be honest he sucked at camping out.

there was the drug project as well where the info i was able to find showed the drug not to be so bad so got a bad mark because i "glorified" drug use, by useing my findings and not scewing the facts. my friend and i were again told good work worth an a except.....

this was an "english" class. my work was good but my philosiphy was not on line with what was expected therby getting a bad grade. i was not judged on my reading and writeing skill but on pholosiphy?

i had many problems within school due to not "thinking" the same as others i got screwed on technicalitys quite often. it seems i was not there to expand my mind but to conform it to the way that the government wanted.

Sorry to say this, but try putting what you typed into a word document and see for your self the amount of spelling errors you made. That is what English class is for. If you were to turn in a document that had this many errors in it in most professional jobs, you would look bad. So yes, English class is boring and does not seem important, especially as a kid, but it is if you plan on participating in a professional career.

Sorry to say this, but try putting what you typed into a word document and see for your self the amount of spelling errors you made. That is what English class is for. If you were to turn in a document that had this many errors in it in most professional jobs, you would look bad. So yes, English class is boring and does not seem important, especially as a kid, but it is if you plan on participating in a professional career.

I think he did it on purpose... some people like to prove their points that way... but I'll still argue that I believe schools are not teaching children the things they should really be learning.. reading and writing, counting and basic math skills are easy to learn or should be, ... Some of the social learning that does occur in schools is more or less basic training for slaves. How to act accordingly... Some may say that's a good thing, teaching children how to be "productive" members of society... Well, I argue that individuals can't be unproductive members of society .. sure they may be unmotivated, but EVERYONE school or no school has potential to be increasingly smarter.. I would further argue that with the proper support a person who has never been to school can and will learn better than a person who has been in school... Only because the natural curiosity of humans.. desire will get the best of people for the math.. lol I want 2 apples, not 1 .. well if they want they will find out how to gauge their desires, and upon learning the system of counting will most likely be intrigued by it and want to learn more.. but their desire will be there because they weren't forced, it was a self-righteous desire... along with learning language (reading and writing) desire again would be beneficial people desire to communicate... it isn't like school is the only place people will learn these skills.. it's just because there are lazy parents who couldn't be bothered educating the children they had fun creating.. because they NEED their money, and their luxuries.. and have no time for Reality ..

I mean c'mon you are told you cannot make anything of yourself, while ppl with "smarter"(i.e. tries to make a company and use their children's potenial; or by talent or whatever.) make something of themsleves and end up RICH or FAMOUS or BOTH, and you get BS about everything short of most of science down your throat, with a some exceptions in each(depending on what you take.). I agree though they are getting My Generation and younger ready for communism in global enviroment.

By the way, one of things learning which could benefit people might be Dale Carnegie's "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living"...

Hehehe I hear what you are saying dnero. Personally I got kicked out of a few schools for refusing go give ground and go along with what they wanted. I remember school as being psychological torture for the intelligent most of the time.

Personally I disreguarded school from year 6 onwards and learnt everything I know from books and asking people who had been there. I only went to school for legal reasons and to check out the hot girls.

Baiting the stupid teachers was good for a laugh too.

There sure are a lot of us... can't deal with simply being handed the "truth" or answers without getting first hand experience or knowledge..

I think it's horrible the things children are being taught in schools.... it has NOTHING to do with the state of the world... and nothing to do with what they should be learning.. its horrible that children these days are less intelligent than children in the 1800's.... granted these children know more about technology and have "some" advantages ... but realistically they are less intelligent.. and have less credibility...........

Could you elaborate some on this idea? I'm not quite understanding how children in the 1800s could have attained a higher level of intelligence than children of today. How do you come to the conclusion that today's children are less intelligent? And how would you conclude children have less credibility?

I think that schools have become a place to keep the most intelligent people "at bay" ... or interested in something other than the reality around them... I've talked to lots of highschool students.. and half of them have NO clue as to what is really going on in the world.. conspiracy or no conspiracy.

And you assume children of the 1800s could have more knowledge of world events than children today? And how would you relate that to a failure by the school system rather than a lack of interest in the subject by the child his or herself? I will give it to you that some high school students have no idea about the world around them, but as I previously stated, is that the schools fault or the student's lack of interest fault.

And they're not taught about the "real" world. Or really how to survive in it realistically.

Have you ever been in high school? Being surrounded by your peers and people slightly older do a well job at simulating outside life. It offers diversity and interaction. High school is its own functioning mini real world.

spacificly i think of "english" classes. what is an english class? one would asume that this means reading and writeing right? nope try puhing philosify down our throats. one class i remember spacificaly (i didn't do too well in this one :lol

. in one part the teacher was trying to show us how rock music corrupts us. in one class she mentioned how rock bands caused crime by useing such expensive instruments causeing us to want them. acording to her this causes people to steal and participat in criminal activities so we can have these expensive instroments. that sounded like bs to me so i questioned it. i asked her why would a proffesional musicion want to use the best instument? would that not be like a mechanic useing expensiive tools like snap-on? because they were seen to be better quality? or a doctor useing expensive medical tools? would this then cause people to commit crimes? shhould a mechanic use 19.95 tools? a doctor a steak knife? man did she get pissed off she could not give me an answer

I believe she is exercising her freedom of speech. Did she kick you out of the classroom for asking these questions or disagreeing? Did she in any way reprimand you or effect your grade? My teacher here sometimes offers his viewpoints of life, and I agree on some aspects and disagree on others. By no means do I have to accept what he says and by no means does he try to 'force it down my throat'. I also see no evidence of the teacher forcing the philosophy down your throat in the aforementioned example either.

I'm currently a student, and i can tell you that you are right on. Except for one thing here. You say half of the students have no clue as to what is really going on in the world. Make that about 85% of the students.

Have you asked each and everyone one of the 85% of the students if they know what is going on, or are you assuming this because they never talk about it? I would say that something like that definitely varies per high school, and the students here at my small rural high school are very informed on current events and we even offer a class on it.

Sorry to say this, but try putting what you typed into a word document and see for your self the amount of spelling errors you made. That is what English class is for. If you were to turn in a document that had this many errors in it in most professional jobs, you would look bad. So yes, English class is boring and does not seem important, especially as a kid, but it is if you plan on participating in a professional career.

I just thought this was an incredibly intelligent post that completely supported the poser's viewpoint. I have to agree with him 100 percent.


I think that the purpose of public schools is to ready the children of America for international competition. If suddenly American children stopped going to school, and international children didn't, we would be left in the dust. Suddenly imported international children would come into the states and seize jobs unavailable to American children because we didn't want our children attending schools because they were "concentration camps." I think the school systems, in general, are ok. Some teachers, I can understand, may be biased and wrong, but that's a rare occasion. I definitely think there is no alternative to schooling in the classroom.

[edit on 28-3-2005 by Arizona]

I think the reference to kids in the 1800s being better educated is from an 8th grade test from that era in which most of the people living these days would fail miserably - there are links somewhere on this site, or run a search to find it. A lot of the questions though are based on things I've never even heard of - like the weight and dimensions of a bushel of wheat is mentioned in one of the questions... People back then had to deal with such things and measurements because they were a part of their everyday lives - I don't recall every even seeing a "bushel" of wheat in my lifetime. If I gave kids back in the 19th century one of my old 8th grade tests I'm sure they'd fail just as miserably as I'd fail theirs.

I think the big problem of the education system is that the modern world is a credential based society. You need that damn piece of paper that says you can do the work, however pointless it is. I did fine back in high school, but sure wasn't the type of kid that did all my homework and sucked up to the teachers. I did realize, however, that I needed to play by their rules and do the bare minimum to graduate with a decent GPA so I could get funding and admission to a decent university. I'd like to see us somehow get rid of the credential based aspect of and just kinda throw the kids to the sharks to sink or swim. The only things worth knowing cannot be taught, and throughout my life I've learned an insane amount through travel, and life experience... I still, however, do not know how to draw up a complex geometry proof, and never quite could back in 8th grade either but then I don't care and that knowledge isn't going to help me with my future goals.

actually what I meant by the 1800's bit is that the children were more involved in maintaining "society" .. they learnt at a way faster pace then the children today... Although I do realize your argument, the opportunity is there to "outlearn" any other past civilization, but our problem is as soon as the bell rings it's "tune out" time and most "students" couldn't be bothered picking up a book and learning something at home, which is very different from the 1800s... and our class tubes filled with photons.

Now that schools are established so well we should be making them open to anyone and everyone, the homeless and poor, realistically only around 35% of the population is "really" educated. Educated where they'll actually remember what they learnt and educated where they actually utilize what they learnt... most people go to school and learn how to be really good waitresses and fast food servers, either that or you go for a trade or gain employment "where you can" ... where have all the free-thinkers, the inventors .. where can humans continue to evolve? The flow of new perceptions has hit a dam and only little bits of intellect are allowed to flow through.

We should really be WAAAAAYYYYY advanced considering our "Education" and our resources... but there's so many intelligent people with so few things to do with their intelligence...