Why do educational programs want to make us think we were foolish when we were children?

I have to say that for me it's quite the opposite. When I was a child I got into political science, and, my interest in politics got me here on ATS, and I guess you could say that my childhood never leaved me. This part of growing up never came for me.

It seems like they want to brainwash people into thinking they were immature when they were young. Like they didn't understand anything. I think much of our ideas come from when we are young. We aren't stupid when we were children.

We can always be children. We may change a little bit and forget some of the joys we had when we were children but we can keep our imagination and we don't need to let eduators take that away from us.

I just believe that it's sad because you'll see a lot of people look back at their life when they were younger and wishing they've done life differently. Yet they didn't make bad decisions. That's just how they were like at the time. This educational system has made people think that childish behavior... like having intelligent or curious ideas is immature.

Society as a whole can't keep living like this.

I think there is quite a serious problem with the way intelligent, curious children are treated in the education system, both by teachers and, perhaps more obviously and understandably, their less intelligent peers.

Children hate being patronised, but all too often teachers, who are often in a sense less intelligent than the child in question, will talk down to them, and laugh off questions posed by sharp and inquiring, but as yet not fully developed or informed minds.

I often think that it would be fun to go back to primary school with the vocabulary and confidence I have now and tell my old teachers exactly how unreasonable, patronising and downright wrong they often were. But when you are a child, you are not properly equipped to defend yourself intellectually against teachers who show you no respect, which often breeds apathy and disaffection with education, leading to underachievement. This problem is exacerbated by the dumbing down of the school curriculum so as not to leave behind the less able pupils - simultaneously holding back the more intelligent and hard working children.

"They hate you if you're clever, and they despise a fool".

[edit on 19-9-2008 by CiderGood_HeadacheBad]