Is school just a tactic to keep us busy?

for some reason lately, i feel as if we are just being kept busy, we are kept in school as not to notice what is happening in the outside world.
i mean, think about it, school hours are long, they teach us what they want us to learn, we are also feed information that is useless in the real world.
i dont know if it is just me , but please let me know what you think.
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reply to post by darthStar


It's really just indoctrination past a certain point. Earlier years we do indeed need formative ideas and lessons. After a certain point though it's no longer anything useful. I personally think we should let kids choose at the beginning of middle school what classes they can take that would lead them in a direction they are happy with for their future.

I love history. It's the only thing I really paid attention to in school. But you can't believe there is truth in everything. So now, long out of school, I still only really watch the history channel and read books on history. I then go and compare what I have learned and try to find the truth to separate it from the crap.

I took typing and computer science in ninth grade (1998). They were my only electives because my school offered nothing I was interested in (mostly business) and I had been using computers since.... I dunno, years at that point. They were just classes I took to keep my overall average up.

I always failed math because they always wanted you to "show your work" to prove no calculator was used, and well, I can't show them my brain making the connections.

English was boring and fairly useless. I see no point in reading antiquated books that have no bearing on my understanding of my native language (though I usually read them anyway, I'm the kind of person who will read the history of a business on the side of their juice container) and nothing past middle school is really about deeper understanding of the language.

Science always interested me, but it was hard for me to take these "facts" seriously seeing as there were major breakthroughs in understanding of things every day almost (is it just me or were there really a lot more scientific breakthroughs in the late 90s than there are today?) and everything was constantly changing. I did love chemistry though.

Anyway, I'm babbling. Point is, my 3.5 year old daughter can already use a comp and is learning to type, and I can't imagine a lot if not most kids will be the same in the future. Why keep computer and typing classes that most kids don't need? At least make them completely elective.

As of right now, the only way to get real world training is to either A) be a total "failure" in the eyes of the school system and get sent to a vocational school or B) go to college. I can't see college enrollment doing anything but dropping in the coming years, so if you want a sustainable economy start giving kids classes helpful to their futures and quit with the indoctrination crap.

If you read all of that, I thank you and apologize at the same time, as I think that whole post was mostly incoherent. Just something I feel strongly about seeing as I refused the indoctrination and dropped out of school my freshman year to teach myself the thing I felt I would need. Look, I actually made use of years of self teaching! It's not always a bad ending like people assume with alternative learning.

[edit on 17-4-2009 by Magnivea]

school teaches you invalubale life skills, like maths, reading and writing, using tools. all sorts.

too many people take it for granted.

I joined the Navy 14 hours after I graduated from High School. I went to many schools in the Navy, and after I retired I went to Purdue and got my MA. I listened to what the teachers were saying, read the assignments, did the work. Then, oh frabjous day, the rest of the time I could explore all that interesting stuff they had. It was worth it.

If you're stuck in some government school that caters to the lowest common denominator then yes, it's a glorious waste of time.

If you're in some university that puts more focus on you paying up to take their 'core' classes that have been 'mandated' by some mystical force all of which have nothing to do with what it was you went there to study then, yes it's a really expensive glorious waste of time.

Whoever decided to have the taxing entity educate the children was a real super-genius. Whoever decided to charge a thousand dollars a credit for a Western Civ class you've already taken 900 times before yet must take once more because it's a 'mandated core' was a real super-duper-genius.

If I could do it all over I would have dropped out as soon as I turned 16, got my GED that week and went off to trade school ASAP and saved myself wasted thousands and wasted years.

This from a career long honors student.

Some folks have the drive and desire to educate themselves and some do not. School as it is punishes and retards those with the drive and gives those without the drive a place to sell drugs and bang little girls while they await their inevitable incarceration. A lifestyle paid for economically and sociologically by those with the drive thanks to the mob rule that has overtaken the country.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


"Whoever decided to have the taxing entity educate the children was a real super-genius. Whoever decided to charge a thousand dollars a credit for a Western Civ class you've already taken 900 times before yet must take once more because it's a 'mandated core' was a real super-duper-genius. "

The government began running schools when "private" schools failed to educate the children. Too expensive, too exclusionary. A free education was a novel concept when they started.

I'm also wondering how you could take a class 900 times at the same school and not meet the core requirements?

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Pretty much what I was trying to get across and instead came out with a few lines of garbled thoughts. I don't think the style of learning that worked for me would be suitable fore everyone. There should at least be a choice, though.

Originally posted by Gawdzilla
reply to post by thisguyrighthere

 

I'm also wondering how you could take a class 900 times at the same school and not meet the core requirements?

All the school taking your money has to say is "these credits wont transfer" and you stuck doing it all over again. With the same damn text no less.

All these universities care about is manufactured prestige and money. For some of the big-uni it's billions of dollars.

Students I sat alongside with in lectures and groups would pass out drunk from their lifestyle while others continued the illusion that effort and quality work made a difference. In the end the only thing that mattered was that your check cleared.

If a private school fails it shuts down. If a public school fails it stays put for decades. Personally, I'd rather do away with institutionalized learning altogether. Like I said, there are those with the drive to learn those without. Information is everywhere. I have taught myself far more than I have 'learned' in school. Employers, in my experience, are going back to valuing ability and experience over that expensive yet worthless document you waste so much time getting. Currently I work in a professional capacity. I was hired without the "associations" dictated educational requirements because of my ability and experience. If I hadnt been lied to all my life about the mythical qualities of some degree I wouldnt have wasted all those years and dollars.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


"All the school taking your money has to say is "these credits wont transfer" and you stuck doing it all over again. With the same damn text no less."

So you've transfered 900 times? Impressive.

Originally posted by Gawdzilla
So you've transfered 900 times? Impressive.

Oh, don't be such a literalist. It's cute and all but in the end pointless.

It wouldn't hurt you to learn the proper quoting procedure either.