Thread: Ten ways public school destroys free thinking (Opinion)

Ten ways public school destroys free thinking (Opinion)

Sunday, February 20, 2011 by: Elizabeth Walling
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(NaturalNews) Those interested in alternative health will inevitably encounter reality: free thinking individuals are routinely ridiculed for thinking outside of the box and breaking from social normality. While this can be frustrating, it is even more disturbing that this suppression of free thinking begins in our public school system. In fact, it can even be considered part of the inner structure of the curriculum.

10 Ways Public School Destroys Free Thinking

1. In school, children are taught to wait to be told what to think and do, rather than being encouraged to show initiative and pursue their own ideas.

2. School teaches children to never become too deeply involved. The bell will ring just when they're engulfed in learning about the solar system to tell them it is time to start learning how to dissect a sentence. A child learns that no subject is truly meaningful or interesting, and therefore learns not to be truly interested in anything meaningful.

3. The school system fosters conformity rather than curiosity, because curiosity leads to questioning ideas and free thinking. This is a volatile and dangerous path because it will inevitably lead to the destruction of a carefully calibrated system of control. Therefore, curiosity is not part of the curriculum.

4. In school, the practice of religion is not allowed because this would be heresy. For, school itself establishes its own set of rules and commandments that religious beliefs would inherently contradict.

5. Our modern school system weighs down children with homework and endless projects, making it impossible for them to find time to learn from parents and community members outside of school. This denies children what they need to become whole people that can function as productive members of their own community and of society as a whole.

6. School children don`t have the privilege of deciding what they believe and what values are important to them. Instead, they are instructed to be close minded and accept whatever they are told.

7. In school, children learn how to take orders and remain complacently obedient. They aren`t given the opportunity to develop their own moral compass to help them decide what is right or wrong.

8. The school system uses grades and statistics to label children and produce formulaic adults. Children are taught that they need to be told what they are worth. Individualism is discouraged, as is viewing themselves and others outside of these labels.

9. School as we know it actually encourages a caste system that divides children (and eventually adults) into categories based on its system of labels. Free thinkers are often labeled as misfits and are told to conform so they can be useful citizens.

10. Children in school learn very early on that free speech is a farce. Fundamental human rights do not exist in school unless they are granted by the school authorities. Children are taught that basic human rights are actually privileges that can be revoked at any time if they do not surrender to the chain of command.

It is clear that if we rely on public schools to educate our children, free thinking individuals will become extinct. Free thinking is a foundational ingredient for success, invention, progress and culture. These things cannot be taught through a curriculum but through life itself.

Further Reading:

Gatto, John Taylor. (1992) Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. Published by New Society Publishers.

http://www.thefreemanonline.org/col...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thoma...

About the author
Elizabeth Walling is a freelance writer specializing in health and family nutrition. She is a strong believer in natural living as a way to improve health and prevent modern disease. She enjoys thinking outside of the box and challenging common myths about health and wellness. You can visit her blog to learn more:
www.livingthenourishedlife.com/2009...


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Kathyet

Simply put public schools have moved to the left more and more for past 50 years, teaching a social agenda and multiculturalism rather then basics.

How can people who have no values teach children respect and love of country, IMO good teachers are out there but feel beat down to conform to the administrations far left agenda.

Personally I would never put a child in public school today unless one parent is non-working and can daily monitor what the child learns, if America is to survive the public school system must be changed.

Originally Posted by oldguy

IMO good teachers are out there but feel beat down to conform to the administrations far left agenda.

Personally I would never put a child in public school today unless one parent is non-working and can daily monitor what the child learns, if America is to survive the public school system must be changed.

AMEN! There are more than plenty of good teachers out there but as you said, we feel beat down to conform to the administration and governments far left agenda.

I agree with you again, there lies the problem........parents are not involved........it just too bad that our society has dictated that we need so many "materialistic things" that both parents feel they have to have a career and let schools raise their children. We both made the decision to live well within our means while my wife stays home and supervises our kids education in a public school.

Education is a partnership between the school, the parent and the kid. When one of them is not involved the partnership is broken and education stops or is slowed drastically. My wife is involved with our kids education on a daily basis. She is always at the school and in constant contact with teachers and school administrators.

Schools started going bad about the time that both parents felt they had to have a career. Someone has to raise and nurture kids other wise the schools are left to take up the slack. Schools should be the 2nd home, not the primary. But how many of us are willing to give up things we don't need to see that your child's needs are met?

We have parents who grew up in the 80's thinking that single parent families are cool. So there are way too many kids in school with one parent trying to makes ends meet. Who raises the kid then?

We can do without until the kid we chose to have is raised, educated and off on his own. That's our responsibility and not an option. How many of us feel this way? Instead we let ur kids be picked up by a bus, fed breakfast at school taught moral values at school, taught ethical values at school, fed lunch, entertained and then brought back to a home where no one is there until late at night. The parents are too tired and to engulfed in their own professional lives to care about the child they chose to have. This is not what school are about and I certainly don't want the liberals that design curriculum teaching my child values, ethics, feed him, entertain him just teach him the three R's. My wife takes our 15 year old to school, picks him up and gives him a lunch to take to school every morning. He also eats breakfast at home and is picked up every day after school and come home to at least one parent who insists that his homework be done and supervises what he is dong after school. Most of our kids now days do not get this but still need it.