Criticism of schooling

Anti-schooling activism, or radical education reform, describes positions that are critical of school as a learning institution and/or compulsory schooling laws; or multiple attempts and approaches to fundamentally change the school system. People of this movement usually advocate alternatives to the traditional school system, education independent from school, the absence of the concept of schooling as a whole, or the right that people can choose how, where and with whom they are educated.

These attitudes criticize the learning atmosphere and environment of school and oppose the educational monopoly of school and the conventional standard and practice of schooling for reasons such as:

regarding the use of compulsory schooling as a tool of assimilation;
the belief that an overly structured and predetermined learning system can be detrimental for children and would encourage certain temperaments while inhibiting others;^[1]
the related belief that the school environment prevents learning rather than encouraging the innate natural curiosity by using unnatural extrinsic pressures such as grades and homework;^[2]
the view that school prescribes students exactly what to do, how, when, where and with whom, which would suppress creativity,^[3]
and/or the conviction that schooling is used as a form of political or governmental control for the implementation of certain ideologies in the population.^[4]

Another very persistent argument of anti-schooling activists that school does not prepare children for life outside of school,^[5] and that many teachers do not have a neutral view of the world because they have only attended academic institutions a large part of their life.

Others criticize the forced contact in school and are of the opinion that school makes children spend a large part of their most important development phase in a building, in seclusion from society, exclusively with children in their own age group, seated and entrusted with the task of obeying the orders of one authority figure for several hours each day, which would be a dehumanizing experience.

Some may also feel a deep aversion to school based on their personal experiences or question the efficiency and sustainability of school learning and are of the opinion that compulsory schooling represents an impermissible interference with the rights and freedoms of parents and children; and believe that schools as a vehicle for knowledge transfer are no longer necessary and increasingly becoming obsolete in times of rapid information procurement, e.g. via the internet, and therefore generally consider compulsory education with evidence-based learning oriented online schools or autodidactism to be more sensible than the traditional cohort-based physical schools.^[6]

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Voiceover: We've heard in general about institutions. What they are, what role they play in society. Now let's take a closer look at specific institutions like education, family and religion. Each of these institutions plays a fundamental role in both creating and supporting society. And each shapes the individuals who make up that society. Education is more than just going to school, memorizing what the teacher writes on the board, and taking a test on it a few weeks later. There is a hidden curriculum of information that is taught outside the official curriculum. We learn how to stand in line, how to wait our turn to ask a question, how to treat our peers. We learn without realizing it. We are socialized to internalize certain social inequalities when girls and boys are treated differently in school by their teachers. Teachers expect different things from different students. And that expectation affects how students learn. Teachers tend to get what they expect from their students. If the teacher only expects a certain level of effort or skill, that's all the students will give them. Teachers put students into categories based on the student's perceived abilities. And the teacher expect certain things based on the categorization. But what if the categorization is wrong? Then the student is not challenged enough and might only meet the teacher's expectations rather than exceeding the expectation to reach their true potential. Sometimes the limiting factor comes from outside the classroom itself. Schools experience educational segregation and stratification in part because the way that we fund schools is most often through property taxes. This creates inequalities between different school districts which have different property taxes. So the schools in lower income districts will often get less funding than those in affluent neighborhoods. You can see a reflection of the socioeconomic inequalities in our society in the funding given to schools, and the residential segregation that occurs based on what neighborhoods people can afford to live in. There's a lot more to the institution of education than first meets the eye. Let's see what's hidden in some other institutions. Family is another institution essential to our society. It can defined by many forms of kinship including blood, marriage and adoption. In the United States, we put more value on the small nuclear family than on the larger extended family. Though, that depends on the society. Different family values go hand in hand with different social obligations to the family, and also with the economy. Rural families were production-based, so large families were beneficial. As people moved into cities, families became consumption-based. So, having a large family actually became a strain on their resources. With urbanization came changes and expectations of family roles and child care. There's much diversity in family forms. A family can be a married couple or a single parents or step families, or gay couples, adoptive families, generation skips where the grandparents take care of the little ones. Or some other unit I haven't mentioned. There is no one uniform type of family. When we talk about family, we have to talk about marriage and divorce. New families often begin with marriage. When people join together, and begin a life together. For something that was intended to be rather permanent, citizens of the United States tend to experience multiple marriages in their lifetime. We are serial monogamists as we go from one marriage or relationship to the next. This means that divorce is becoming a normal aspect of family life, but because we expect marriage to be permanent, divorce created tension. Especially when children are involved and custody battles or when a parent remarries. No family is perfect. And unfortunately, some families contain violence. We often hear of extreme cases of child abuse where the child is physically abused. Often by another member of the family. More common though is abuse through neglect, such as a lack of parental supervision, or poor nutrition or insufficient clothing. Children aren't the only family members to be abused. Elder abuse occurs when families aren't ready for the responsibility of taking care of elders. Having no plan of who will take care of the elderly, and the expense of nursing homes, can lead to robbery, threats, and neglect of elder members of the family. Spousal abuse is also very common. Again abuse is not just physical, it can also be psychological. While spousal abuse is usually perpetrated by men, men can also be the victims. Often, it is economic issues that lead to abuse. A pattern or behavior that takes years to escalate. It is about controlling the partner and limiting their support network, which makes it difficult for a victim to get out of the situation. It is difficult for abused spouses to seek help. Women's shelters don't always accept kids, while for men, the social stigma that men don't get abused keeps them quiet. There's much more to the institution of family than raising a kid. Religion is another institution that permeates our society. The religiosity, or how religious a person is, can range from private beliefs to spiritual routines to institutionalized religion. Or, to reading the Bible but not attending church. To celebrating Passover because your grandmother cooks dinner. To facing a keebla and praying five times every day. There are many types of religious organizations. Churches are established religious bodies like the Roman Catholic church. Sects tend to be smaller and are established in protest of an established church. They are a revival and break away from the established church like the movement of the restoration of the ten commandments of God. Cults are more radical. They break away and reject the values of outside society undergoing a complete religious renovation. They rise when there is a break down of societal belief systems but they're usually short lived because they depend on an inspirational leader who will only live for so long. Over the years religion has been affected by social change. Modernization has led to more information being available to the public, and less emphasis in society on religion, leading to secularization. Secularization in turn, is the weakening of social and political power of religious organizations, as religious involvement and belief declines. But then you have the reaction to secularization in fundamentalism, when people go back to the strict religious teachings and beliefs, though this can create social problems when people become too extreme. In the end, in some shape or form, religion affects everyone in society.

Arguments

Teaching as political/government control

A non-curriculum, non-instructional method of teaching was advocated by Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner in their book Teaching as a Subversive Activity. In inquiry education students are encouraged to ask questions which are meaningful to them, and which do not necessarily have easy answers; teachers are encouraged to avoid giving answers.^[7]

Murray N. Rothbard argues that the history of the drive for compulsory schooling is not guided by altruism, but by a desire to coerce the population into a mold desired by dominant forces in society.^[8]

John Caldwell Holt asserts that youths should have the right to control and direct their own learning, and that the current compulsory schooling system violates a basic fundamental right of humans: the right to decide what enters our minds. He thinks that freedom of learning is part of freedom of thought, even more fundamental a human right than freedom of speech. He especially states that forced schooling, regardless of whether the student is learning anything whatsoever, or if the student could more effectively learn elsewhere in different ways, is a gross violation of civil liberties.^[9]

Nathaniel Branden adduces government should not be permitted to remove children forcibly from their homes, with or without the parents' consent, and subject the children to educational training and procedures of which the parents may or may not approve. He also claims that citizens should not have their wealth expropriated to support an educational system which they may or may not sanction, and to pay for the education of children who are not their own. He claims this must be true for anyone who understands and is consistently committed to the principle of individual rights. He asserts that the disgracefully low level of education in America today is the predictable result of a state-controlled school system, and that the solution is to bring the field of education into the marketplace.^[10]

The corruption of children – Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote in his book Emile: or, On Education (first published in 1762) that all children are perfectly designed organisms, ready to learn from their surroundings so as to grow into virtuous adults, but due to the malign influence of corrupt society, they often fail to do so. Rousseau advocated an educational method which consisted of removing the child from society—for example, to a country home—and alternately conditioning them through changes to environment and setting traps and puzzles for them to solve or overcome.^[11]

Rousseau was unusual in that he recognized and addressed the potential of a problem of legitimation for teaching. He advocated that adults always be truthful with children, and in particular that adults should declare the basis for their authority in teaching being one of physical coercion: "I'm bigger than you." Once children reached the age of reason, at about 12, they would be engaged as free individuals in the ongoing process of their own.^[12]

Grading – Illich

In Deschooling Society, Ivan Illich calls for the disestablishment of schools. He claims that schooling confuses teaching with learning, grades with education, diplomas with competence, attendance with attainment, and, especially, process with substance. He writes that schools do not reward real achievement, only processes. Schools inhibit a person's will and ability to self-learn, ultimately resulting in psychological impotence. He claims that forced schooling perverts the victims' natural inclination to grow and learn and replaces it with the demand for instruction. Further, the current model of schooling, replete with credentials, betrays the value of a self-taught individual. Moreover, institutionalized schooling seeks to quantify the unquantifiable – human growth.

Effects on local culture and economics

In some cases schooling has been used as a tool for assimilation and a both deliberate and inadvertent tool to change local culture and economics into another form. Opponents of this effect argue it is a human right for a culture to be maintained, and education can violate this human right.^[13] Forced schooling has been used to forcibly assimilate Native Americans in the United States and Canada, which some have said is cultural genocide.^[14]^[15] Many psychologists believe the forced assimilation of native cultures has contributed to their high suicide rates and poverty.^[16] Western education encourages Western modes of survival and economic systems, which can be worse and poorer than the existing modes of survival and economic systems of an existing culture.^[16]^[17]^[18]

School-related stress and depression

There are many factors that can cause schooling to be source of stress and depression in a person's life, which can have long-term health effects^[19]^[20] and mental disorders.^[21] School bullying can lead to depression and long term emotional damage.^[22] Societal and familial academic pressure and rigorous schooling can also lead to stress, depressions, and suicide.^[23]^[24] Academic pressure and rigorous schooling has been pointed to as a cause of the high rate of suicide among South Korean adolescents.^[25]^[26]^[27]^[28] General boredom from school can also cause stress,^[29] and low academic performance can lead to low self esteem.^[30] A student's family can suffer from academic-related stress as well.^[31]

Ineffective or counter to its purpose

Some of the proposed purposes of western style compulsory education are to prepare students to join the adult workforce and be financially successful, have students learn useful skills and knowledge, and prepare students to make positive economic or scientific contributions to society.^[32]^[33] Critics of schooling say it is ineffective at achieving these purposes and goals. In many countries, schools do not keep up with the skills demanded by the workplace, or never have taught relevant skills.^[34]^[35]^[36]^[37] Students often feel unprepared for college as well.^[38] More schooling does not necessarily correlate with greater economic growth.^[39] Alternate forms of schooling, such as the Sudbury model, have been shown to be sufficient for college acceptance and other western cultural goals.^[40]

Instead of being a way out of poverty and a way to stay away from crime, for many, school has the opposite effect. Schooling often perpetuates poverty and class divisions.^[30]^[41]^[42] At many schools, students are introduced to gangs, drugs and crime.^[43] The school to prison pipeline also converts children into criminals through overly harsh punishments.^[44] Punishments from truancy and other school-related laws also adversely effect students and parents.^[45]^[46]^[47]

Learning methods

In the eyes of many critics, memorization and pure reproduction of facts, formulas, facts, knowledge, etc., as is usually required by many schools, is no longer up to date in times of rapid information procurement via the Internet. It neither demonstrates intelligence nor is it a useful skill that will take people far in today's world. Not least due to a lack of interest on the part of students and time pressure, it results in bulimic learning. The skill of independently recognizing problems and developing solutions for them as well as an in-depth understanding of issues are prevented because the focus is too much on reproducing only the facts necessary for an exam, without the need of understanding the underlying concepts.

References

^ Keogh, Barbara (2009-09-09). "Why it's important to understand your child's temperament". www.greatschools.org. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
^ "'Schools are killing curiosity': why we need to stop telling children to shut up and learn". The Guardian. 2020-01-28. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
^ Robinson, Sir Ken (27 June 2006), Do schools kill creativity?, archived from the original on 15 September 2013, retrieved 2021-08-04
^ "It's time for all parties to take politics out of running schools". The Guardian. 2010-03-30. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
^ "Schools don't prepare children for life. Here's the education they really need | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett". The Guardian. 2017-06-12. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
^ SOLOMON, JOAN (2003), "Theories of learning and the range of autodidactism", The Passion to Learn, pp. 15–34, doi:10.4324/9780203329108-9, ISBN 9780203329108, retrieved 2022-07-24
^ Postman, Neil, and Weingartner, Charles (1969), Teaching as a Subversive Activity, Dell, New York, NY.
^ Rothbard, Murray N. (1999). Education, free & compulsory. Auburn, Ala: Ludwig von Mises Institute. ISBN 978-0-945466-22-2.
^ Holt ; Holt, John Caldwell (1975). Escape from Childhood. Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-24434-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Branden, N. (1963). Public Education, Should Education be Compulsory and Tax Supported, as it is Today? Chapter 5, Common Fallacies About Capitalism, Ayn Rand, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, p. 89.
^ "Jean-Jacques Rousseau on Emile's Education - New Learning Online". newlearningonline.com. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
^ "Citoyen De Genève : Jean-Jacques Rousseau", Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Continuum, retrieved 2023-05-24
^ Noam, Schimmel (2007-01-01). "Indigenous education and human rights". eprints.lse.ac.uk. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
^ Austen, Ian (2015-06-02). "Canada's Forced Schooling of Aboriginal Children Was 'Cultural Genocide,' Report Finds". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
^ Jones, Jennifer; Bosworth, Dee Ann; Lonetree, Amy (2011). "American Indian Boarding Schools: An Exploration of Global Ethnic & Cultural Cleansing" (PDF). Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways.
^ ^a ^b "A struggle for hope". apa.org. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
^ "Philosophy of Education -- From: Chapter 5: Schooling in Capitalist America". faculty.webster.edu. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
^ "neolithic hunter-gatherers: Marshall Sahlins- The Original Affluent Society". www.eco-action.org. Archived from the original on 2019-07-24. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ Schneiderman, Neil; Ironson, Gail; Siegel, Scott D. (2004-11-01). "Stress and Health: Psychological, Behavioral, and Biological Determinants". Annual Review of Clinical Psychology. 1 (1): 607–628. doi:10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.144141. ISSN 1548-5943. PMC 2568977. PMID 17716101.
^ Abeles, Vicki (2016-01-02). "Is the Drive for Success Making Our Children Sick?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ Gray, Peter (2010-01-26). "The Decline of Play and Rise in Children's Mental Disorders". Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ "The Long Term Effects of Bullying". www.mentalhelp.net. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ Lythcott-Haims, Julie (2015-07-05). "Kids of Helicopter Parents Are Sputtering Out". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ "School Stress Takes A Toll On Health, Teens And Parents Say". NPR.org. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ "South Korean education success has its costs in unhappiness and suicide rates". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2015-06-16. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ "Why We Should Not Copy Education in South Korea". Diane Ravitch's blog. 2014-08-03. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ "Suicide is leading cause of death among South Korean teens, says report". UPI. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ "The All-Work, No-Play Culture Of South Korean Education". NPR.org. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ ""I'm Bored!" – Research on Attention Sheds Light on the Unengaged Mind". Association for Psychological Science. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ ^a ^b Thomsen, Michael (2013-05-01). "The Case Against Grades". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ Pressman, Robert M.; Sugarman, David B.; Nemon, Melissa L.; Desjarlais, Jennifer; Owens, Judith A.; Schettini-Evans, Allison (2015). "Homework and Family Stress: With Consideration of Parents' Self Confidence, Educational Level, and Cultural Background". The American Journal of Family Therapy. 43 (4): 297–313. doi:10.1080/01926187.2015.1061407. S2CID 145433515.
^ ASCD. "Education Update:Quality Feedback:What Is the Purpose of Education?". www.ascd.org. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ "What is the purpose of education?". www.sec-ed.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ "Schools 'failing to prepare young people for work', say business leaders". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ "Schools are 'too focused on exam results and don't prepare students for the workplace', survey finds". The Independent. 2015-08-24. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
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^ Reich, Robert (2014-09-03). "Robert Reich: College is a ludicrous waste of money". Salon. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ "Survey: Most high school students feel unprepared for college, careers". EdSource. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
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^ "Sudbury Valley School • Online Library. Alumni". www.sudval.org. Archived from the original on 2016-10-04. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ Soling, Cevin (2016-05-15). "How Public Schools Demand Failure and Perpetuate Poverty". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ Hochschild, Jennifer L. (2016-11-19). "Social Class in Public Schools". Journal of Social Issues. 59 (4).
^ Howell, James; Lynch, James (2000). "Youth Gangs in School" (PDF). Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; Juvenile Justice Bulletin.
^ "School-to-Prison Pipeline". American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ "Compulsory Education's Unforeseen Consequences: Nebraska Case Studies". COMMON CORE. 2013-07-23. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ Goldstein, Dana (2015-03-06). "Inexcusable Absences". New Republic. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
^ "Jail for Missed Days at School? The Madness of Truancy Laws". Reason.com. 2015-06-06. Retrieved 2016-11-20.

This page was last edited on 30 March 2024, at 04:28

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