Been watching the news.
Teacher's Union on strike in the UK over return to school.
It seems to me that this pandemic has revealed that our conception of 'school' as a necessity to be an illusion of safety. It seems that we have a chance to re-examine our societal priorities and figure out a better way to live and learn.
Is going to a building with cemetery style seating to have questionable knowledge and propaganda really the best way to learn?
Perhaps not.
@herag I think that we can say, with some certainty, that *education* is a necessity; and the only point of debate, really, is how this education should be administered and delivered.
@ccc but you repeat me.
The one thing I would say is that the current education system is not really education at all. It is more like indoctrination.
In 2008-today, we have seen so many alternatives crop up that would benefit children more than the current system, yet it is actually illegal to implement them in lieu of the current system.
@herag One Laptop Per Child did once introduce a whole pile of tablets to a small village in Ethiopia where literacy was virtually unknown; you can see their results over here: http://blog.laptop.org/tag/ethiopia/
So educational tablets are very much a possible thing. Other options to traditional schooling include many varieties of homeschooling; though the big problem with homeschooling is that it can fail very dramatically if the parents aren't good educators. (Yes, it *can* work well in some cases; but it's hardly a one-size-fits-all solution).
So. What would you propose as an alternative method of education?
@ccc I don't think it would be my place to offer a distinct alternative to tye current system. An alternative will be decided by decentralized trial and error, using the knowledge gained through this centralized tyranny of the state over education in colonialist states.
The first purpose of education in "developed" nations has always been to create 'good, docile' citizens. So that, in itself, is worth rejecting at the base level.
@herag Thing is, though - even with the flaws of the current system - it *does* give children a base of knowledge that they can build on. The current system is a lot better than just leaving the next generation to figuring everything out from scratch by themselves.
So - the way I see it - the current system should *not* be removed, *until* such time as a superior alternative can be found. If a superior alternative cannot be found, then the current system should be continued while we search for one.
