Freeing Education
“How do you explain school to higher intelligence?” —E.T.
As a student grows, he discovers that teachers already have opinions about his subjects of interest and have a system in place, not to help him live an unlimited progression, but to confine him and his ambition. His authorities negate his competence, take his inspiration, and tell him what it has to be and who it has to serve. If he accepts it, the student’s sense of discovery wanes and is bent to learning the laws of men and their constraints.
Such teachers fear the renegade who ignores social boundaries in his upward surge—America’s eternal hero—and they should. A well-rounded education is not the cause of prosperity, but the result of pursuing an individual purpose. Individual purpose is a topic requiring courage however, and in this environment, is quickly substituted with an esteem vacuum: the lifeless void of social conformity.
Grade School
Often, our schools grade on curves instead of assuring competence. They pander to self-esteem instead of instilling the cause of self-esteem, a folly the outside world will never cater to. Their psychologists tell us that kids aren’t just unruly these days, they are sick. They have this disease or that disorder; it couldn’t be that they are kids. They have to be labeled, drugged, and told there is something wrong with them—a burden they carry for life. Ironically, this coincides with a Cold War Communist infiltration plan called Psychopolitics. Be they Cold War machinations or not, psychology is a weak science, littered with fraud, poorly thought out and poorly validated claims, which has been hijacked by pharmaceutical companies eager to exploit a new market. Read the latest DSM and you will see them recommending drugs to infants for supposed mental disorders. Infants? This is based on biomarkers; a highly questionable method of diagnosis. Claimed “treatable maladies” have expanded like a cancer, and they have set the bar so low—pacing the normal ups and downs of day-to-day life—that everyone can be considered crazy now. This is preposterous: in some cases driven by morons who pine for their ramblings to be significant, and in others, by hegemonic forces wanting control over America’s future and lifelong drug customers as gravy. Dumbing kids down and racking their bodies with drugs, such approaches pattern grade school more and more, not for independence after graduation, but as if the students will be going on welfare.
In part, the ineffectiveness of public schools stems from their disassociation with the profit motive. Private schools have to be good. Public schools are funded regardless, leaving the system free to degenerate in countless ways, including the vulnerability of dark control by elitists hostile to any new crops of free-thinking independence in those they consider “peasant” children. Welcome to the limitations of the future.
I agree with Benjamin Franklin that all citizens should be educated at least to the degree necessary to function in society, and that it serves them beyond all doubt. To assure living competence to all, public schools must maintain competitive standards of excellence and teachers should be paid by merit. While home schooling is growing in popularity (and for good reason), if you are proven to be a good teacher for your own kids, every such parent should be in front of a private classroom for specific subjects; otherwise, it is a senseless duplication of effort. Besides, kids need social skills: experience dealing with a wide variety of personality types and ages; certainly their own. We learn a lot from other kids in watching and experiencing their attributes—good and bad; something Mom and Dad can’t help us with. There are certainly troubling influences in the world, but there are many splendid forces as well, and kids need exposure to both so they can tell the difference and learn how to protect themselves from evil. On the public side, if schools hope to retain students, Mom and Dad deserve a regular vote regarding what is taught in schools, how it is taught, and what influences are permitted on school grounds.
Note to parents: If schools want to force drugs on your child for supposed disorders, including vaccines, get them out. If your child exhibits actual behavioral issues, get a blood test immediately and look for heavy metal poisoning. If the school is not focused on reading (self-generated comprehension), writing (self-expression), arithmetic (effective calculation), and the physical sciences (practical applications of thought and action), the child’s independence is at risk. Supplement their education at the very least. Proper education must address the fundamentals so the mind can operate without falsely imposed limits: cognitive structure before content, cognitive efficiency and discipline before emotional indulgence.
Note to young adults: Your parents know how hard it is to survive, and it is only getting harder. Dependent kids (those not paying for food or a place to stay) lack the mindset to judge this; only independent individuals can grasp it fully. It is a parent’s job to help provide the tools you need to launch your life right. Time is critical, and if you are wasting it on non-productive endeavors (anything that is not personal advancement, skill-honing, and career-minded) and/or are treating your parents poorly, frustrating them and their sense of urgency, you may find yourself out on the street. Benjamin Franklin threw his best friend right out of the boat when he wouldn’t row. No one has time or energy anymore to tolerate those who won’t focus and contribute. Take the goal of independence seriously (and the effort necessary to achieve it) or you may be next.