RE: Giving up on education

[Aidan Ward <aidan_ward@antelopes.com>]

Dear all,

Larry Shapiro writes in favour of "hard" targets such as relative 
economic success. Leaving aside nonsenses like "90% of children must 
exceed the mean" and the thought that if most children do better then 
their parents economically that implies some huge issues elsewhere, I 
am saying something completely different.

Modern politics is 90% spin and 10% trying to change things. When a 
"target" gets adopted politically it becomes impossible to address 
because the spin comes first. Once education gets into the spotlight, 
children learn that their needs come second to the needs of the 
system. And since education is compulsory, there is little room to 
challenge this worst-of-all citizenship lessons. Measurement is a 
proxy for repression, and the repressors have to state universally 
and consistently that this is in the best interest of the children.

There ought to be a debate about the nature of education and its 
goals that paid attention to the warning signals, such as increases 
in autistic spectrum disorders, the size of the school population 
that rejects its authority, the evidence that the curriculum 
suppresses the ability to think independently. The incredibly narrow 
definitions we have of success simply allow a perfect cover for abject failure.

Does anyone want to suggest evidence that the education system 
provides something they are happy to value as leading children out of 
ignorance and conformity?

Aidan Ward