School does X to teach you.

[fish20]

I HATE when people use "learning" as an excuse for all the problems with school.

"School gives you homework to teach you responsibility."

"Grades are so school can teach you that you will be judged in your life."

"School has a dress code to teach you that you have to dress formally."

"You do work in school so you can prepare to do your job."

"Teachers have more authority than you because school wants to teach you how it feels to have a boss."

"School is forced so you can learn that you do not get to blow off your job in the real world."

"School is there to teach you how to act in the real world."

ETC.

I have heard these things either in person or around the internet.

[Crow]

The ONLY thing school should teach us, is what we want to learn. Not a shitload of stupid stuff that is ''important for our future/the real life''.

[Absnt]

It's fucking indoctrination.

"School teaches you how to live in the world."

How much more proof of indoctrination do you need? How to live in the world? I can do that just fine on my own, thank you. I don't need the government to "tell me how to live.".

[aerftghyjk]

Basically the "they have a reason for it" excuse? That gets old quickly. Sure, you may have a reason, but is it a good reason? Hitler currently had reasons for his actions.

[AngryCollegeDude]

Absentinsomniac Wrote:It's fucking indoctrination.

"School teaches you how to live in the world."

How much more proof of indoctrination do you need? How to live in the world? I can do that just fine on my own, thank you. I don't need the government to "tell me how to live.".

Exactly. There are so many things wrong with that kind of thinking I don't even know where to start. But many people here are probably aware of those reasons.

I would say that 99.9% of the time when someone forces something against your will "for your own good", they are in the wrong. You know yourself best so there is no need for anybody to control you "for your own good" with the exception of extenuating circumstances (pushing you out of the way of a car you don't see coming). Really, most of the justifications I hear for teachers making stupid rules is the presense of other stupid rules for adults. It's nothing about why the rules are right or fair, but just that we "have to obey them". If that's not indoctrination, I don't know what is.

A variation I get tired of is when I ask why I have to learn all this "liberal arts" stuff when I'm not majoring in it. I've actually heard people say how can you get by without knowing (Author from 200 years ago) is?! I ask why I need to learn that. If I do get an explaination, it's something like "It teaches you critical analysis skills". To which I respond that I can get those skills doing other things, things I actually enjoy. Then I get those who say "well if you can't pass a few courses in such and such how can you master the job?". When for all they know, the job has NOTHING TO DO WITH THOSE STUPID COURSES. It's not about what you want to be good at, it's about what you'll put up with from control freak managers.

Fuck em all.

[flann]

AngryCollegeDude Wrote:I've actually heard people say how can you get by without knowing (Author from 200 years ago) is?!

The only author I care about from 200 years ago is Jules Verne.
But, that's what I care about, and now we have teachers telling me what I care about. No, I do not care for the well being of this country. Too many nationalists here.

[genuine anarchist]

Here are my responses to those excuses for school:

Quote:"School gives you homework to teach you responsibility."

I learned responsibility by taking care of my family, only paying for things I can afford (if I want nice things, I have to work, and I sure as hell won't get into debt for a shiny new thing that I probably won't need in the future), taking care of my body by eating and working out, and informing myself of what's going on in the world so I can expand my views and learn to tolerate others. I don't need homework that isn't relevant AT ALL to the world I live in. How does differentiating functions and shit teach me to do things that aren't even on my priority list?

Quote:"Grades are so school can teach you that you will be judged in your life."

On what standards? You're judged by what you accomplish, not how much you cheat to get grades or marks. Grades teach you to bend over and conform to a set of standards somebody else made up, not to be judged on actual merit or by being a good person. Plenty of dumbasses can get a promotion just by saying the right thing to their boss or getting someone else to do their work for them.

Quote:"School has a dress code to teach you that you have to dress formally."

Unless you're working as a mechanic, game tester, or plenty of other fields. Sure, some jobs require uniform, but at least you can leave the company if you don't want to be indoctrinated. Not everyone wants to look like everyone else, so forcing people to look "formal" for their own good does more harm than actual good.

Quote:"You do work in school so you can prepare to do your job."

Except that the work in school does not help you with any job since it's not at all relevant (except being a teacher...maybe).

Quote:"School is there to teach you how to act in the real world."

Like a conforming, souless zombie only concerned with temporary breaks set by a higher power or consumerism as a shallow form of escape, never questioning anything or expanding your world because your mental capacities have been beaten down by years of pointless indoctrination? Hm...sounds like the average American, if you ask me.

[LightAbyssion]

Most tyrants like to claim some higher power or good reason for their actions. It's just demagogy, words they use to conceal their lust for control. They're appealing to the insecure children who are afraid of the future.

Discluding the people on this site, most of the current generation don't exactly know what the "real world" is. Kids believe they need guidance from teachers and parents to prepare for this terrible future. They fail to realize they're living in the real world right now. Thus, they believe all the rhetoric thrown at them in school is for their own good.

Only the naive would think these corporate types are helpful saints who are "just looking out for us."