My thesis: We are in a re-engineered society.
We are a mess.
Now, so many generations have lived through it, we are officially blind to it.
The problem: The school system. It is as American as apple pie and it's time we learned to hate apples. (just a metaphor.) And, P.S. 70% of people hate their jobs as you will read below. So, it just keeps getting worse.
In 1918 all states required every child to attend elementary school. Without going into the evolution of public education into present day, we can all agree there are
1- Children must be in school a certain number of days or the parents get in legal trouble. Even home schoolers have to check in with their local school district like teenagers rushing home to beat curfew. Private schools also answer to the government. There is not much independence in a private school.
2- Parents do not have a say in what is taught, how it is taught, and how children are assessed. It's been going on for so long, most adults don't question it. They had the same education and don't question whether it's been useful or not in the lives, so they put their children through the same so called rite of passage.
3- Your transcript has become an invisible profiling tool. For good or bad, it labels you for quite a bit of your life until you're old enough to laugh at it and not care.
4- Schools are used to track your child's medical history. I thought medical records were confidential? The vaccine registry? ( Remind you of anything?) I don't even have time here to delve into the ADHD problem and how schools try to practice medicine without a license.
5- Vaccines must be given and tracked in order for a child to attend school. Since we're so brain washed (sorry I couldn't come up with a water-downed word to make it sound less harsh) that children must be in school, we rush to the doctors office getting the shots, even though it is a civil rights issue to raise your child as you see fit. Many families do not want this medical intrusion and don't want vaccines and now must put that in writing. Putting it in writing is egregious. It is still nobody's business.
6- Dare I add this? Since school is a requirement and we are taxed in order to fund these money eating social projects, both parents work outside the home, deteriorating the family. How many parents are scrambling to find day care when schools are on break? The family dynamic goes into a temporary upheaval. And since both parents are compelled to work, for benefits and insurance, they can be trapped in unfulfilling jobs that rob them of their health (but they have insurance for that). Bosses take advantage of this and really instill burdensome work policies, intolerable work environments. Workers stab each other in the back. Work politics are dirty and people take it out on each other. When you think about it, the work place is a rehash of the intolerable dramas of our school days. The project is a complete success. (Check out the 2013 study that shows 70% of people hate their jobs.) Oh! I almost forgot about before and after school programs in place to solve our problems....
The solution? You first have to agree there is a problem. The solution is freedom. And perhaps a re-definition of freedom? Where would you like to begin?
I picked on schools because public schools have been around for a long time, so we expect it to be wholesome and wonderful. But we've backed ourselves into a corner with such strict, limiting beliefs.........
As I said: Where would you like to begin?
