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Compulsory School: training in eradication of the learning process
In several countries there is much upheaval these days concerning the increasing popularity of Home Education concepts, such as Natural Learning, Unschooling or any hint of an environment in which a boy or girl learns freely, according to their evolving interests, rather than government-determined assumptions.
Even in the face of mounting evidence, governments, teachers' unions and boards of education most often refuse to acknowledge the truths that this societal push toward alternatives to forced schooling represents.
It is a very natural awakening in parents to the realities of what school did and did not provide them in their own youth, along with an ever increasing desire to protect their children from losing so many years of real learning, forced to follow other peoples expectations, and at the expense of relinquishing most, if not all, of their own sense of self.
"Learning"
Basic elements of learning such as exploration and discovery have been eradicated via forced schooling. Consequently real learning does not take place in schools. What does take place is one distorted aspect of the learning process, memorization. Memorization is a valid aspect of learning. However when it becomes forced as in schools, it fails to function as it does when it is self motivated, as a part of the natural learning process.
Schooled students are miss the experience of freely exploring and discovering, except within the confines of the curriculum they are expected to follow. Yet discovery is the basis for developing interests, on which real learning is based. If in doubt all one needs to do is watch a baby. The baby crawls to where ever it can, exploring its environment and making discoveries. Some of those he or she is clearly excited about and some not at all. Walking and talking are two very important ones, but the baby was not "taught" to walk and talk. He or she accomplished both the determination and learning of these highly complicated feats on their own. Yes there was visual support via bigger people walking and talking, and thus exhibiting these things, but it was the baby that did the work. There were no teachers, just the infant exploring, discovering and observing his or her own environment; self directed, without interference.
Discovery cannot be forced. When force is attempted, it is no longer discovery, but rather a forced concept or fact that one is expected to remember, again by force.
"Teacher" implies a one way process, but learning involves inquiry, a two way process. In schools the teacher is set up as the knower. The children are, most often, seen as inferior and dependent on the teacher in order to learn, irrespective of what kind of child he or she is or his or her abilities.
Recently at a Home Education conference in The Netherlands I met a woman who finally took her son out of school, when the teacher told him that his drawings were too good, and that he should not draw like that in class.
I met the boy of 14 who showed me some of his drawings of trains, and I was amazed at the detail and quality. They were high level, exacting designer-level drawings.
Learning is a process which occurs naturally when not prohibited or interfered with externally. However this is exactly what forced schooling does. It prohibits or interferes with the basics of learning, thereby disrupting the learning process, which it claims to stand for. It is a terrible lie.
Education does not have to be this way. Schools and schooling could be good, could be be beneficial, but this would require the removal of one basic element represented by one word: (compulsory). If that element is removed from schooling, the governments would no longer have a monopoly on education. Schools would have to compete to survive, not to please the government, but to please the students and their parents. This, in turn would transform schools into places that would actually support the children/students and their growth rather than fulfill some government agenda, which is often caught in political turmoil.
The challenge is that for authentic educational reform to happen, massive changes in beliefs and attitudes are required. Those parents and children choosing alternatives to forced schooling are the pioneers of changes to come.
Politicians would be better off getting on board with these changes, rather than denying them and what they represent. These alternatives are not a threat to schools nor to the society. They are, most likely, the saviors of Education.
The time for free learning support is now, because presently education systems in many countries are faltering severely. They don't work to the benefit of expanding children's innate creative potential, nor toward the high functioning society they claim to advocate. Most often these systems of "education" actually contribute very little to children nor society. It can all be changed though. In simple terms; replace compulsory with choice. Provide the right for anyone to attend a school, but eliminate compulsory schooling laws entirely.
© Kent Eaton December 2009)
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Elsa · 18/01/2010 at 16:16
Wonderful post, thank you!
You really sum up the problem when you say: "Learning is a process which occurs naturally when not prohibited or interfered with externally. However this is exactly what forced schooling does. It prohibits or interferes with the basics of learning, thereby disrupting the learning process, which it claims to stand for. It is a terrible lie."
As an ex-secondary school teacher, I've chosen to homeschool my teens allowing them to think for themselves and not to lose their love of learning as happens to so many students. We review this desicion from time to time and they say they cannot imagine being in a classroom where they have to learn specific things at specific times on someone else's decision.