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« We can hope... | Main | cy's new favorite phrases »
"Real Life"
May 31, 2003
cen posted this quote from John Holt. It's so perfect. Yes.
"I wish I had a dollar for every ... defender of the schools who talks about Real Life; it's almost never the fascinating courses, or the challenging teachers - their only concern [is] that home-schooled children will miss the "social life" of schools. And when I point out that for the most part the social life of schools is mean-spirited, selfish, snobbish, conformist, ruthless, cold-hearted and often downright cruel and violent, nobody disagrees. "That's Real Life.'" they say, ... "[y]ou have to prepare children for the real world. How else are they ever going to get along with others?" Notice that they don't mean others who treat each other with kindness and dignity; they can't seem to conceive of that ..." -John Holt
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Comments
That IS a good quote. And I agree that an unspoken (& sometimes openly) premise behind early public schooling is that children have to be "trained" over a long period time to conform to societal expectations.
The logic goes that they have to put their nose to the grindstone in order to learn how to put their nose to the grindstone. Starting in Kindergarten they learn how to stand in line and how to follow school rules. Because compliant little automatons are easier for teachers to teach.
One day I had a negative interaction with my son's substitute teacher and I stomped straight over to the principle and complained. Her response was that kids have to put up with bad teachers because negative things are a live experience, too.
Just want to also mention a terrific thread about homeschooling that is happening right now on The Winnower, and Australian women's forum:
http://pub18.ezboard.com/fthewinnowerfrm9.showMessage?topicID=59.topic