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L..E.Gant

I was actually a voracious reader with a reading age well above my years and `i used to take out and read a lengthy book at the library every day but with a few notable exceptions we did not have teachers who taught us about the classics and philosophy and such like. I was not really aware of that. I am still catching up on that.

posted by beachbelle on November 4, 2004 at 12:23 AM | link to this | reply

Beachbelle:

I was lucky in that I learned to read before I went to school - when the rest were still doing Dick, Jane and Spot, I was already into Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, Coral Island, John Buchan. Books that they would only find when they were 12 or older. I might have been dyslexic and a bit ADHD (both true), but that didn't stop me from finding the library, the used bookstores and browsing through magazines.

Mind you, I was NOT the most popular pupil with the teachers - I knew too much to be brainwashed (and the dyslexia and ADHD helped as well) 

posted by L.E.Gant on November 3, 2004 at 11:13 PM | link to this | reply

L.E.Gant. My own education, or lack of it, illustrates this.

I am unable to summon up from the top of my head quotes from the great scholars and thinkers. It is only now I can seen how mediocre the system was. There were a handful of teachers who made us think.
I learned a smattering of approved material and beyond that left school with an empty head and what was to all intents and purposes a big F although it was described as a pass to make their numbers look good. But the truth is that the system produced millions like me to fit in their version of society.
Ever since then I have sought to catch up. Although one can make great strides if that time of rapid learning is squandered it is never recovered.

posted by beachbelle on November 3, 2004 at 4:06 PM | link to this | reply

Well Beach

I guess our job just got harder. :)

posted by MerryAnne on November 3, 2004 at 2:33 PM | link to this | reply

Now, who was the guy who...

stated that education in today's world is more about training people to support the status quo? Chomsky? Earlier? Quite a few people have been saying that the education system has long been more about giving the young only information that keeps them in line with what the powers that be want.

Huxley's Brave New World was one version of the same - a few alphas, more betas and the most gammas, created in the "womb" with the mix of chemicals that would keep them in their right place in society. Orwell's 1984 said the same thing - make sure that everybody has only officially sanctioned information for their decisions. Even Aristotle and Plato - "give me your young and I will make them what they need to be". (note: that last could be wrongly attributed, but the thought was there)

I'm not particularly for religions, but, for centuries, the Church has been the ONLY bulwark against the State training up people to be what the State needed (cannon fodder or good consumers). And, of course, finally we have reached the point where the Church (in any of its forms) is more or less demonised - no prayers, weak re-translations that support PCness.

And all in the name of safety, protection and, as Ayn Rand suggested/illustrated, the power of the weak and non-productive to benefit from the talents and powers of those who are individual enough to break out from the restraints of collective thinking.

(end of diatribe, for now.)

posted by L.E.Gant on November 3, 2004 at 2:29 PM | link to this | reply

Tremacc you are right, we must not leave it all to others

posted by beachbelle on November 3, 2004 at 1:37 PM | link to this | reply

It is a challenge Aardvark, and is a threat to civil society

posted by beachbelle on November 3, 2004 at 1:37 PM | link to this | reply

MerryAnne

Trouble is children are not trained to think critically now

posted by beachbelle on November 3, 2004 at 1:36 PM | link to this | reply

This is a topic that

is discussed often in our house. how to be sure that our children won't be sheep and follow the masses, but to be aboe to think critically and make their own decisions. A good library is a great resource.

posted by MerryAnne on November 3, 2004 at 12:26 PM | link to this | reply

Ignorance and fear inevitably play a role in shaping us, but providing balance and "thinking tools" will help. I face a similar challenge with my children.

posted by aardvark on November 3, 2004 at 12:13 PM | link to this | reply

On the overall figurative message of the post--- I understand the thoughts and feelings that you are grappling with... especially in regard to how it will shape your child's future.   All we can do is be a part of the process.    That's all that we can do.

posted by Tremac on November 3, 2004 at 11:35 AM | link to this | reply