Manorfire

Is modern education more about 'indoctrination' for the purposes of maintaining the current economic climate, rather than about engendering 'enlightenment' according to the pace and desire of the natural curiosities of the student?

If you foster the correct environment in which children can pursue their own interests, without hierarchal, coercive and arbitrary institutions, is it not to wider society's advantage?

Has education become just the means of regulating the competition in the job market, with the certificate of intellect serving solely as a tool for marketability? But, when this obligatory route ceases, and the formal stage is complete, has this business-led system truly instilled the desire for life-long learning?

Has anyone read the views of John Dewey or Bertrand Russell in relation to education? These people base their ideas on certain assumptions they've made about human nature:

Humans have a natural urge for freedom.
Humans have natural creativity.
Humans have inherently social urges.
Humans have moral urges.
Humans have self-perfecting urges.
Humans have competitive urges.

Does your current State educational system use any of these supposed 'natural inclinations' as their foundation approach to education? If these assumptions were valid, would your country benefit more from such an education system?

For me, the current purpose of state education here in Britain, is to create an illusion of equal opportunity, while ignoring freedom of opportunity. It's not meant for the individual - the empty vessel - but to give mass immunity against flagrant ignorance. This 'conformity training' means you've no 'excuse' for pissing on the pavement or a career in Burger King...you were given the chance to learn.

("I never let my schooling get in the way of my education." - Mark Twain)