I think public education has had to reinvent itself in order to meet the most basic needs of the largest number of students- unfortunately this has translated into a rigidly adhered to and watered down (in terms of both breadth and depth) subject matter. (I'm speaking primarily of education in the US - I live in the UK- but am American and did most of my teaching in the US).
Because public education has been given the almost impossible task of educating every student who enters the door of the school to the same standard (although they all come with different interests, skills, and abilities), it has come to resemble a factory environment in which kids are placed on an assembly line and rolled through.
There's very little time or space to accomodate the learning pace and desires or natural curiousity of each individual student.
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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?
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I think ideally, yes. I don't know about anyone else, but I feel more and more the reality of the situation is that conformity to the status quo is often rewarded moreso than individualism. It seems that individualism makes people uncomfortable, while conformity it something they can understand.
I do agree that that education has become primarily a means of regulating the competition in the job market, with the certificate serving as a tool for marketability. But a lot of that is because that is what society values. Society doesn't seem to place great value on learning for the joy of learning. It's all supposed to lead to something- a job- a standard of living.
In terms of humans having a natural urge for freedom, this may have been true when Dewey and even Russel were writing. But I think freedom at this point, at least in developed western societies such as the US and UK, is taken for granted. I think the concept of "belonging" is more valued than that of "freedom".
And while I think humans have a natural urge for creativity, some moreso than others, it seems to me that creativity is becoming both less apparent and less valued. Kids today are indoctrinated to be passive observers in so many of their activities that a lot of their active creativity is never developed and eventually just dies.
I think humans are still a social animal and value their ability to function and "fit" within a group. Maybe this is another reason why creativity and individualism is less apparant.
I think that human are still self-perfecting, maybe even moreso than they've been in the past, but not in terms of intellect or creativity as much as outward appearance.
The US educational system definitely focuses on and hones the competitive urges of students.
I don't think the kids would know how to handle an educational system that emphasized individual achievement based on curiousity and desire to learn and the ability to function creatively and independently. They'd have to be debriefed and reindoctrinated.
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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.
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Same in the US.
I'm teaching adults (for the first time) here in the UK. I have to say I love it. These are people who did not succeed in school in their youth, but have come back to it - and are thirsty to learn. I think they will become life-long learners. This is encouraging to me.