Re: [Gnu-arch-users] OT: trained dependency

[Adrian Irving-Beer]

On Wed, Nov 03, 2004 at 08:24:46AM +1100, Zenaan Harkness wrote:

> Take away the time and personal space that it takes for one to
> have independant and deep thought (loud bells every 40 minutes),
> have most work dictated from on high, publicly humiliate us by
> publicly announcing and or publishing our "exam results" for all
> to see and keep us cooped up inside for the most energetic 12
> years of our lives,

I can tell you that even with 75-minute periods, little mandatory work
except tests and projects, private exam results, and many spare periods
in large greenspace near the downtown core of a national capital, school
wasn't any less of a chore.

Whether it made us better people is a matter of opinion, though. :)


> * Pre 1850 (introduction of compulsory schooling, at gun point) between
> 92 and 98% of the (free) US population was literate. Literacy back then
> was a distinctly higher bar than we consider today.
> 
> * Many (most?) of the wealthiest and most successful people did not
> matriculate, some (19th Century) doing little to no schooling at all
> (including America's founding fathers).
> 
> Perhaps remember this: schooling, and education, are two vastly
> different things, despite the propaganda.

Even if I believe your counter-propaganda (in the dictionary sense,
'information spread to promote a cause'), which I find a little
questionable in its use of high or absolute figures, the conclusions
drawn from it seem suspect.

Even the first quoted point above makes note, via that little
parenthesised 'free', that society was much different back then.  The
'free' people you talk about were much more homogenous back then.
We're far more commercial these days.  The U.S. in particular promotes
a culture of fear and isolation.  Lawsuits due to lack of common sense
appear daily.

Most prevalent in my mind is that people in general are lazier than
ever before.  If something isn't mandatory in their lives, they don't
want to do it.  Even if it *is* mandatory, they want some tool to
avoid doing it themselves.  Making people smarter is not something you
can automate.

With this mentality, if school were to become non-mandatory again, I
think we'd see education levels drop to an all-time low.

Sure, it's possible that mandatory schooling has contributed to some
of these societal issues.  But from the stats you quoted, I'm
unconvinced.  Instead, I'm reminded of a quote from fortune:

<aj> <Knghtbrd> the increase in tension worldwide (as evidenced by crime
<aj>            and whatnot) over that time period looks a lot like Linux
<aj>            growth since 1993
<aj> ``Linux linked to worldwide crime epidemic!!''

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