Difference between revisions of "School"

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'''School''' will be familiar to most readers from their own experience. [[Ivan Illich]], in ''[[Deschooling Society]]'', referred to school as "the reproductive organ of the consumer society."<ref name=DSAB>http://www.unwelcomeguests.net/Deschooling_Society</ref> [[John Taylor Gatto]] exposed its hidden purposes in detail with his best selling ''[[Underground History of American Education]]''. It is well understood as a [[social control]] designed to make children more amenable to institutional control.<ref name=sevensins>http://themindunleashed.com/2015/05/the-seven-sins-of-our-system-of-forced-education.html</ref>
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'''School''' will be familiar to most readers from their own experience. [[Ivan Illich]], in ''[[Deschooling Society]]'', referred to school as "the reproductive organ of the consumer society."<ref name=DSAB>http://www.unwelcomeguests.net/Deschooling_Society</ref> Celebrated teacher [[John Taylor Gatto]] exposed its hidden purposes in detail with his best selling ''[[Underground History of American Education]]''. It is well understood as a [[social control]] designed to make children more amenable to institutional control.<ref name=sevensins>http://themindunleashed.com/2015/05/the-seven-sins-of-our-system-of-forced-education.html</ref>
 
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Revision as of 14:55, 13 September 2017

Concept.png School 
(propaganda,  social control)Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png 4
Mass compulsion schooling.jpg
Interest of• Carnegie Corporation
• Arne Duncan
• Stanley Kaplan
• Powerbase
"The reproductive organ of the consumer society", coming to resemble prisons more and more closely, especially in USA, where attempts have been made to criminalize those who feed the hungry or comfort the afflicted.

School will be familiar to most readers from their own experience. Ivan Illich, in Deschooling Society, referred to school as "the reproductive organ of the consumer society."[1] Celebrated teacher John Taylor Gatto exposed its hidden purposes in detail with his best selling Underground History of American Education. It is well understood as a social control designed to make children more amenable to institutional control.[2]

Official narrative

Despite its relatively recent adoption by national governments, school is the backbone of society and is vital to the development of human resources. Public schools are the center of the community and often the seat of local government as many school board members have more political capital than mayors or council members. The goal of the public school system is two fold:

1. Externally, the typical school district claims to maximize the potential of every student, regardless of mitigating factors. Teachers and administrators understand parental lack of interest in student education or distraction by poverty and are explicitly told to find ways to get parents involved. Within the community of educators, however, it is openly acknowledged that the most irritating parents are the involved ones (a.k.a. "helicopter parents," "tiger moms" or just "you know who." It is understood by the community that students are given ample opportunities to explore talents and skills and increased funding can only help a school provide more of these experiences via staffing, building additions, and supplies.

2. The internally acknowledged aim of the vast majority of school districts is to have every student either employed or invested in the higher education system by graduation. This includes fostering a sense of community within the bounds of the school and leads to su communities of young people within the larger communities. Events such as Prom, Homecoming, and student government elections are meant to bond students together and create a support system of teachers and peers independant of outside interference (via family, religion and/or Independent study.) Publicly, students given differentiated instruction but due to time constraints, teachers are expected to teach to the middle, understanding that the very lowest of students will likely never pass standardized tests regardless of instruction, and the highest students will likely pass without instruction. Lessons are designed for the approximately 60% of students who will benefit from explicit instruction.

Public controversies include NCLB, IDEA, and CCSS. While it is fine to discuss issues internally with other teachers, it is expected to fully endorse requirements to the public- at the risk of career disenfranchisement or loss of liscense. Conflicting narratives include the responsibility of the educator to both expose students to new ideas and to protect them from radical ones [3].

Problems

The public education system has very little community involvement. In general, teachers are prohibited from being appointed to the school board as a conflict of interest. This leads to a school board, especially in rural communities, comprised of parents who flex political muscles for academic favors. In general, the only power a school board has is in approving hires and fires and therefore the community can do little more than threaten a teacher with firing if they are dissatisfied with the education.

Instead, the state and federal government have passed mandates of increasing restriction and complexity requiring schools to show proficiency in areas deemed vital by elected officials and the Department of Education. Such mandates include book lists of approved texts as well as emphasis on certain subjects and skills (such as essay writing from secondary sources) and the elimination of others (such as generative writing from primary sources).

It is vital that citizens acknowledge that social indoctrination (how to behave in the world) is of primary importance to the education system and is in no way hidden to the public[4]. Kind words (as opposed to freedom of speech), gender and race equality (as opposed to equity), responsibility for past injustices (as opposed to personal responsibility) are all part of state-sanctioned lesson plans and are considered of primary importance over content-based curriculum. This is called classroom management when implicitly taught or social literacy when explicitly taught. Courses in these subjects make up a large portion of any education degree, often as "diversity training" or "behavioral management."

Forced schooling is intended to interfere with children’s abilities to educate themselves.[2]

Origins

Despite a lot of rhetoric about 'alternative' schools, the basic model of mass compulsion schooling has remain largely unchanged since its inception.

Mass compulsion schooling in the modern era first came to prominence in Prussia in the 19th century, and was swiftly followed by a huge rise in militarism in that country. Neighbours UK and France copied the tactic, while emissaries from Japan and USA were dispatched to learn how to institute forced schooling in those countries.

As so eloquently documented by John Taylor Gatto in his Underground History of American Education, the rise of compulsory education was inextricably linked with the rise of factory labour and mass production. The facade of altruism was not a high priority in the early days of school, and on occasions, children were even marched to school at gunpoint (most regularly, native American children in USA and Canada).[5] The pressure on industrialists to find compliant workers for their factories was clear. As John D. Rockefeller put it “I do not want a nation of thinkers. I want a nation of Workers. [6]

Politicians could readily appreciate the power of schools to facilitate compliance. Winston Churchill is quoted as remarking that “schools have not necessarily much to do with education... they are mainly institutions of control, where basic habits must be inculcated in the young. Education is quite different and has little place in school.” [6]

Modern extremes

Learn.gif

Although some progressive policies such as restorative justice are being tried out in US schools[7], formerly unthinkable social engineering policies are also being carried out. CCTV is not yet mandated but appears to be becoming de rigeur in US schools; by 2015, 64% of US schools were using CCTV cameras, up from 32.5% in 2003.[8]

Removing Free Speech

Free speech has been explicitly ruled to not apply to schoolchildren in US educational establishments.[citation needed] The FBI is instructing high schools across the country to report students who criticize US government policies and “western corruption”, suggesting that they are potential future "terrorists".[9]

War on drugs

Under the pretext of the "war on drugs", schools are infiltrated by police officers, and entrapment operations set up. Students have alleged that hundreds of them have been groped by police.[10]

Militarization

Poliser-735x576.jpg

Los Angeles Unified school police officials were given over 60 M-16 automatic rifles, an armored vehicle priced at $750,000 and 3 grenade launchers by the U.S. Department of Defense. Following criticism they kept the vehicle and rifles, but returned the grenade launchers, unused.[11][12]

Terror drills

Full article: Terror drill

Increasingly realistic "terror drills" are used to shock and condition children. Parents have launched legal action, citing details such as "a man wearing a mask rushed into the classroom swinging a large hammer while threatening the students with serious bodily injury and/or death."[13] Real firearms are used and the CIA has hidden real explosives in school buildings and vehicles. This emerged in 2016 after a routine check on a US school bus revealed it had been driving around with plastic explosive hidden under the hood. The CIA stated that it had been "accidentally" left there after a training exercise a week before.[14]

School-to-Prison Pipeline

Many commentators have noted the close similarity between US schools and US prisons,[15] with one noting wryly that "the difference seems to be that “modern” jails have better educational facilities and seem to be in better condition".[16] The "School-to-Prison Pipeline" refers to the fashioning of future prisoners by school policies. It affects disproportionately poor, non-caucasion students.[17]

Banning ordinary activities

As of 2016, the individual cases referred to below are by no means typical, but illustrate the training of US towards the replacement of individual consciences towards unquestioning obedience to a rigid, impersonal set of rules.

Reading books

In Canada in 2015 a school bus driver told an 8 year old girl must not read on the bus because it was dangerous. "He suggested [other students] might stand up to see what she was reading, or she might poke herself in the eye with the corners of the book." The school board deferred to the driver, saying that while reading was not dangerous per se, the bus driver could make the rules and she had to follow them. A spokesman for the bus company supported the driver.[18]

Walking to school

Some parents have been told that they must not let their children walk alone to school, even being threatened that unless they accompany their children to school, their children will be taken away from them.[19]

Feeding the hungry

Foodsharing.jpg

In 2014, Kyle Bradford, an 8th grader in California was given a detention for sharing a chicken burrito with a friend.[20]

Tending to the sick

In 2016 Anthony Ruelas, 15, witnessed his eighth grade classmate wheezing and gagging for minutes while no one did anything. He was suspended after carrying him to the school nurse.[21]

Comforting the afflicted

Jackson Heights Middle School in Oviedo, Florida has a code of conduct which prohibits “inappropriate or obscene acts” including “unwelcome or inappropriate touching, or any other physical act that is considered to be offensive, socially unacceptable or not suitable for an educational setting.” This has been interpreted as a blanket ban on hugging, holding hands, linking arms and kissing, even in the case of family members comforting one another.[22]

Mass Surveillance

"Most English and Welsh secondary schools have installed software that apparently allows teachers to continually monitor their students’ internet activity. Most schools have failed in any way to inform the youngsters parents that they are being watched. No permission is asked of pupils."[23]

Exams

School exams primarily measure obedience. Many studies have tried to link them to other correlates of 'success' in life, but the effort has not been successful, and some have found a negative correlation. Although much vaunted by school teachers, the only predictive power of examination scores is as regards subsequent score on subsequent examinations.[24]

“Tests aren't tests at all, they're drills. They're part of a psychological training package which controls the behaviour of the unsuspecting. The ultimate goal is to establish and perpetuate a hierarchy. You have to be made to feel that you failed.”
John Taylor Gatto (2007) [citation needed]

Alternatives

Many countries make school attendance compulsory. However, some allow for kids to be homeschooled or to attend independent schools such as free schools. After an upswing the 1960s and a decline in the 1970s, democratic schools are becoming increasingly popular again in USA.[25]

 

Examples

Page nameStartedLocationAlumniDescription
Abingdon School1100 JLUnited Kingdom4"Highly selective, strongly academic" upper-class English boarding school for boys
Ackworth School1779United Kingdom
West Yorkshire
Quaker school in England. Most of today's pupils are not Quakers, but the school retains a strong Quaker ethos.
Ampleforth College1802Yorkshire
UK
11UK establishment day and boarding school with decades of sexual abuse and cover ups.
Ardingly College1858United Kingdom
West Sussex
Ardingly
3Public boarding school for the British establishment
Bedales School5
Bishop's Stortford College1868United Kingdom
Hertfordshire
3Day and boarding school in Hertfordshire, England
Blackrock College1860Dublin
Eire
2Catholic boarding school for boys in Ireland
Bryanston School3Has a reputation as a liberal and artistic school. Highest school fees in England.
Charterhouse School1611United Kingdom
Surrey
UK
Smithfield
23Regarded to be among the most prestigious schools in the world due to the school's history and influence
Cheltenham Ladies' College18534Prestigious English girls school.
Christ's Hospital1552 JL8British public boarding school
City of London School1442 JLCity of London
UK
107 Queen Victoria Street
3
Dalton School19193Long seen as a bastion of privilege, Dalton is one of New York City’s most prestigious private schools. Also mysteriously hired an unqualified Jeffrey Epstein.
Dame Alice Owen's School1613United Kingdom
Hertfordshire
2Prestigious state school in England
Diocesan College1849South Africa1Interesting for Rhodes Scholarship / Milner group networks; embraced apartheid military role
East Greenwich Academy1802US
Rhode Island
1Boarding school in Rhode Island that closed in 1943.
Eastbourne College18672
Edinburgh Academy1824Scotland
Edinburgh
UK
4Independent school in Edinburgh, Scotland, opened in 1824.
Eton College1440 JL98A long established UK school, popular with the UK deep state
Fettes College1870Scotland
Edinburgh
10'The Scottish Eton'
Galatasaray High School1481 JLTurkey
Istanbul
11Oldest high school in Turkey.
Geelong Grammar School1855Australia
Victoria (Australia)
Geelong
11Ruling class school. The school's fees are the most expensive in Australia.
George Watson's College1741Scotland
Edinburgh
UK
6First in Scotland and 29th in the UK for the number of the nation's leading people produced.
Gordonstoun School1934Scotland
Moray
8Boarding school in Scotland popular with the aristocracy
Groton SchoolUS
Massachusetts
28Exclusive boarding school in Massachusetts, USA. Lots of people who later became deep state operatives and spooks.
Hampton Grammar School1557 JLLondon
United Kingdom
3Boys' day school in Hampton, Greater London. One of the top school rowing clubs in the country.
Harrow School1572 JL39One of the four boy's schools where the old British elite is raised.
Headington School1915United Kingdom
Oxford
1Independent girls' school in Oxford
HollywoodThe most influential cinema industry of the world is in the US. It holds some dark secrets regarding child rape, social engineering and more.
Hotchkiss School1891US
Connecticut
20US Establishment boarding school.
Institut Le Rosey1880Switzerland
Rolle
13Very posh Swiss boarding school
Juilliard School1905New York
US
4Prestigious dance, drama, and music school
Kadıköy Maarif College1955Turkey
Istanbul
1Prestigious high school in Istanbul
King's College School1829London
UK
3One of the highest academically performing schools in the UK
King's School (Canterbury)5
Lawrenceville School1810US2One of the oldest and most expensive preparatory schools in the United States
Loretto Academy1923US
Texas
El Paso
1Private Roman Catholic school in El Paso, Texas
Lycée Henri-IV1796France
Paris
5Considered one of the most demanding and prestigious secondary schools in France.
Lycée Louis-le-GrandFrance
Paris
14
Malvern CollegeUnited Kingdom
Malvern
UK
6
Marlborough College184318
Melbourne Grammar7 April 1858Australia
Melbourne
Victoria (Australia)
6Melbourne establishment school with influential old boys network that "opens up pathways."
Millbrook School2
Millfield School193511Many later deep state operatives
Milton Academy1798US
Boston
5
Moreton Hall School1913United KingdomUK boarding and day school
New College School1379 JLOxford
Oxfordshire
UK
1School tied to New College, Oxford.
Oslo Commerce School1875Norway
Oslo
3A traditional mercantile high school in "the best part" of Oslo.
Phillips Academy1778Massachusetts
Phillips Academy
29Long established Preparatory school for the US ruling class
Phillips Exeter Academy1781New Hampshire29A very large number of CIA and deep state operatives have attended this school.
... further results

 

Related Quotations

PageQuoteAuthorDate
George Carlin“Governments don’t want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They're not interested in that... that doesn't help them. That’s against their interests. They don't want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table and think about how badly they are getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fuckin' years ago. They don't want that. You know what they want?... They want obedient workers, obedient workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it.”George Carlin
George Carlin“Where would we be without our safe, familiar, American bullshit? "Land of the Free," "Home of the Brave," "The American Dream," "All men are equal," "Justice is blind," "The Press is free," "Your vote counts," "Business is honest," "The good guys win," "The police are on your side," "God is watching you," "Your standard of living will never decline" and "Everything is going to be just fine:" the official national bullshit story. I call it the American Okie Doke. Every one, every one of those items is provably untrue at one level or another, but we believe them because they’re pounded into our heads from the time we’re children. That's what they do with that kind of thing—pound it into the heads of kids, 'cause they know the children are much too young to be able to muster an intellectual defense against a sophisticated idea like that, and they know that, up to a certain age, children believe everything their parents tell them. And as a result, they never learn to question things. Nobody questions things in this country anymore.”George Carlin
John Taylor Gatto“As a vampire fears garlic, the marketplace fears wisdom. Well schooled populations are usually trained to pay lip service to democracy. At the same time, they are being conditioned to avoid the attitudes and behaviors democracy requires. It's a dilemma without an easy answer, because though our national consciousness honors the idea of a democratic society, our national economy and our government would wither and die under anything less than a command-and-control reality. Would you teach critical judgment and moral behavior to everybody? Tell me something, if you would. How could an economy like ours, grounded in the global sale of war machinery, industrially produced meat, fruit and vegetables which has a nutritional value about half of what farm products did in 1940, that relies on financial trickery and the mass sale of magical programs of schooling (not all of them inside school). How could an economy like this endure in a climate of critical intelligence?”John Taylor Gatto2008
John Taylor Gatto“You've heard the expression... "self-fulfilling prophecies". School is set up to certify the social class system and the economic class system that's in place now.”John Taylor Gatto
Donald Jeffries“The way history is presented to Americans, from the youngest schoolchildren to the doctorate-level Ivy Leaguers, mirrors the way news is presented to the public. Much as it is difficult to find a single issue or event which the mainstream media has reported on accurately, it is just as difficult to find any historical event, or historical figure, portrayed honestly by establishment historians. We still see everyone from history professors to late-night comedians referring to any opponent of the establishment with a mean-spirited, impossibly caricatured negativity.”Donald Jeffries2019
John Lennon“The people have the power, all we have to do is awaken that power in the people. The people are unaware. They’re not educated to realize that they have power. The system is so geared that everyone believes the government will fix everything. We are the government.”John Lennon
H.L. Mencken“The state maintains its control of elementary education, not primarily to reduce illiteracy and turn the eyes of the plain people toward the stars, but to make sure that they are not taught anything that is subversive. Public education is thus a police measure.”H.L. Mencken1924
Woodrow Wilson“We want one class of persons to have a liberal education, and we want another class of persons, a very much larger class, of necessity, in every society, to forgo the privileges of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks.”Woodrow Wilson1909


Rating

4star.png 9 September 2016 Robin  A thought provoking set of observations
This page could do with more examples, but sketches out a distressing picture of how schools - particularly in the USA - are being used to prepare the next generation for an obscene, totalitarian autocracy.
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References

  1. http://www.unwelcomeguests.net/Deschooling_Society
  2. a b http://themindunleashed.com/2015/05/the-seven-sins-of-our-system-of-forced-education.html
  3. http://www.channel4.com/news/bethnal-green-academy-head-girls-radicalised
  4. http://www.state.nj.us/education/holocaust/911/k12curr.pdf
  5. https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/41319.John_Taylor_Gatto
  6. a b http://www.humansandresources.org/node/18
  7. http://www.projectcensored.org/24-restorative-justice-turns-violent-schools-around/
  8. http://www.infowars.com/in-controversial-effort-to-stop-violence-ohio-tries-school-barricades/
  9. http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/fbi-has-new-plan-spy-high-school-students-across-country
  10. https://www.democracynow.org/2017/6/9/headlines/georgia_900_students_sue_claiming_police_groped_them_in_drug_search
  11. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-schools-weapons-20140917-story.html
  12. https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2014/dec/04/pentagon-finally-details-its-weapons-cops-giveaway/
  13. https://www.courthousenews.com/parents-call-school-drill-abusive-harmful/
  14. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/cia-left-explosive-material-on-loudoun-school-bus-after-training-exercise/2016/03/31/428f9824-f78d-11e5-a3ce-f06b5ba21f33_story.html
  15. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/when-high-school-students-are-treated-like-prisoners-20130912
  16. http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/03/31/amerikan-education-is-it-a-school-or-is-it-a-prison/
  17. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/tsr/education-under-arrest/school-to-prison-pipeline-fact-sheet/
  18. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-girl-told-to-stop-reading-book-by-school-bus-driver-1.3043652
  19. http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/01/17/maryland-parents-investigated-for-neglect-after-letting-their-kids-walk-home-from-school-alone/#more-90868
  20. http://www.naturalcuresnotmedicine.com/parents-outraged-student-punished-helping-hungry-friend/
  21. http://www.11alive.com/story/news/crime/2016/01/21/student-suspended-after-carrying-student-having-asthma-attack-nurse/79105014/
  22. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/14-year-old-girl-gets-a-detention-for-hugging-friend-having-bad-day-a6722441.html
  23. http://www.globalresearch.ca/britannia-titanic-uk-surveillance-state-more-suited-to-dictatorship-than-a-democracy/5587268
  24. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9fIdHpFoxI
  25. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/30/brooklyn-free-school-_n_2214263.html