Freedom of Education (three FB groups)

Friday, January 18, 2008 at 5:23pm

"If freedom of religion does not mean a "right" to compulsory attendance at State-regulated churches where clerics preach a government-approved system of belief, and freedom of assembly doesn't mean the "right" to compulsory attendance at State-run rallies where officials treat us to government-approved speeches, then why would we use the term "freedom of education" to refer to compulsory attendance at State-run schools?

"Freedom of education is not education that is controlled or delivered by the State, any more than freedom of speech is speech that is controlled or delivered by the State. Nor is "freedom" to be found within alternatives or mobility within the system (school choice, charter schools). Nor is it found in the "right" to attend State-recognized, State-regulated, privately-funded schools in lieu of State schools. Least of all is it a matter of extending government control -- a.k.a. "strings" -- any more than it already goes into so-called "private schools" (vouchers, tax credits, financial aid)."

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6128201572&ref=nf

"In compulsory schooling, there is no time for what you're curious for. In this environment there is only one type of education; schooling (learning to behave, conform, set aside personal enterprises, etc.) By putting off curiosity in every moment it arrives, one risks perpetuating stupefaction, and stunting personal growth - mind, body, and spirit.

"Further reading:

"The teenage liberation handbook, by Grace Llewellyn
Dumbing Us Down, by John Taylor Gatto

"And anything by John Holt."

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2216388359

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2210410777

Comments:

FB-friend quoth:

Thank God for homeschooling--the only true expression of the remaining freedom of education.

January 19, 2008 at 3:59pm

I answered:

Yep. Once the father used usually to chose apprenticeship according to his own métier, or possibly another, according to percieved special vocations.

January 21, 2008 at 1:53pm AND:

And the "Three Rs" were not absent from even a cobblers professional education!

January 21, 2008 at 1:54pm