Obliterating Our Humanity: The True Costs of Public Schools(Article)

[Three]

I hope you enjoy this article written by me. 






 

 

 

There’s this playful question I’ve been asked on occasion during casual conversation when things start to steer into drab which is, “If you could have any super power and could only pick one, what superpower would you choose?”

My answer has certainly changed throughout the years. As a child, I probably would have favored psychic powers. This makes sense because when you are a child you are particularly small, powerless, and are being relentlessly herded into doing things against your will, so being able to complete chores or send bullies flying into the nearest tree would have been a great way to compensate.

As a hormonally hypercharged teenager, I probably would have opted to choose x-ray vision in order to get a more satisfying view of what’s underneath those oh so tight jeans that really had a way of emphasizing the other person’s figure, which were clearly being worn so that I could appreciate it. But seriously, there’s probably no better way to relieve oneself from the brain numbing, hellacious torture that is high school, wherein you are forced to sit through incredibly dull and under-stimulating classes, than by escaping into the pleasurable sensations that are provoked through sexual fantasy.

By the time I graduated High School, I felt stuck in what at the time seemed to be a kind of psychological limbo. I was still living at my parent’s house and hated it, and yearned for a life more satisfying, yet I was still afraid to venture out into the unknown. Because of this, I would have been impartial towards choosing Goku’s Instant Transmission technique, which is just a fancier way of saying teleportation, but it looks way cooler. That way, I could have been able to go anywhere in the world at will and without being bound by any of the physical boundaries that separate the continents or by the psychological boundaries that comes from the heavy stress of fearing failure. After all, it would have been impossible to become stranded or homeless since whenever things got too difficult, I could just teleport to safety.

Now that I’m a much more enriched individual who in spite of working a minimum wage job is far better off materially than anyone who managed to work their way up into the comforts of the middle class during the 70’s, and who, because of today’s technological blessings I can stay connected with friends who even live on the other side of the world; the superpower I would choose now would be far less self centered. If I had to choose now, my super power would be this: I would choose the ability to magically replace all of the countless hours that have been wasted in school memorizing trivial, inconsequential, useless facts, such as the year in which the ”Emergency Quota Act” was signed with hours of developing emotional intelligence and the five key areas which that entails, such as self awareness, self-management, motivation, empathy, and social skills. I was inspired to consider this after I read an article this morning entitled, “ Emotional Intelligence: The Social Skills You Weren’t Taught in School”.

 

Sadly, the majority of us who have been pushed through the gauntlet of public schools come out on the other side still functionally retarded in many ways, particularly in the realm of emotional intelligence and I would not hesitate to put myself in that category. “Ah”, you may say, “but there are still many things I and many others have learned in public school that have been beneficial!” That may well be the case, but in order to objectively assess the value of the time spent doing anything, we must also considering the opportunity costs. In other words, we must consider the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative action. Revealing the hidden costs of things is the basis on which any rational school of economics is based.

So, while it may be true that some people come out of the public school system with superb math skills, which do indeed serve them well in a lucrative career in mechanical engineering down the road, because such a person has not developed effective self management skills they might be plagued with crippling anxiety because they also haven’t developed the self awareness to realize that their panic attacks are largely exasperated by their own negative thinking, which often spirals into catastrophizing.

Or, to take an even worse case, while such a person might enjoy the satisfaction that comes from having more than enough money in his bank account and by being able to wear brand name suits as if they were an honorable badge of being “successful”, such a person might never know the even greater satisfaction that comes from having fulfilling relationships because, due to his own lacking in the areas of effective communication and empathy, he alienates those around him by his own selfish and belligerent behavior since other people’s needs don’t even show up on his radar and because when he does not get his needs met, all he knows is to resort to screaming at people like an overgrown infant.

It’s worth noting that for the sake of being generous, so far I’ve only suggested the ways in which government schools are merely neglectful. In addition to coming out of public schools lacking many valuable skills, people come out of public schools severely traumatized, with their curiosity, spontaneity, and creativity all but destroyed. So, by no means are these institutions only merely neglectful; they are actively harmful. To take one egregious example, one U.S Department of Education report states an Avg. of 29,000 yearly cases of childhood sexual abuse are perpetrated by public school employees, compared to an Avg. of 201 yearly cases that are perpetrated by catholic priests.

 

 

Going back to the benefits of emotional intelligence, such emotional skills would admittedly only be valuable to someone who desires the plethora of benefits that come from being in touch with one’s emotions in the first place. Having happy relationships, wherein both parties feel equally cherished and respected as well as the peace of mind which comes from such a great gift might sound wonderful to me, but for all I know there are people who don’t desire those things at all and thus, learning such emotional skills would be a complete waste of time. It is for this reason why even if I did have the magic power of granting emotional intelligence to people, I wouldn’t make the mistake that government schools make by imposing my standards onto others against their will. I am just not wise enough to know, nor am I arrogant enough to pretend to know what the best use of your time is or what goals should be set for you based on your unique interests, priorities, strengths, and weaknesses, let alone that of hundreds of millions of people.

It is truly astounding that most people would fully recognize the level of absurd pretentiousness that would be embedded in the request for me, my friends, or a even a company composed of brilliant people, such as Google or Tesla motors, to have access to a full arsenal of weaponry so that they may then enforce a monopoly over educational standards, which they deem fit, upon hundreds of millions yet, somehow when the same ability is requested by far less competent imbeciles in Washington, who have a solid track record of nothing but failure, they are then willing to give these people money and support. Not only that, but these very same people then, despite all evidence to the contrary, cry out that without the government people would not properly be educated and then proceed to accuse anyone who dares to consider peaceful alternatives to the problem of education that don’t involve the bloody might of the state as “lacking consideration.”

 

 

 

 

The fact that such an astonishingly flagrant example of cognitive dissonance is the default state of mind for the majority of the population and passes for rational discourse in our society not only demonstrates precisely the kind of hideous damage that can occur to the mind as a result public school “education”, but furthermore it also reveals the most dire cost of public school, which is how it effectively trains people to support the very same violence that is obliterating their humanity.

 

[J. D. Stembal]

When I think about the opportunity costs and imposed standards of public school, I am reminded of my father timing my brother with a stopwatch as he completed his math homework assignments.

 

My father made a critical comment about my brother's time because it wasn't completed quickly enough. The sense of defeat was palpable. All I wanted to do at age eight was make stick forts and climb trees. Is memorizing multiplication tables really that crucial to the success of a child?

[Three]

When I think about the opportunity costs and imposed standards of public school, I am reminded of my father timing my brother with a stopwatch as he completed his math homework assignments.

 

My father made a critical comment about my brother's time because it wasn't completed quickly enough. The sense of defeat was palpable. All I wanted to do at age eight was make stick forts and climb trees. Is memorizing multiplication tables really that crucial to the success of a child?

 

I'm sorry to hear that. That's a chilling example of how a person's joy in learning is eroded over time. It's really not crucial unless ones goal is to enter into a career that involves using multiplication tables..

 

:/