One way or another we have all enjoyed education. And that word, enjoy, is precisely the issue facing the state of education today. Because when you look back at your schooling experience, from the first day away from your parents to the day your graduation released you, can you truly say you enjoyed it? Can you honestly say that you spent those years thriving, learning and taking full advantage of your childhood? If you do, congratulations, consider yourself lucky. But I think I speak for many when I say that so many hours in the meatgrinder that is the school system where either wasted on frivolous things or even worse: hours spent crushing your spirit and leaving a bad test in your mouth when you think about learning.
I for one do not believe that this is a mere coincidence or purely a matter of which particular school you went to. I think crushing the free, curious spirit of children has been a feature and not a bug since the beginning, even though many teachers may not have that intent. Over the course of the following posts, I would like to go on a journey with you to explore the origins of the modern public schooling paradigm, the problems arising from it, and the possible alternatives.
I won’t do this purely from scratch, without standing on the shoulder of the giants who thought and wrote about this challenge before me. One major inspiration is John Taylor Gatto, who through Dumbing us Down and The Underground History of American Education has shined a critical light on the state of modern education. Another inspiration is the work Corey DeAngelis has been doing with Reason, FEE, multiple podcasts, and on Twitter. He strikes me as not only a thoroughly passionate defender of educational freedom but also an exceptionally well-informed one. Together I hope we can find a way forward when it comes to giving the youth of today and tomorrow the opportunities they deserve.