August 9th, 2010 
admin When people find out that I never graduated high-school, they are often shocked. They know I am very smart and knowledgeable, and they think that means I should not have dropped out of school. This probably means that they either think a person cannot learn outside of school, or that a smart person would not choose to drop out of school.
Not only can a person learn outside of school, I believe that a person can and usually does learn better without institutional schooling. In turn, a truly smart person would neither go to school nor send their children to school–at least not to the mainstream public schools.
In my experience, mainstream schools do not teach children to learn. The goal of these schools is not education, but rather socialization and indoctrination. The point of mainstream schools and standardized education is to turn unique, free-spirited individuals into standardized, obedient workers.
Children are naturally inquisitive and curious, but the mainstream education system does not want children who think for themselves and ask questions. The mainstream education system wants children who unquestioningly believe what they are told and unquestioningly do what they are told. To that end, the mainstream education system attempts to destroy children’s innate curiosity and free-spirit.
Instead of letting children naturally learn what they want, the school system shoves an “education” down the children’s throats, which unfortunately turns many of them off to learning. Unfortunately, after going to school, many children associate learning with the disgusting authoritarianism of school. Students begin to falsely view learning as bell schedules, hall passes, mandatory class assignments, standardized curricula, and all the other unpleasant and authoritarian aspects of institutional schooling.
Children who are not forced into school, and ones who are smart enough to refuse to go, are not turned off like the others. These children love to learn. They enjoy researching topics of interest. They become curious about new things that they encounter, and like to look up information about these things. For example, many mechanically-inclined children like to order build-it-yourself kits for various items, from a birds nest to a whole home computer. In another example, many youths spend hours at a time rummaging through Wikipedia articles, merely out of personal interest.
Schools teach children to not learn. People learn better without school. Even if you go to school, do not rely on it solely; augment your education by also learning out-of-school. Whatever you do, good luck and have fun!
About Author
Scott Hughes owns and operates Unschool.info which is an informative website about unschooling. You can discuss these ideas and other education-related topics at the Education and Learning Forums.
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