I'm saying they don't have the potential to grow as far as homeschooling and unschooling can let you. A set curriculum and out of date teaching methods does not a good school make.

The fact that they make you go to school. It's like making people vote. I don't get why they make you do it. It's about liberty that is taken away. You see my point?

The fact that they make you go to school. It's like making people vote. I don't get why they make you do it. It's about liberty that is taken away. You see my point?

With liberty comes responsibility. Read Franklin and Jefferson sometime.

The fact that they make you go to school. It's like making people vote. I don't get why they make you do it. It's about liberty that is taken away. You see my point?

The way you want things could happen RIGHT NOW if your PARENTS went along with it. This isn't about the government.

That's about the truth. Usually, though not always, they do know best.

They can't make you go to college you know.
Lolz. It will take a while for parents to realize that after you turn 18 you are not controlled by them. I know it will mine.

They can't make you go to college you know.
Lolz. It will take a while for parents to realize that after you turn 18 you are not controlled by them. I know it will mine.

LOL Not going to college?
I'll take fries with that.

College can be good. It can help you sort through what's really important to you in life. It can also be a waste of time, energy, and money if you're not committed to the learning process.

After I graduated high school, I wasn't committed to the learning process. Instead, I joined the military, went overseas, traveled a lot, THEN went to college. By that time, I had some new energy for learning and some idea of the direction I wanted my life to take.

Chicken Leg, if you're not committed to the learning process, college is probably not going to benefit you much. That's not to say it won't at all; you might just find a school with a program that captures your interest and gives you some sense of direction for your future career. But there are other things you could consider besides college.

In recent surveys I've found that American teens are subjected to more than 10 times as many restrictions as mainstream adults, twice as many restrictions as active-duty U.S. Marines, and even twice as many as incarcerated felons. Psychologist Diane Dumas and I also found a correlation between infantilization and psychological dysfunction. The more young people are infantilized, the more psychopathology they show.

If there was a cartoon drawing class, I would've signed up faster that one flap of a hummingbird's wings, but due to that class not existing here, I had to take Art 1, which is zero amounts of fun and focuses on drawing the most mundane things to exact specifications. I just wanted to learn how to draw my cartoons better, not how to draw my own hand accurately or learn the title of some painting I'll never remember ever again.

At least I've heard they do break you down and then build you back up.

Those things break you down to a point of extreme low, then build you back up to be exactly like they want you to be: A mindless drone that will follow orders.

if a teen shows interest in working, in learning a trade, or even just being responsible for their own finances and wellbeing, then more power to them. Let them work at jobs, make money, and contribute to the family. But if not, then at least school might still have a chance of getting some sense into them.

Also, I note that there was the comparison between schools and the military. I do not believe that the article takes into account basic training, which is a very intense program used to instill discipline, loyalty, and responsibility. But once Basic is over, military members are pretty much allowed to live like ordinary citizens, so long as they follow orders and fulfill their responsibilities to their assigned posts. Basic training does an excellent job, I think, if giving the recruit the values necessary to carry out a responsible life. Military regulation does help keep them in line afterwards.

So my thought is this: seeing what Basic Training does for the recruit, why not have it be a part of our educational system? Send kids to boot camp for the first three weeks of the school year? It might just put them in the right frame of mind to appreciate the opportunity for a good education.

To the contrary, they teach you to think on your toes, under pressure, when the whatsit hits the fan, etc.

A mindless drone is not good for anything, especially in combat. Oh, sure if things go exactly to plan, and the "order giver" stays OK, then a drone is pretty useful. However, combat doesn't ever go exactly to plan, and the sergeant sometimes becomes unable to give orders.
Then what?
You have cannon fodder. Nothing more, nothing less.

The military has revised basic training to reflect this.

Of course, I'm not in the military, so I can't say for sure, but from talking to people involved (I've researched the military extensively and haven't totally written it off as a career).

Like BTG said, though, we'd be better off leaving this to someone who actually knows.

Didymus was in the Air Force, and DanBo is off playing Popeye the Sailor as we speak.

Also, about the article: one thing that jumps out at me clear as day is that, in the 1800's and 1900's, teens were not just expected to get an education, but they were also expected to work, either on the family farm, or in the family business, or at a job on a friend's farm or business. In other words, the teens weren't just given privileges: they were also given responsibilities. Real life responsibilities.

IMO, if teens would rather work than go to school, they should be allowed to. They should also be allowed to return to school when they finally realize why the stuff in there is necessary. I can completely understand how you can't see how the stuff you're learning leads to anything useful, because you haven't gotten out there and really experienced for yourself WHY it's useful. School would be a much better place if the students, through real-world experiences, realized why it was necessary and actually wanted to be there.

You are speaking out of ignorance instead of experience. You always sound like a fool when you feign experience. Let someone who has been through that situation, i.e. Didymus, tell you what it is really like.

The first part of this post is all well and good, but it worries me about "getting some sense into them". I don't think the government has any right to force kids to get some "sense". What's the definition of sense anyway? The way you believe and not the way others do?

Or it might just b there to brainwash them into accepting that they are being coerced into a system that is outdated, underfunded, and worst of all:
Compulsory.