Mal Education - System Design - Should Be VS Is

<b>[shando] "My conclusion is that our efforts should be directed toward making the process into a structured ritual that is safe for adolescents to participate in."</b>

It is amazing that we can run along in such close agreement for so long, and then suddenly be so much at odds.

Such a structured ritual is exactly what we have now, and it is the thing I have been railing against for nearly forty years. (And for the last page or so, as well.)

It must be totally destroyed. Ripped out by the roots.

***

Or, maybe we just need to make it voluntary? (That is the Big Thing about real monopolies that makes them bad. They can force you to do business with them. Take away that power and they are not a problem.)

If I want to send my kids to the local politician controlled school, I should be able to. But I should not be able to FORCE <u>you</u> to pay for my kids place in that school.

Power to the people. <u><b>For real</b></u>.

LB

Oh - that structured ritual we have now is also far less safe than it should be. If anyone besides politicians were in charge, it would be.

<b>[shando] "I realize that I didn't have a clue about what was supposed to happen.</b>

I did have a clue, but it turns out that this doesn't always help as much as one would imagine.

<b>Ideally, I would have had a mentor assigned to guide my education, in which case I would probably have become a engineer of some sort. I probably would have done well and been happy.</b>

<b>As it turns out, I have done well and am happy ...</b>

There are many paths to the future, and they do not all go to the same place in the future. If yours or mine had ended in a different place, it would probably still have ended happily.

To All,

That Pecking Order study shando linked above is kind of interesting. I recommend it. I could start another thread to discuss it. (Or you could.)

LB

<b> LB: Such a structured ritual is exactly what we have now ...</b>

Hmmm ... somehow, that is not what I perceive nor is it what I had in mind when I suggested it. That explains why "we can run along in such close agreement for so long, and then suddenly be so much at odds." Obviously, I did not explain my concept well enough.

<b>LB: We don't just think, we 'higher' think. By this I mean we think about concepts such as rights and justice as well as stuff like food and sex. Other animals pretty much just think about stuff like food and sex.
</b>

I understand what you are saying and agree that with well developed cogitative functioning we think about concepts involving rights and justice, but adolescents generally do not have very well developed cogitative faculties. I don't think they understand that their bullying behaviour is rooted in their compulsion to discover their place in the social milieu.

<b>[shando] "Hmmm ... somehow, that is not what I perceive nor is it what I had in mind when I suggested it."</b>

Yeah, I kind of figured that was going to raise your eyebrows a foot or two.

Accurate communication is ridiculously difficult. The corollary is that miscommunication is easy, and we often do not realize it is happening because it is so common and we just imagine this is the normal state. After all, I know what I mean when I use the word 'hemmalfarb'. It's right there in the Obscure Dictionary, definition 5c. How can anyone else NOT understand what I'm saying? (English is probably the most flexible language in existence, and that means it is also the most difficult to use correctly.)

I'm amazed that we (mankind) manage to make any progress.

Lately, it seems we've been having trouble.

Perhaps if you take another stab at explaining your idea ...