The $#!^ They Teach to Kids in School

Everyone has an idea about what they feel should be taught as part of a well rounded education. The problem is that if you ask fifty different people this question you are likely to get fifty different answers. The problem gets even worse when you not only require that everyone go to school but you also require that everyone be taught a certain set of things at a minimum. No one agrees on what that minimum should be and some are morally or even religiously opposed to certain topics.

One perennial favorite topic of controversy is the dispute as to whether creationism should be taught in science class. I will leave aside my opinion on what I feel is the right answer to this for now and focus instead on the implications that arise from the fact that this controversy and others like it exist at all.

The fact that public schools are regulated by the government means that the government decides what is taught. Thus the curriculum becomes politicized and the only thing that is taught is that which is government sanctioned. This leads to endless battles that no one ever truly wins. The battle is refought constantly and much bitterness is created. There is also the danger that the government may usurp education for the purposes of teaching whatever political and social ideology it feels will guarantee its continued power. Many would argue that this has already happened here in the U.S. The only real solution to this sort of thing is to get the government out of the equation and let people decide what their children are taught in school for themselves.

I know what some of you are thinking. We can't have people just learning anything they want! They might skip something important and learn something else that is totally useless! They won't be ready for the real world! I say, "That is a crock of crap!"

First, who said you were the last authority on what knowledge is useful and what is not. This line of reasoning assumes that students and their parents are incapable of deciding for themselves what the student should learn. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have faith in people to make the right choices for themselves most of the time if given the chance. What does it say about you if you do not?

Second, stop and think for a minute about what it would've meant to you if someone had told you that you could go to school and learn anything you wanted and little that you didn't. To me it would have been Heaven. Of course, I did like most people and tuned out the classes I didn't want to learn anything about and paid good attention in the classes I liked. The end result was nearly the same as if I had never attended the bad classes other than the huge waste of my time and the school's resources. I would've been better off if I had learned something interesting during those times.

So let's just skip all of the drama and let people have the freedom to learn what they want.