Public School Teachers

The uniqueness of individuals, which has always been underemphasized, today, is intentionally hidden and ignored in a fog of egalitarianism, pseudo-diversity, and social engineering. We are similar, human beings, in all those essential qualities of humanness we share, but, like all biological beings, each individual is also unique, even in physical characteristics, but, most importantly, every individual is most unique in those psychological elements that make up what we call personality.

There is no field in which the fact of individual uniqueness is more important than the field of education. Both teachers and students are unique. This means no single method of teaching is going to be appropriate for all teachers or all students. In fact, the opposite is true; any method appropriate for one teacher will probably not be appropriate for another, and, whatever method is appropriate for any teacher, will have to be modified, at least somewhat, to accommodate differences in students. What works well for helping some students to learn will probably not work well for others, and where the differences in students are most interesting and profound, only radically different methods will work for many students.

Some individuals have a unique talent for explaining things in such clear and interesting ways that even those who have difficulty understanding new things are able to learn from them. All parents and all students with an interest in learning would prefer such teachers; but, most teachers do not have such exceptional abilities. It is falsely believed that training, programs, clever teaching methods, and gimmicks can make up for the lack of ability in the average teacher.

The actual affect of all these gimmicks and clever teaching methods are rigid inflexible programs that fit the requirements of no student and actually discourage learning, especially for students with the most potential, because they will have the greatest divergence form the, “norm,” at which all such programs must be aimed. It has a similar negative affect on students who have more difficulty learning. The only ones who seem to prosper at all under such programs are the mediocre, who excel because the programs are designed for them. Even this is an illusion, however, because while the “grades” are good, it is only an indication they conformed to the program, not that they have actually learned anything.

Educational programs also work against the better teachers and probably exclude those with the greatest ability. Any program designed for the average teacher will stifle the natural creative and teaching ability of the superior. This tends to drive out the superior teachers depriving the students even more of the possibility of good education.

“Most teachers are good.”

Of course, that depends on what you mean by good. The money teachers are paid has been extorted from people by threat of violence against themselves and their property. The children they teach have been forcibly taken from their parents by the same method. They teach the children what the parents do not want them taught and do not teach them what the parents do want them taught. In a moral society, parties to extortion, kidnapping, and brainwashing are not usually considered good.

Sometimes, the only way to make people see the truth of something is to use very plain and harsh language which has no possibility of ambiguity. This statement, of course, only applies to teachers in government schools, and excludes all private school teachers. There are also many public school teachers who are more innocent dupes of the system than they are perpetrators. Nevertheless, the system would not be possible without their participation, and one has to wonder how someone can be a competent teacher and not able see through the obvious fraud of “public education.”

When the nature of “government” education is correctly understood the words are not at all extreme and may actually understate the case. Extortion - “The act of obtaining from another by coercion or intimidation.” Since government education is supported by money extracted from people by taxation, and the refusal to pay taxes is met with jail-time and the expropriation of one’s property, and everyone knows this threat is behind the tax bill, every government employee’s pay is extortion money.

Kidnap - “To abduct and detain.” The are some differences between what government education does to children and what a kidnapper does. A kidnapper usually abducts his victims himself while the government forces the parents to be accomplices in the kidnapping; forcing them to deliver the child to the government agecies (school) themselves or face prosecution (jail-time, or worse). Another difference is, a kidnapper does not usually repeat his offense against the same victim more than once. The government repeats the offense every day, against the same victims, for years.

Brainwashing - “Intensive indoctrination, usually political, aimed at changing a person’s basic convictions and attitudes and replacing them with a fixed and unquestioned set of beliefs.” Who doubts that this is exactly what is being done in government schools. We don’t have to guess about it, they advertise that they are attempting to provide children with “politically correct” attitudes and beliefs. Aren’t they training the children in diversity and tolerance, and then making them “environmentally” conscious? Notice how often the words “training,” “skills,” and “development,“are used, and how infrequently the words, “teaching,” “explanation,” and, “understanding,” are used. [The word development is especially insidious, when used by educators, implying the individual child is only some natural material to be, “developed,” by the state for its purposes, like a piece of real estate. Do not be mistaken, this is exactly what is meant.].

There is something essentially and morally wrong with the concept of “compulsory” education. How this concept got shoved down the throats of the American People is difficult to believe, although today, now that compulsory education has done its work, they will swallow almost anything, and no shoving is required, so long as they believe they are getting something for nothing.

Just what is the moral justification for forcing someone to be educated. Even if it were a necessity of life, like food, or water, it is not morally right to force someone to eat or drink. Education, however, is far from a necessity of life. Certainly an educated person has advantages over an uneducated one, and certainly one’s chances of success and happiness are better if they are educated. Does this justify forcing people to be educated? We know that certain ways of dressing, manners of speech, even style, increase one’s chances of success in many fields. Should we therefore force people to dress a certain way, speak a certain way, and even observe certain rules of style? No doubt many believe we should, at least it’s being suggested for the compulsory government schools.

(Note: Dress codes in private schools, or any other rules, are not compulsory in the same sense as in government schools. No one is required to attend a private school, and since private schools are private property, they may make any rules they choose, and it is immoral of anyone attending such schools to violate them, because it is a violation of private property.)

All of the arguments for compulsory education are wrong, but probably the most immoral is the statist collectivist argument that it is for the good of society. Who is society that some individuals have to endure forced feeding for their benefit, and how is it that the victims of the force feeding are not society. One frequently heard argument is that a society of educated people will be better people, but this is nonsense. Embezzlement, forgery, and most fraud cannot be committed by the uneducated. A man cannot forge a check until you teach him to write.

The autonomist does not frequently recommend other WEB sites, but, Separation of School and State correctly argues for freedom of education on the same principles and for the same reason as there is freedom of religion.

The autonomist does not usually recommend any particular action, but the abduction and brainwashing of children is a very great evil, and government schools have a certain flaw that can easily be taken advantage of. The rules in virtually all government schools today are so absurd, and the penalties so exaggerated,any parent who chooses not to have his child attend a government school can have the school itself release the child. It is very easy to find a rule that a student can break which requires no compromise of any moral principle but will insure the student is expelled.

In some cases, return to classes will only be allowed if the student is willing to take some abusive brainwashing course or perform some outrageous penalty (like community service, whatever that is). Since the object is to remove the student from government school, a refusal to meet the conditions will guarantee the students freedom, and you can thank the stupidity of the educational system for that freedom.

What do you think ought to be done to a person who molests a child in public, then proceeds to rob the child’s parents as, “payment,” for his services. Molestation of the mind is much worse than molestation of the body.

Most people cannot imagine a person more despicable than a child molester. Not only is such an act an unimaginable horror for the child at the time, but, in most cases, there are permanent consequences from which the victime suffers for the remainder of his life. In most cases, these consequences can be overcome, and any physical damage is usually only temporary.

But there is someone more despicable than a person who molests a child physically. As evil as a person is who would intentionally harm a child’s body, any person who would harm a child’s mind is infinitely more evil. One’s body is one’s possession, and is the means to their life, but their mind is their very person, who they are, and their only means to life as a human being.

Today’s government schools do irreparable harm to the minds of all children except the very strongest and most independent. Every part of the educational system is an attempt, not to teach children to think and provide them knowledge so they can continue to learn on their own, but to program them to “think” and behave in predetermined ways suitable to the educator’s vision of society. Instead of preparing a child for a lifetime of self-development and improvement they destroy the child’s sense of self, and prepare him for a lifetime of conformity to the whims of society. Instead of providing the child with the tools required for real achievement they train him to be useful to the world, and his achievement will be determined by the opinion of that world.

If this concept seems hard, please read, “The Comprachicos” from Ayn Rand’s The New Left: the Anti-industrial Revolution.