Doug Henwood:
> This seems a bit overstated. Yeah, schools can suck; lots of dumb
> rote learning and rituals of obedience designed to turn one into a
> well-functioning cog in the social factory. But...students often
> don't know what they don't know, and they don't know how to evaluate
> the fragments of knowledge they're acquiring. There's a lot to be
> said for a good teacher with a good syllabus; structure and
> discipline don't always do the work of the devil, after all. Of
> course, if you push me, I'll even offer a qualified defense of the
> canon.
Note that you defended what I did not attack, at least not in the current discussion. In this case I was just guessing why autodidacts would be strongly attracted to Kropotkin. No doubt authority has its uses, its efficiencies; whether they are worth their weight is another matter. Autodidacts presumably think not. If you live outside the law you may not have to be honest, but you must get along.