That insufferable self-centredness was _the_ chief characteristic of the so-called "counter-culture."
From, "The Student As N-word:Essays and Stories, " by Jerry Farber Contact Books edition published August, 1969 Pocket Book edition published September, 1970 Copyright, 1969, by Jerry Farber. The Student And Society: An Annotated Manifesto By Jerry Farber School is where you let the dying society put its trip on you. Our schools may seem useful: to make children into doctors, sociologists, engineers--to discover things. But they're poisonous as well. They exploit and enslave students; they petrify society; they make democracy unlikely. And it's not what you're taught that does the harm but how you're taught. Our schools teach you by pushing you around, by stealing your will and your sense of power, by making timid square apathetic slaves out of you--authority addicts.
Schooling doesn't have to be this destructive. If it weren't compulsory, if schools were autonomous and were run by the people in them, then we could learn without being subdued and stupefied in the process. And, perhaps, we could regain control of our own society.
Students can change things if they want to because they have the power to say "no." When you go to school, you're doing society a favor. And when you say "no," you withhold much more than your attendance. You deny continuity to the dying society; you put the future on strike. Students can have the kind of school they want--or even something else entirely if they want--because there isn't going to be any school at all without them.
Preface
Notes:
(1) School Is Where You Let The Dying Society Put Its Trip On You
(2) It's Not What You're Taught That Does The Harm But How You're Taught
(3) They Exploit And Enslave Students; They Petrify Society
(4) They Make Democracy Unlikely
(5) Authority Addicts
(6) If It Weren't Compulsory
(7) If Schools Were Autonomous And Were Run By The People In Them
(8) The Power To Say 'No'