> Twenty one thousand hours that results, for most kids, in bare-bones
> literacy and in the conviction of being not-good-enough. And all this
> is happening during that period of our lives when the brain is
> developing the fastest, in which the personality is formed, in which
> there is both the hunger and the energy for learning.
>
> I a m not saying that home schooling is better nor am I saying that it
> used to be better. I'm just saying that taking it for what it is, the
> public education system is a collosal waste of human energy and a
> great evil.
>
Joanna,
I don't get your antagonism about the public school systems in industrialized countries. They are responsible for creating more literate and educated people than in any other point in human history. Go back 100 years in the U. S.: only about 15% of the population attained a high school education, and only a few percent attained a college degree. In terms of education and academic skills, the general population in industrial societies today is far, far better off than any society in 1900. --As Jordan says, I guess you could characterize this argument as "we don't suck as bad as they did back then," but I still think it's important to put this in historical perspective. Mass education and literacy is a major social accomplishment in industrialized societies, and we can thank the public school systems for that.
Now, could the school systems be improved? Sure. In particular, we need to emphasize critical thinking skills: rigorous evaluation of arguments, assessment of evidence in support of arguments, the ability to analyze the world using multiple perspectives. In good public schools, that's being done. We need to devote more resources to the schools and train more motivated teachers to do that hard work.
One more thing: there is no self-esteem problem in the U. S. We're full of ourselves. On surveys asking people to rate their percentile rank on a variety of positive qualities (creativity, intelligence, generosity), about 70-80% of us think we're above average. If the purpose of the schools is to crush people's self-esteem, the public school system is a miserable failure.
Miles