I loathe school. I am of the opinion that being forced to do pointless work I never consented to doing for the entirety of my childhood is bad, like many other SS forumgoers.

Now, how do you deal with the constant onslaught of people in the media and in real life speaking about how to succeed in school, how you should do your homework because you'll appreciate it later on in life, how getting a particular red letter on a scrap of paper shall determine your destiny, etc. ? It infuriates me.

Just comprehending the sheer size of these claims from people all across the social spectrum who seem to have accepted this strange system of "education" makes me stop and think. I can't make sense of any of this. Are all of these people insane, or is it us who are the problem?

I deal with it by ignoring it. They can say what they want. It bothers me but, well, they can say stupid things if they want.

They aren't insane, it's just a common belief like any other.

I find it quite annoying as well, but I try to avoid talking about it unless I think the person is open minded enough to consider that they might be wrong.

Also, here are a few intelligent responses to some of those things.

Add more if you think of any

With media... why not make alternative media content that doesn't cling to the typical views of school?

I've been thinking for some time about making a video series... could be on the web... or some kind of video content that shows a different view of school (and lack-of-school) than the vast majority of media does. If it was successful, people could at least get a bit of an alternate view.

Another question, are they insane? Well, it's true that to learn things often you do have to study, do work, etc., and many people's only conception of those things happening is being forced to do them according to a school's or teacher's idea of what's right. Many people do learn some stuff in school, maybe even a fair amount in total (even if it's really a massive waste of time overall, and they don't remember much of it.) So people think that makes it worth it, if people learn "something." And that vague idea fits in their minds with the "practical" notion that you need to get credentials to get a job, regardless of the actual learning. So even if you convince them that you aren't learning, they immediately fall back to the practical, and vice-versa. Plus, they went through school, so they have an inner incentive to believe it's necessary.

We need to present examples of what's wrong with how things are (especially for those people who really can't stand school), and how things can be, how they can be better -- in terms of actual people and in the form of things like video, stories, etc.

Ignore it, and convince other people to ignore it. A propoganda can only be defeated when no one's listening. Or at least when the majority isn't. The thing about blatantly disagreeing is that instantly creates two spectrums: supporters of you and supporters of the school. If you don't opinionate, people can't fight you about it. When people can't fight, they can only listen, and that's when you strike with counter-propoganda. It's manipulative and sneaky, but it should work.
Of course, I don't have the tolerance or patience to carry this sort of scheme out. I like arguing and getting heard too much. Damn the ingrained flaws of human mentality. They always ruin everything...

You can't just ignore it, you've got to to do something against it.

Sure you can try to convince people that it's a bunch of bullshit, but good luck trying to teach ANYBODY to think differently. If you try to convice other people that it's bullshit, be prepared to be called "crazy," "weirdo," "dumbass," "loser," "uneducated dipshit," etc. And be prepared to argue against the following:
"If we don't have school, how will people learn?"
"If we don't have school, we won't be able to get degrees/diplomas. How will people hire us and how will we get jobs?"
"If we don't have school, we will have to much time on our hands, and then people will be up to no good."
"Education is the key to the future. If we don't have an education, we'll have a shitty future."

Just a heads up.

I must say that ignoring the propaganda does not work. It is literally everywhere, including in the endless schoolwork I must do in order to receive a good mark and avoid scrutiny from friends and family.

(Although I do always find it entertaining that the major outlet for pro-school propaganda is school itself...)

Counter-propaganda is an idea that I have toyed with in the past. I gave out a few School-Survival leaflets littered with John Taylor Gatto/John Holt/Benjamin Franklin/etc. quotes, but all that came of that was ridicule and blank stares.

And whenever I attempted to hold a discussion about Compulsory Schooling with someone, they would find themselves in a losing argument and resort to crude inept minor arguments and foolish dogmatic drivel. They simply will not listen. I agree that actually questioning the institution where they have spent at least a tenth of their lives working at would be difficult and hence most avoid it.

But wadekarl, I have been prepared for those questions, and nothing came of it. I have beaten my Dean, my Guidance Counselor, and various teachers in numerous debates about Compulsory Schooling being a deterrent to actual academic development in the young, and they just shrugged it off. They cannot understand how much I resent them for all the time, freedom, and energy they have taken from me.

I naïvely bought into their promises of "Sixth Grade will be better" as an angry fifth grader, "Seventh Grade will be great" as a depressed sixth grader, "Eighth Grade will be wonderful" as a broken seventh grader. When I came into my second year of Middle School, I found that their promises were empty. Things weren't going to get any better. It was all a sham. And so I am where I am today. Full of rage, I continue to succeed in their God Damned system, putting up with their nonsense, and hoping that this nightmare will end before I stumble into insanity.

Just today, I was given an Honor Student Bumper sticker for "Academic Achievement". I nearly cried. It seemed to be a symbol of how I outsourced my dignity as a direct consequence of the pitiful situation we have in education today and how I am too powerless to do anything about it. A symbol of how no one seems to care about one "Gifted" child wanting more in life than a red letter on a scrap of paper.

I am perceived as an insubordinate "Eighth Grader" who sets his expectations of life much too high. And for that I shall never forgive them.

Quote:Counter-propaganda is an idea that I have toyed with in the past. I gave out a few School-Survival leaflets littered with John Taylor Gatto/John Holt/Benjamin Franklin/etc. quotes, but all that came of that was ridicule and blank stares.

I can imagine. But you never know when you might find an intelligent specimen, so it might still be worth it. Maybe do it more anonymously, put up the leaflets somewhere and put a contact address on it or something. Or a website URL.

Quote:And whenever I attempted to hold a discussion about Compulsory Schooling with someone, they would find themselves in a losing argument and resort to crude inept minor arguments and foolish dogmatic drivel. They simply will not listen. I agree that actually questioning the institution where they have spent at least a tenth of their lives working at would be difficult and hence most avoid it.

True that. Most arguments tend to be pointless, I think. They're fun if you're winning though, but it shouldn't be about winning. If people were capable of listening as much as they were capable of talking shit, arguing might be worth something.

Quote:I am perceived as an insubordinate "Eighth Grader" who sets his expectations of life much too high.

I think everyone here is probably "guilty" of that. It's hard being this way, but it'll be worth it one day when all those "normal" people are having their mid-life crises, panicking over all the time they wasted and all the things they wanted to do but didn't do, and we'll be pointing and laughing because we've been doing most of what we wanted to all along.

This propaganda is very difficult to counter because it's been in place since just after the Industrial Revolution. We have about 200 years of propaganda to try and overturn.

Since it is not owned by any one entity, the Internet seems like the best medium for us to use. It is the Vox Populi. I would recommend making videos and uploading them to YouTube and Google for starters. I would, but am stuck on dialsuck. We can of course, keep blogs and post anti-school articles on them, such as articles about overly strict school rules and excessive punishments of students.