Public Schools vs Independent Thought

I say, now a days, public schools are killing independent thought. Teachers in most states have to teach to standardized testing so the students can make the grade on the test just to get funding for their school.

Because of just that simple fact, students can't think outside the box because the teacher has a set answer and with that set answer they have to get the set result from all students. To top that off, extracurricular activities are not just encouraged anymore, they are almost a necessity just to make it to college. No one can really make it to college with just the brain anymore, but have to show some "skill" at an extracurricular just to be accepted.

I well remember the old TV Show, This is Your Life, wherein celebrities were "surprised" to find themselves on stage, surrounded by families and friends as their lives were recounted by the host. Invariably, the cast from the past would include a "favorite teacher". In time I came to resent this. I never had a "favorite teacher". Not one in 12 years of public schooling. Not one in college or law school. I was a pariah because I had a habit of thinking outside the box, asking questions they weren't prepared to answer. I was treated as disruptive.

One teacher in my senior year of high school took me into the hall during class and asked if I actually thought I would graduate. I smiled and responded, yes. How? "Well," I answered, "if you don't pass me I'll just be back next year." She passed me.

That was a long time ago, long before teachers colleges began grinding out ideologues who replaced education with indoctrination in American classrooms. (Don't bother arguing, it's a well-documented fact.)

I can't even imagine how I would be treated if I were in school today. I suspect I would none have hung around to graduate. Indeed, I wish I had the courage, even in those days, like Louis L'Amour, to quit because school was getting in the way of my education...

Oddly enough, I read a few articles on this subject. Teaching kids that there is only one solution to a problem. And not allowing them to create their own shortcuts most definitely discourages free thinking. This has led to alternative learning environments like charter schools etc...