

What would happen if we let high school students not go to school? - tokenadult
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/futures_of_reform/2011/05/what_would_happen_if_we_let_them_go.html

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DavidSJ
From the article:

 _Mostly what I see in my visits to middle and upper grades classrooms are
examples of what of Michael Sedlack, et al. (1986), long-ago characterized as
"the bargain"-- "you give me order and attendance, I'll give you passing
grades and [minimal] homework." The only other public institution in our
society that works this way, with this degree of focus and dedication, is the
prison system._

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CodeMage
Brings to mind Paul Graham's "Why Nerds are Unpopular":

 _And as for the schools, they were just holding pens within this fake world.
Officially the purpose of schools is to teach kids. In fact their primary
purpose is to keep kids locked up in one place for a big chunk of the day so
adults can get things done. And I have no problem with this: in a specialized
industrial society, it would be a disaster to have kids running around loose._

Where I agree with Richard Elmore (the author of the article) and disagree
with Paul Graham is that the only alternative to having kids in the school is
having them "running around loose".

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sapphirecat
This reminds me of PG's The Age of the Essay: specifically, where he mentions
that writers for popular magazines ask hard questions, then recoil in terror.
I'm left with a feeling that the summary here is really all I needed to know
about the article, because the author stopped working after adding some
description to better frame the question.

ETA: I'm not sure if edweek is popular in the way Seventeen/Cosmo/Redbook aim
for, but it's still what the writing style reminds me of.

When I was younger, I really wanted an apprenticeship. When I was getting a CS
degree, I felt like it should involve more code review. There's value in
solving a problem yourself; but there's also value in comparing solutions and
discussing the trade-offs they make. I would love to teach, but it seems to
work best one-on-one, which is not really what the education system is set up
to handle.

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mgarfias
Reinforces my decision to home/in-school my boy. School was a prison for me
and I'd not have that forced on him. Plus I learned far more outside of the
classroom when given the chance.

