I learned about most of these arguments around 1972 from an intellectual activist priest named Ivan Illich who was known as a “liberal” in his day. He died in 2002. He wrote a book called “Deschooling Society” that went over many of these points. He got his awareness through the experience of working with poor communities in Mexico and other places.

Re: Not a member of any organized religion…have you ever heard of “secular” religions? Modern academics and the theories about life that they teach could be considered one of these. Just sayin’.

The factory paradigm that schools run on is very real. There are all sorts of problems with it. If you go through this system and get anything out of it, it’s probably because your parents or someone you knew was savvy enough to help you along in spite of school. I learned so many things outside of school! But if I hadn’t had the resources that my family could afford to provide me with, it would have been very rough for me.

Women and work: My mom “worked” at home until the kids were all grown up. She was an active, intelligent woman who did many different things. While we were growing up, she took care of us.

Teachers: This is a huge sham and part of the problem with the factory school approach. Nowadays many parents need a place to send their kids during working hours. This is non-optimum. But school buildings can be used for this purpose. What goes on in them could be greatly altered for the better.

Education or training, technology of: There is more in this subject than many people suspect. Some people really think that “education” takes place in a classroom when a “teacher” interacts with “students.” It’s true that these fundamental elements of learning must be present. But we all know that our “teacher” doesn’t have to be someone with a Masters degree in Education. We know that we don’t need a classroom to learn. It could be anyplace. We know that the results don’t have to me measured or standard in any way. If the student got what he wanted out of the transaction, that’s enough.

The best “teachers” should be people who are experts in their fields. For those people to be teachers, they would have to write courses themselves. If you offer those courses in school, then the “teacher” only has to be there to help the student through the courses he has chosen to study. So the “teacher” would be an expert in study, not an expert in any particular subject.

Put education into the competetive marketplace: This makes sense, and is a growing and viable part of adult training. It could be extended to child training. I don’t see any reason why not.

I don’t see how, in the short run, social position will not be a factor in educational “success.” But if the system opened up to include better methods of training, things might begin to even out a little better.

People see “education” as a huge factor in social mobility. Studies don’t really support that idea, but in a more workable system, the hunger for social mobility might reduce. It might just be a sham “prize” held up to entice people into government schools.

IQ: If it has really fallen below 100 (“average”) in the U.S. that’s a shame. But the educational process can raise IQ. IQ, or more properly, intelligence, is valuable in a society. I’d like my trash collector to have a high IQ just as much as I’d like the President to have high IQ. However, good IQ does not guarantee sanity, which has become very obvious in recent years.

Older people: I spent most of my life with no one thinking what I thought or learned had any value. I hoped that maybe when I retired, people would look at my age and decide to ask me stuff. They don’t. But the whole idea of keeping old people active or productive is a very good idea, and would help keep the whole community happy.

I have been told that in ancient Rome, you were an “adult” by the age of 15. People that age, who we currently call “children,” are actually quite capable of starting an adult life. There is some other reason why we don’t let people do “adult” work until the age of 25. And it’s not a very sane reason.

You are painting a picture of a very authoritarian “state.” Many wish this weren’t so to such an extent that they deny all the evidence of it staring them in the face. But corporate also shares in this “state” activity to an alarming extent. I wish I could put my confidence in an existing sector (such as “corporate”) to move in and do a better job where the state has failed. But I don’t feel that way. People need to change. That’s my conviction. You can’t change systems to change people. Changed people can change systems. That’s how it works.

How would you respond to concerns about shitty parents who wouldn’t put any effort into the schooling of their children?  This seems to be a concern forthe school teachers I talk to about their current remote learning situations.  Apparently there is only like 40% of kids who are actively participating in online learning thru the public system (presumably because the rest of the parents aren’t making their kids do the work)