Mandatory education

Re:Hello... Evolution? (Score:5, Insightful)
by QuoteMstr (55051) on Saturday September 06, @02:29PM (#24902483)

I'm sorry, but no. A civilization cannot stand while allowing absolute liberty. We accept certain restrictions so that we may continue to have a society. Murder is illegal. Rape is illegal. You can't shout "fire" in a crowded room. These things are restrictions on freedom, and for everyone's good.

Another restriction on freedom that's absolutely essential for a free society is mandatory education. Without education, the population does not develop critical thinking skills and falls prey to the first charismatic demagogue that comes along.

Allowing parents to send their children to schools that refuse to teach the facts is equivalent to allowing them to not educate their children at all. Both are unconscionable for a variety of reasons. Not only should school attendance be required, but private schools should be audited to ensure that their curriculum at least resembles reality. The more people are deluded by things like creationism and homeopathy, the weaker our democracy becomes.


-The author makes a good point, but I'd like to take it a bit further. I feel that it would have to not be a government agency doing the auditing. For me, that just brings up images of the government turning schools into indoctrination centers (arguably they already are, but even more so if big government gets their hands on them). Why not have a panel of the nation's scientists to go over the curriculum?

Now that I think about it, we sort of have a system like that in place, No Child Left Behind. And all it manages to do is bring down the smarter kids in the class. It should be called No Child Gets Ahead. It would be a great thing if they could bring the less intelligent kids in a class up to the level of the smarter ones, but a lot of what goes into that is genetic. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying to give up on them or anything like that, but you shouldn't hold back the smarter kids by teaching dumber material. I think i read something on slashdot months ago talking about how all the program was doing was hurting the smarter kids instead of helping the dumber ones (not P.C. but I don't care).