You're extrapolating way, way beyond reasonable possibility.
"reasonable" is subjective, and yet you used it as if it were not. See, two can play at this pedantry game.
Even if that was actually true about your experience, certainly (at some time, somewhere) there has been a school that has been focused on education.
Schools all have numerous inherent problems. Name a school where you can be as flexible as you can with homeschooling (when it comes to hours, subjective matter, etc.). Beyond that, the vast majority of schools focus on rote memorization, and always have. Sure, crap like "no child left behind" made things a bit worse, but the problem began long before that.
Even the ones that remain are still one-size-fits-all environments, and 'advanced' courses don't change much.
Why do you assume he knows nothing about history? He's right; the crap schools make you do is garbage. Are you under the delusion that they teach history well, or that you can't get an education outside of school?
Also, you don't even need to know much about history to know that people with power will abuse it; it's just obvious.
That "Nothing to hide, nothing to fear" is nonsense, among other things. That's an absolute truth regardless of who says it. Ad hominems don't exactly make for logical arguments.
Of course privacy is important, everyone knows it's important
Who is "everyone"? Because that's just false. I've encountered numerous people who think things like the TSA, the NSA's surveillance, DUI checkpoints, unfettered border searches, constitution-free zones, warrantless wiretapping, or stop-and-frisk are okay if they think it keeps them safe. Most people either think they're okay, or not important enough to do anything about. So who is this "everyone"? I vote, protest, and write to representatives based on my principles, but other people don't seem to do the same.
Also, how could my GP comment ever be construed as a troll in any way, shape, or form?
A vast majority of the population does not need to go to college. Most people aren't even cut out for college, and will just cause colleges to become half-assed trade schools in an effort to appease all these job-seeking mental midgets.
'Everybody's gotta go to college!' will just make colleges useless when it comes to giving people a quality education.
I have heard people insisting we should strongly favor "instruction" over "education", because it has much less an ideological bend. Instruction is the communication of knowledge, of facts and skills.
Whether at school or by yourself, you need to educate yourself. You can't come to an understanding of anything by passively listening to someone else talk; you need to think. Schooling (the current 'education' system, in other words) encourages you to memorize facts and procedures, not to understand.
A person cannot say he has enough education to enter productive life if they never learnt the rudiments of algebra (for abstract thought), physics and chemistry (for a basic understanding of how the world around us works)
"productive life"? If so, then these aren't required for that easy goal. But they're also not truly taught at school anyway.
Also, plenty of people seem to get by without "schooling"; it's called homeschooling, unschooling, or self-education. Yes, it's possible to not have a one-size-fits-all solution to education and to take individuals into account.
The fact is, if you have an intuitive understanding of why something works, it's unlikely you'll just forget all about it, and if you do partially forget, remembering will be easier. That's my experience.
If you forget in a few fucking months, then yes, you never learned it.
No, "schooling" is bad. Education is good. The two things are very, very different. But if you want to give kids an education, you shouldn't send them to our one-size-fits-all rote memorization factories.
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You're extrapolating way, way beyond reasonable possibility.
"reasonable" is subjective, and yet you used it as if it were not. See, two can play at this pedantry game.
Even if that was actually true about your experience, certainly (at some time, somewhere) there has been a school that has been focused on education.
Schools all have numerous inherent problems. Name a school where you can be as flexible as you can with homeschooling (when it comes to hours, subjective matter, etc.). Beyond that, the vast majority of schools focus on rote memorization, and always have. Sure, crap like "no child left behind" made things a bit worse, but the problem began long before that.
Even the ones that remain are still one-size-fits-all environments, and 'advanced' courses don't change much.
You just shot your credibility in the foot.
No, your problem is that you're being pedantic.
Why do you assume he knows nothing about history? He's right; the crap schools make you do is garbage. Are you under the delusion that they teach history well, or that you can't get an education outside of school?
Also, you don't even need to know much about history to know that people with power will abuse it; it's just obvious.
Come on.... which arguments?
That "Nothing to hide, nothing to fear" is nonsense, among other things. That's an absolute truth regardless of who says it. Ad hominems don't exactly make for logical arguments.
Of course privacy is important, everyone knows it's important
Who is "everyone"? Because that's just false. I've encountered numerous people who think things like the TSA, the NSA's surveillance, DUI checkpoints, unfettered border searches, constitution-free zones, warrantless wiretapping, or stop-and-frisk are okay if they think it keeps them safe. Most people either think they're okay, or not important enough to do anything about. So who is this "everyone"? I vote, protest, and write to representatives based on my principles, but other people don't seem to do the same.
Also, how could my GP comment ever be construed as a troll in any way, shape, or form?
A vast majority of the population does not need to go to college. Most people aren't even cut out for college, and will just cause colleges to become half-assed trade schools in an effort to appease all these job-seeking mental midgets.
'Everybody's gotta go to college!' will just make colleges useless when it comes to giving people a quality education.
Because his arguments stand on their own merits.
I have heard people insisting we should strongly favor "instruction" over "education", because it has much less an ideological bend. Instruction is the communication of knowledge, of facts and skills.
Whether at school or by yourself, you need to educate yourself. You can't come to an understanding of anything by passively listening to someone else talk; you need to think. Schooling (the current 'education' system, in other words) encourages you to memorize facts and procedures, not to understand.
A person cannot say he has enough education to enter productive life if they never learnt the rudiments of algebra (for abstract thought), physics and chemistry (for a basic understanding of how the world around us works)
"productive life"? If so, then these aren't required for that easy goal. But they're also not truly taught at school anyway.
Also, plenty of people seem to get by without "schooling"; it's called homeschooling, unschooling, or self-education. Yes, it's possible to not have a one-size-fits-all solution to education and to take individuals into account.
The fact is, if you have an intuitive understanding of why something works, it's unlikely you'll just forget all about it, and if you do partially forget, remembering will be easier. That's my experience.
If you forget in a few fucking months, then yes, you never learned it.
The tests are garbage, though. At most, they just test for rote memorization, so it would prove nothing worthwhile.
No, "schooling" is bad. Education is good. The two things are very, very different. But if you want to give kids an education, you shouldn't send them to our one-size-fits-all rote memorization factories.