It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wrack and ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty. To the contrary, I believe that it would be possible to rob even a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness, if it were possible, with the aid of a whip, to force the beast to devour continuously, even when not hungry, especially if the food, handed out under such coercion, were to be selected accordingly.

Our schools lack perfection; on that, no one will disagree. Problems often cited include violence, poor test scores, the continued prevalence of illiteracy, etc. These are not the problems that need to be addressed in order to right the decrepit system of education that now exists. They are only the surface symptoms of far deeper structural flaws afflicting the schools.

Compulsory schooling was established with the coming of the industrial revolution, to prepare the nation's youth for the factories. Schools were rigid, authoritarian institutions meant to condition students to the monotony of laboring at repetetive tasks, meant to turn out competent laborers who would not question authority. They were not designed to develop well-rounded, responsible, self-reliant, good human beings. They were not designed to inspire creative genius, facilitate general intellectual growth, or truly promote the advancement of education, per se. The tragedy is that in many of these ways, the schools haven't changed at all.

I have been educated both in and out of the schools. I was homeschooled from second through eighth grade, attended Central High School for ninth and tenth, and two months ago quit Central to finish 11th grade at home. Because of the perspective my experiences have given me I believe I have some license to criticize the system. So: How I Would Change the World . . .

The first, and most important, change that needs to be made, is that compulsory schooling needs to be abolished. Look at the system this way: compulsory schooling is the forced incarceration of children, and entails the almost total segregation of children from the rest of society. Would you not deem such a system unimaginably unjust if the group subjected to such treatment were not children, but women, blacks, or gays? Yes, children are different, they need care and guidance from their families, they cannot be expected to be entirely self-reliant, they sometimes need discipline . . . but need they be segregated and incarcerated? Every child should have the right to recieve an education, but it is ludicrous to equivocate this with a right to compulsory schooling. The compulsory nature of the schools does very little good in terms of education, and it does a great deal of harm, personally, to the students who are subjected to it. School is misery for so many, and though alternatives exist, students are nonetheless compelled to return daily to that misery.

The second change that needs to be made is that the rights of students, their freedoms, must no longer be comprimised. Once within school, students are not allowed the freedom of speech, or the freedom of movement. Talking in class is of course a punishable crime, and being anywhere but the room to which you've been assigned can also mean extended detention. Students are subject to the whims of their teachers: anything they say or do can and will be used against them when report cards come around. So very much rides upon success in school: it is regarded as a barometer of intellegence, of potential for success, of personal value; yet success in school depends so much on the ability to manipulate the school bureaucracy, the ability to maintain oneself despite all the restrictions, inequities, and degredations. If education is to be the mission of schools, this must change.

The third change that needs to be made is a shifting of responsibilities to students, to accompany the shift of freedoms. Schools must promote and encourage education, teachers must inspire students to learn; but the responsibility for a student's education must be placed firmly in that student's hands. The freedom must be given to students to go above and beyond the standard curriculum, to find individualized solutions when the standard system won't do, to free themselves, for instance, from the "classroom" structure if it isn't the best way for them to learn.

I speak of radical changes, but nothing short of radical change will make the schools work. I have touched here only on the social issues in education; there are many other changes I would make to methods of teaching, the design of curriculea, etc.

I am not speaking against education; education is perhaps the most important thing in my life. It is the schools I speak against, because I truly believe them to be extraordinarily flawed. I do not condemn the idea of schools, and I surely do not believe that homeschooling is for everyone, or is perfect itself. On the contrary, I see extraordinary potential in schools, in education, in the minds of all children. It is my dream that more of this potential be realised, and I firmly believe that it can be. However, I also believe a revolution in education is desperately needed to bring about the realisation of that potential, and that revolution will not come unless we open our eyes to it's necessity.