Free public education is an important aspect of our society and where so much emphasis is placed on making rich people richer we should wonder why people in power care about public education at all.

When we go to school we are taught that school will give us skills to get a job and take care of ourselves. What we get is the basic knowledge which we need to be able to serve the rich and powerful in a system which exploits us. This is done by placing a teacher in the role of the parent; the authority figure kids are familiar with at home. The system punishes those who no not do what they are told and rewards those who do. Rules like always walking on the right side of the hallway even when the rule is stupid. People who are no smarter than us tell us what to do and we have to do it.

This prepares us for the world of bosses and cops ordering us around and treating us like we are idiots. Public education stops us doing our own thing. It puts us in school with hundreds of people our age and teachers punish anyone who doesn't do what they are told. This is "peer pressure" a system for teaching children obedience and encouraging them to harass anyone who doesn't obey. This makes us used to doing what everyone else does in case we are picked on.

When we get a job we do what we are told so that the boss can makes lots of money from what we make or do for them. Bosses look at people as nothing more than pieces of meat that can make money for them, buy their products and die in their wars. Modern industrial society is organised into work shifts which run 24-hours per day making money for the rich. Schools condition kids to work to a strict schedule by imposing punishments for those who don't show up at school, go to classes or finish tasks on time. This prepares us for a life in the factory or office where "time is money". They want to take advantage of us when we enter the work force, so we must continue to be nervous or guilty about not showing up on time.

Schools give us marks based on our ability to repeat facts, figures and phrases regardless of weather we understand them. Just remembering things doesn't let us reason out problems and to question thing we are told. It makes us think that there is only one "correct" answer to every question and you are only smart if you know that answer. It tells people that common sense means trusting the person with authority to have the right to answer rather than believing your experiences in life, thinking out problems and questioning what you are told.

By being discouraged from thinking kids are prepared for adulthood where they will be told that all the answers to life's problems comes from television, the government or religion. This makes us more likely to believe the lies from the government or advertisers. It also makes kids think that learning is boring so they will be discouraged from studying later in life so they can get a better job. In school students are punished for helping each other or asking for help by receiving a lower score.

Kids are taught that those who perform less well are dumb and that means persons in society who are less well off deserve to be, because they are lazy and don't work hard enough. They are taught that it is ok for strong people to dominate weak people and those who try to help less well off people are "sissies" and should think only about themselves. School also teaches that to benefit personally we have give up what we want to do and do what we are told buy leaders. This is intended to prepare us for the working world where the "team" is the bosses company and being a "team player" means being a good slave and not thinking about the moral or personal consequences of what our bosses tell us to do.

To be continued

(Based on Anarchist Youth Federation, "What Education?", Love and Rage, Sep-Nov, 1992)