Greetings,
Drose wrote:
>As I've argued before, schools are by necessity authoritarian. Even
>Struan, I think, would agree with that statement. If the school has any
>direction to it at all it will be by definition "authoritarian."
No I couldn't disagree more! A school is simply an institution for giving education, so I fail to
see where authoritarianism comes into it, "by definition," which ever direction the school is going
in.
But my objection is not just linguistic. A good school must, and will, encourage individual freedom,
within set rules of course, but it certainly is not authoritarian in the sense of requiring strict
obedience to authority in opposition to individualism. This may have been the case in the past but
is not seen as good educational practice by most professional educators in the modern world. I would
claim that a good school is one which negotiates with its students and provides them with a secure
platform from which they can express their individuality and achieve their own best potential.
Authoritarianism is "by definition" opposed to individual freedom and so no good school that I know
of adheres to it.
Drose then (to my astonishment) wrote:
>I don't think what Mary was driving at was "authoritarian" so much as
>"totalitarian." I believe she was advocating giving over children to the
>state.
Mary is more than capable of defending herself, but I have to say that you have completely missed
her point. How on earth you (and others) manage to twist a comment about attitudes and funding into
a call for giving over children to the state is beyond me. Mary's central question was: "What if we
lived in a world where women were not penalized for staying home to raise young children?" Forgive
me for failing to see the link between this and a totalitarian ideal. The point was to question the
morality of a state which places huge emphasis on defence, with the peoples' blessing, while not
supporting motherhood to any degree whatsoever. Where are the priorities here? What kind of a
society willingly sends a $650, 000 dollar cruise missile into a television station in Belgrade
while refusing a few measly dollars to a mother who, ideally, would like to stay at home and raise
her children? The military analogy went no further than that. (forgive me if I misrepresent you
Mary).
Finally, teaching a student how to think IS giving him the tools with which to think. There is no
distinction here.
Pass the Peppermint Schnapps Ken.
Struan
------------------------------------------
Struan Hellier
< mailto:struan@shellier.freeserve.co.uk>
"All our best activities involve desires which are disciplined and
purified in the process."
(Iris Murdoch)
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