Education.

While I was in a waiting room a child asked me what school was like. He was going into kindergarten, and wanted to know what to expect. I was first surprised that a child so young would approach me being large and bearded, but secondly rather at a loss for what to tell the child about k-12 public education. The boy's mother came up and got him before I could answer, she seemed worried, but the child was in no danger. Since then I have tried to think of a way to describe k-12 education, here are a few of my thoughts.

If I were to be bluntly honest, I would say school is 7 to 8 hours a day of psychological torture and emotional abuse. Most actual learning will be done alone on your time, and teacher will serve only to get in the way of the process. I guess the teachers are mostly acting as an obstacle so they feel like they earned their paycheck. This is clearly not something to tell a child, so perhaps speaking more symbolically would help.

School is basically a raping of the mind. Only when you don't enjoy being raped, you are told it is "for your own good", and that you will "look back on it fondly someday". Gang rape might be more accurate, do to the fact you will deal with many teachers over your time in school. Here again, I think this might be a bit much to tell a child. Maybe something the child could relate to would help.

Ever watch "Tom and Jerry"? Well in school you will be Jerry, and the teacher is Tom. Only Tom never gets any comeuppance. So... basically just "Tom and Jerry" if Tom won. This feels about right, but the child might think you were talking down to them.

School is like if you saw a vast forest, and in that forest was someone tryong to cut down the trees with a sledgehammer. And when told that a saw or axe would work better, that person treats you as if you have just spoken blasphemy. In this the students are the trees, and the teachers are holding the sledgehammers. This gets across the unpleasant nature of the experience, while also hinting at where the root of the problem lays.

A way to help teachers.

Before we get started on this subject I want to be clear on a few subjects. First, I was a good student school, and was near to the top of my class. Second, any academic success I ever had was in spite of the educators around me and never because of them in any measure. Thirdly, I realize their may infact exist educators that actually help students, never witnessed it myself, but I concede  the possibly. Forth, I am only speaking about K-12 education. Having said all of that...



Education in the USA has been poisoned. That poison is the teachers we hire to teach. They are not heroes. On average, they spend more time to spread the myth that they are heroes than actually teaching.  They have turned school days in to psychological endurance tests for children, where torture is sadly not too strong a word to describe the situation.

Teacher for the most part spend their time torturing children and lamenting the series of life choices that made them become teachers. The vast majority of them failed at whatever their ambition was, and our now stuck in a second choice they hate. They hate themselves for what they have become and take it out of the child, the poor children.

Now there is good news, most teachers spend a lot of time thinking about suicide. The problem is most of them are far too cowardly to go through with it. The answer is so simple, we just need to give them that extra push they need.

So to every teacher out there, do it, end it once and for all. There are many ways to do it, painless and painful, depending on your level of self hatred. The students will be better off, and so will virtually everyone that is in your life. As a bonus, you will never have to wake up earlier to see the children you so hate. Everybody wins.

Strange Thing Happened

I was at Target, doing my mother's shopping for her as she just had back surgery. As I go through the store, I notice a guy following me, and staring me down. The guy doing it is about my age, average build, nothing really distinctive about him. So after several he does this on several different aisle I ask him "You need something buddy?". He looks at me with obvious anger and says "You don't even remember me!". Look him over, "There a reason I should?". Now is when the story get a little strange as he claims that I "assaulted" him in "computer class". This is strange as last time I was in a "computer class" was close to three decades ago in high school. He goes on to say he had to transfer schools over what happened, and demands I apologize for ruining him life. Instead, I tell tell to "Grow up, fuck off, and don't bother me. Or just the last two".

That happened earlier this week. I don't think the guy was crazy. As I have thought about it, and I think I know the indecent he was referring too. It was during my freshman year, and yes was in a "computer class". It was early in the school year, either September of early October, and another student was making a great deal of noise. I asked him (nicely) to please quiet down. He got up, shoved me and said "make me". I didn't, I asked him agian to to lower his volume, so he pushed me again. At that point I hit him, and again, and then slammed him medium hard in to the ground. The teacher broke it up. He tried to get her to believe I was in the wrong, she pointed out that he had attacked first, and that I had only defended myself. He went back to his seat in tears. The teacher kept me with her, I assumed to yell at me, but was wrong. She told me he got what deserved, and said it was smart that I hadn't hit him in the face. This was a very minor event to me, and till this week hadn't thought about it at all. Should be noted, that she was the first teacher I ever had any respect for.

I am not sure why it stuck with this other guy so much. I think perhaps it was his first and maybe only experience with violence. I don't know if I should envy or pity that. Well sorry this isn't funny, but I felt the need to share it somewhere, and this is my outlet.