Dannyasher@aol.com
Thu, 3 Feb 2000 23:08:19 EST
In a message dated 2/2/2000 6:32:16 PM Eastern Standard Time,
mvtyson@hotmail.com writes:
<< Yes, but you also have to wake people up and find a way to drag them out
of
their chaos fearing, sugar-coated, pseudo-world. Maybe one year at a time
is a good way to wean them. Maybe enlightening them to the simple fact that
their system the way it is doesn't work for everyone, is the way to go.
Maybe those who advocate alternatives should admit that options mean options
and realize that SOME people, SOME children included, actually favor
regimented systems and draw comfort from the fact that there is going to be
someone to tell them what to do and where to do it.
Perhaps when someone is willing to offer a plan that varies current
structure we should keep an open mind as we ask others to keep their minds
open instead of simply dismissing their ideas out of hand. >>
I couldn't agree more. That's exactly how I feel about Lincoln's
Emancipation Proclamation. Too radical. He just refused to face the fact
that SOME African Americans were happy to be in the tender care of
well-meaning owners. It would have been so much better to open people's
minds by just emancipating slaves a couple of years at a time -- say, all
slaves over 60, then all slaves over 58 a few years later, when people were
somewhat weaned from their view of slavery as the perfect condition for ALL
African-Americans, and accepted the proposition that slavery may not be the
best condition for each and every one of them.
In a more serious vein: it is one thing to say that there is no single,
"true" alternative to the present traditional educational system, and that
many different models deserve to be offered. But it is quite a different
thing to defend the present system of virtual imprisonment for children
between the ages of six and eighteen, and their subjection to mental
coercion, abuse, humiliation, indoctrination, and forced medication for those
who are not willing to submit. This system is EVIL at the core, and the fact
that some children have become so broken, so early in their lives, that they
actually prefer their condition of servitude to being free is a national
tragedy.
Dan Greenberg, Sudbury Valley School
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