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I know I'm going to get a lot people disagreeing with me on this topic. I'm completely anti-schooling. Schooling is here defined as compulsory standardized education.

Anyway, let's talk about it. Talk about your experiences with schooling and what you think about them. Do you send your children to school (or will you, if you have any)?

Say anything you think of that's school- or education-related.

Have you gone on to study science?

Then what does it matter that you didn't learn science as a child?

Yeah, I mostly agree with what you said.

If it's about getting a job, then vocational training is best.

If it's about learning about your world, then LIFE is best. Staring at a teacher, no matter how kind or intelligent, in a classroom can't replace real world experience.

I used to want to be a teacher. But then I realized that my schooling had largely destroyed my desire and ability to learn. And my brother doesn't go to school anymore.

Now I'm disgusted by the entire industry.

I listen to Neal Boortz a lot, and whenever he gets an idiot caller and hangs up on them, he always says "See? This is what happens when a child attends a government school."

I'm hoping to send my kid to a private school if I'm ever so lucky. I'm still in High School, so all my memories of all school levels are vivid.

Elementary school: You're being picked on by a bully. The teacher confronts the bully, uses your name, and lets him off with a warning as to not hurt your feelings, leaving the bully free to harrass you again, even worse, and frighten you into snitching again.

Middle School: Cliques start, the teachers think its cute. Everyone who hasn't learned the unwritten rule of "No Snitching" soon learns the hard way by from "social block-outs" and "mass cold-shoulders". If you go to your guidance counselor, rather than helping you, they say "So what if you're being picked on? You're a snitch, what do you expect? Fight your own battles. Get over it, you'll feel better once you accept your place in life."

High School: Things get a little easier. If you dont belong to a clique yet you're in trouble. You better find one quick or be the social punchingbag. Everybody gets a little stressed out from time to time, 'specially the jocks, so if you dont have a clique or dont belong to a fad, you're fair game for ridicule. Once again, the guidance counselor wont do a thing. Why? Because the guidance counselors are no longer there for making you feel better, they're there for schedule changes and extra cirricular activites. There are two kinds of teachers: Liberal Democrats who force their opinions on you, and the Liberal Democrats who dont. The liberal Democrats who dont are the nice ones, the ones who tell you they aren't allowed to disclose to you their political affiliation. The ones who do force their opinions on you dont do it out in the open. They aren't really blunt about it, they make sure that their opinions are placed in your projects. "Class, tonight's homework assignment is a five-paragraph essay on the crimes or failures our soldiers have committed in the Iraq War. This is history class, your youth and open-mindedness is going to make history."

The only reason I enjoy my education is for my electives and the friends I've gained.

Schooling is in some ways a good idea. It teaches children basic social interaction, usually how to read and write coherently. It teaches the basics of politics and even sports. But there is a point when schooling becomes useless. After that point, it's better to let the student out to learn for themselves and think creativly, rather than being forced to learn what anachronisms are when it's something most will never use again or even remember.

many schools have poor systems set up, but I support education. since not everyone has time to teach their children, and not every child is able to learn on their own, schools are neccessary.