Just Say No to School
{Read the original on elephant journal}“To understand life is to understand ourselves, and that is both the beginning and the end of education.” ~ J. Krishnamurti
Although I am grateful for my conventional education and experiences in traditional schools, here’s why I don’t want my child to ever be subjected to the tyranny of the classroom.
In 2006, I earned my alternative teaching certificate and brushed up on my Spanish. School worked for me, so much so, that I decided to work for it. I was overjoyed. Going back into the classroom was like a sweet homecoming, bringing back cheerful memories of my early school days.So why wouldn’t I want that same experience for my daughter?As a teacher, I gradually became more disillusioned with each passing year. At the end of the day, between mandatory tests, curriculum, and policies and procedures, I had little left to give, regardless of how creatively I approached the content.I am still a teacher and a mentor. I am also now a mother, which has clearly shifted my perspective on education as my partner and I continue to contemplate what we want for our girl. (She’s currently two.)I am thrilled to never again have to coerce kids to sit still, nor make them line up, nor force them ask my permission to use the bathroom or get a drink of water. I am blessed to have this opportunity, yet I have also made it happen through my choices which have led me to drop out of the system and to embark upon a new learning experiment here in our neighborhood.Follow the project, The Pasajcap Learning Circle, via EnlightenEd. I'll be blogging there at least twice a month about this new way of learning we are putting into practice.J. Krishnamurti quotes on education from his brilliant essay, Education and the Significance of Life:
Conventional education makes independent thinking extremely difficult.Reaction only breeds opposition, and reform needs further reform.It is only when we face experience as it comes and do not avoid disturbance that we keep intelligence highly awakened; and intelligence highly awakened is intuition, which is the only true guide in life.As long as education does not cultivate an integrated outlook on life, it has very little significance.