These superficial debates are in my eyes futile since they presuppose: "We ought to have a strict curriculum for a certain narrow age group."
After what we have learned the last 30-50 years from cognitive sciences one has to wonder what schools are actually for, nowadays. There are most certainly not optimized for "learning" by any means.
Imho to put it blatantly schools are reduced to be a effective stronghold for indoctrination. They justify their power by using "science, technology, art, literature, history, social community, cultural exchange ...". Of course sheer by its power and scope we certainly "learn" something there. And you also happen to find great teachers in that system but its certainly not its main purpose.
Going back historically, schools still remain inherently (and shockingly so) medieval institutions. Interestingly "school" originally stems from the greek word of σχολή (/skʰo.lɛ̌ː/) which simply means "free time, leisure" which got hijacked by the church with "monastic schools" and today "school" means quite the opposite.
Throughout its (western) history with changing society they were succesful adaptions made (Prussian system, Humboldt's Ideal, Montessori pedagogy) skyrocketing literacy, expolding number of scientists etc.
But today the educational system is massively outpaced by the societal changes and by failing simply regresses to its medieval core of indoctrination ("preparation for the labor market").
No scientific literacy (aka critical thinking, controversial debates), no "learning" grounded on cognitive sciences, no hearing and tending to the needs of our young which they can perfectly articulate.
Hijacking is an interesting term to use. Leisure got transformed into the university system by the early Church which brought about the various technological revolutions in the West.
Resources were so scarce communities could only afford to send a select few to learn to read and write and spend time on the highest levels of human thought, i.e. questions of the meaning of existence and epistemology.
For some, paid daycare. Still, this daycare needs to meet certain expectations, that is to prepare the kids for exams. As for actual education - that is, pursuing your passion by exploring the subject in depth - I believe this is happening mostly outside of school for obvious reasons.
>After what we have learned the last 30-50 years from cognitive sciences one has to wonder what schools are actually for, nowadays. There are most certainly not optimized for "learning" by any means.
They're daycares and increasingly being used to spread propaganda.
This idea that ANYONE will be helped by giving them a free pass needs to stop. No minority will have an improved life by saying they are too mentally deficient to learn hard things. This is a political game where politicians refuse to recognize that fixing this is not an easy slap a bill in place an everything will be better. I think what they're hoping is that they can "fix" the numbers to show higher achievement by lowering standards and get voted back into office. We'll certainly be feeling the negative effects of these sorts of policies in a few decades if this bullshit continues.
After what we have learned the last 30-50 years from cognitive sciences one has to wonder what schools are actually for, nowadays. There are most certainly not optimized for "learning" by any means. Imho to put it blatantly schools are reduced to be a effective stronghold for indoctrination. They justify their power by using "science, technology, art, literature, history, social community, cultural exchange ...". Of course sheer by its power and scope we certainly "learn" something there. And you also happen to find great teachers in that system but its certainly not its main purpose.
Going back historically, schools still remain inherently (and shockingly so) medieval institutions. Interestingly "school" originally stems from the greek word of σχολή (/skʰo.lɛ̌ː/) which simply means "free time, leisure" which got hijacked by the church with "monastic schools" and today "school" means quite the opposite.
Throughout its (western) history with changing society they were succesful adaptions made (Prussian system, Humboldt's Ideal, Montessori pedagogy) skyrocketing literacy, expolding number of scientists etc.
But today the educational system is massively outpaced by the societal changes and by failing simply regresses to its medieval core of indoctrination ("preparation for the labor market").
No scientific literacy (aka critical thinking, controversial debates), no "learning" grounded on cognitive sciences, no hearing and tending to the needs of our young which they can perfectly articulate.