Schools push information into ones mind. Wasted time at school replaces an ability to enjoy healthy activity. There is no evidence that homework increases any better academic outcomes. Hours can be spent on such activity, with limited time to rest, think, meditate and discover oneself.

There are no real benefits that come from exams.

Under these spectrums, schooling is a form of child abuse, as it replaces other forms of education and learning, which should enable a person to discover more about themselves and prepare oneself for growth and development, inspire a person to love academia or encourage future learning and allow one to live a fulfilling and healthy life.

Other forms of child abuse would not be tolerated by many, but school is. Why?

//Is school a form of child abuse?//

No.

NathanJ

for once I am in agreement with you. In many cases school is now just child management.

Hey NathanJ,

But ok then.
"Schools push information into ones mind."
- I believe thats the aim.
(Although there's a valid subject to be had regards education and indoctrination)

"Wasted time at school replaces an ability to enjoy healthy activity."
- That would depend on whether or not one was actually engaging in a healthy activity whilst not at school;
- Many kids would no doubt be engaged in more unhealthy activities if not at school.

"There is no evidence that homework increases any better academic outcomes."
- Whether evidence exists or not, the idea that homework will not increase academic outcomes is ridiculous.
I remember being at school, the method of teaching was called SQ3R - Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review.
It stands to reason that a little bit of extra time going over the things you were taught earlier in the day can only increase ones ability to learn and master said knowledge.

"Hours can be spent on such activity, with limited time to rest, think, meditate and discover oneself."

School is less than half your time awake, and it is also less than the 8hrs a day work you will be required to do once you enter the workforce.

Its 'supposed' to prepare you for the real world, as well as give you the opportunity to choose any specific path of learning you wish to specialise in as you get older and are able to decide for yourself.
The purpose of education is not take away time that you might spend 'resting, thinking, meditating and discovering oneself', but to expand your mind on all sorts of subjects, and expand one's abilty TO think and discover oneself.

Also we have 'weekends' that allow one to 'rest, think, meditate and discover oneself' as much as one requires.

Picture pushing a child to complete homework under the wrong conditions without assistance and too much stress can be detrimental to their overall well-being and kids may resent you for being forced to do so.

[Cont.]

"There are no real benefits that come from exams."

Exams determine who is and who isn't competent in a certain area of teaching.
Exams teach kids that merit is given for doing well at something.
They can also indicate which areas of knowledge in particular a student might need help with.

Regards your final statement, perhaps they are not teaching kids the right things; perhaps they are not teaching it in the right way; maybe they don't understand that some kids pick things up at a different pace to others; and maybe depending on what a particular kid is or isn't good at, some subjects may not even be as important or relevant as others.

Mandatory schooling and the indoctrination that goes therein, especially towards state-enshrined values, are child abuse.

«Schools push information into ones mind.»

This is appropriate for those who want to pursue a lifestyle that requires this information. However, one must first willingly choose such a lifestyle.

«Wasted time at school replaces an ability to enjoy healthy activity.»

But we need to bear in mind that not all children and not all their parents would replace school, if they could, with healthy activities: some would replace school, if they could, with even worse activities, such as passive entertainment or crime.

«There is no evidence that homework increases any better academic outcomes.»

Homework is helpful if it is ethical, reasonable and congruent with the child's goals for life.

«Hours can be spent on such activity, with limited time to rest, think, meditate and discover oneself.»

This is definitely superior, but how many parents would actually direct their children towards this happier alternative?

«There are no real benefits that come from exams.»

For some there are, for others it's only stress. Sadly they are enforced on everyone alike.

«Other forms of child abuse would not be tolerated by many, but school is. Why?»

Because nearly all of us are victims of this system ourselves and do not know otherwise.

Few may agree with your view here including me, until I open my mind to schools that teach a faith, any faith, then, while not agreeing admit there are exceptions

Many parents will send a child to school being a much easier option, than taking on a broader element of education themselves involving children they have created.

One must realise though, schools can be and are very restrictive. If I was forced to sit in a corner at home all day as a child and do very little (and say the media found out), a social worker may be brought in and demand action.

With schools if one is left behind, if a person is left falling apart, a person is not developing or that person is constantly labelled a failure by a teacher (say through a report card), if a parent did the same things, would this be considered positive? No!

Why do schools get this exclusive benefit?

A variety of educational elements can come from elsewhere, whether it be from nature, environment, outside tutoring and study, self discovery, from parents themselves, grandparents, outside organisations and local communities.

I had a number of these benefits myself, through piano lessons, something I could not get at school and only though the benefit of one of my grandparents donating a piano to my parents. My parents also paid for the piano lessons and I now enjoy playing piano every day.

Self discovery was also something I found, through a hole in the education system I was put through, something I can't get a grade for, but something I will always be very appreciative of.

Schools must be a place of peace and tranquility, a place free from abuse and all types of force, particularly if one is forced to attend.

There is certainly a form of child abuse taking place in schools, but it emanates from Marxist teachers’ unions and leftist teachers in the form of political brainwashing and interference in matters upbringing best left to parents - sexuality being just one; all at the expense of basic education.

Dumbing down of curriculum to cover the incompetence of teachers is another abuse. One idiot principal in the public sector system telling anyone silly enough to listen to such an oaf that kids should be praised and talked up for getting C grades - the lowest of passes.

The claim that there “are no real benefits that come from exams” is absurd. If students cannot reproduce, under pressure what they have learned, they will have no hope of dealing with the pressures of finding work and performing satisfactorily for an employer. Employers are continuously lamenting the ignorance of job seekers.

The fact that so many kids cannot read, write and complete simply calculations - requiring remedial teaching when they have led been to believe that they are capable of tertiary education - is a national scandal in Australia. Child abuse is probably an accurate description of public education.

Is school a form of child abuse?

It can be - it all depends on the teacher.

Teachers are expected to reach unattainable goals with
inadequate tools. The miracle is that at times they do
accomplish this impossible task. Every teacher deserves
effective tools and skills. Not cut-backs to education.

A teacher is the decisive element in the classroom. It
is the teacher's personal approach that creates the climate.
It is their daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher
they possess tremendous power to make a child's life
miserable or joyous. A teacher can be a tool of torture or
an instrument of inspiration. They can humiliate and
hurt or heal. In all situations it is the teacher's response
that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated
and a child humanised or de-humanised.

Many teaching problems will be solved in the next few decades.
There will be new learning environments and new means of
instruction. One function, however, will always remain with
the teacher - to create the emotional climate for learning.
No machine, sophisticated as it may be, can do this job.

Children are confronted with one indisputable problem...their parents, ....and the parents of the other children....let's see ...one and one makes two....make that two indisputable problems.

*...Schools must be a place of peace and tranquility, a place free from abuse and all types of force, particularly if one is forced to attend...*

At what point did you develop that misconception?

And second question, can you play Beethovens piano sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2 (three movements) ?

Dear Dan,

Moonlight Sonata...

Thank you for reminding me about it - I haven't played it for who knows how many decades, but since you mentioned it, I just sat at the piano and played it, not that bad after so many years.

Dear Yuyutsu ...my hero!

Did you play all three movements, And can you play the entire suite from memory?

Do you play with dampeners?

Can you play it on guitar (Am).?

And did you know Tchaikovsky (not the composer of the above piece), was a homosexual?

"Tchaikovsky: was he the tortured soul who poured out his immortal longings into dignified passages of stately music, or was he just an old poof who wrote tunes?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhjNgXyXEo4

Dear Dan,

I played all three movements, but not from memory and only on the piano, using the "sustain" pedal where needed.

I heard all kinds of rumours about Tchaikovsky, but I don't know whether they are true, including that he was executed because he molested a prince. Ordinary kids were OK at the time, but doing it to a prince was too much.

Incompetent, immature & self-centered teachers are a form of mental abuse to normal stable children.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zh3Yz3PiXZw

Now that is beyond abuse !

You will know very little unless someone has taught or you have learnt. Schools are supposed to teach and equip us for the present world. Those that spend too much time thinking about themselves are a loss to community.

Nathan,

School is about socialising children and teaching them skills that will enable them to be productive citizens.

And homework does improve outcomes. It is well known that information learnt in class is retained far better if a small amount of revision is done within 24hrs.

Dear Josephus,

«Schools are supposed to teach and equip us for the present world.»

Herein lies the problem: as government is interested to have the world be a certain way, it indoctrinates the children in its schools to live in its envisioned world, then as those children grow they require the world to fit the only way they learned to cope with.

<<You will know very little unless someone has taught or you have learnt. Schools are supposed to teach and equip us for the present world.>>

One doesn't need to get all elements of learning at a school. An increasing number of people are teaching children at home.

<<Those that spend too much time thinking about themselves are a loss to community>>

"I just couldn't do it anymore (considering finishing year 12), being at a mainstream school, it was getting too hard, it wasn't the help I needed and whatnot. After about a year (of dropping out of school) she realised she needed to go back and finish Year 12. It was more because I was still too young and I had no idea where I wanted to go in any pathways or future-wise and I needed that extra help."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-26/quarter-of-high-school-students-drop-out/6884578

This shows why reflection and thought about oneself is important in a persons life, including for growing individuals who may be at school.

There are also subjects at school a person may wish not to undertake out of dissatisfaction. People are forced to sit through a range of subjects providing them with limited to no benefit in their mind or in reality. These feelings can lead to a lot of retaliation within a school environment, at home and in the community at large.

School time periods are usually around 25 hours per week. This excludes homework which uses more time of ones life. Some homework could be beneficial, but it really isn't at present, with a very set framework in place. Also some are attending other forms of schooling. One example from the Greek Orthodox Church includes these operating hours:

Senior High School: Friday 5.00pm-9.00pm
Kindy, Reception, Primary, and Junior High School: Saturday 9.00 am to 1.00 pm

http://www.pagoc.com.au/greek-school.html

Extra homework comes from that school, alongside existing school related work.

Some schools offer elements like meditation in Australia, being private Buddhist schools. I think only one exists here. I wish more schools would have this offering to reduce any negative energy within schools.

http://pal.nsw.edu.au/facilities/temples/

Yuyutsu,

Thank you for your previous comment. I try and comment to reduce the damage coming from the Government and inform others in terms of what others are doing. I heard Tanya Plibersek recently on television talking about education and really she's only interested in being Australia's next Education Minister.

she's only interested in being Australia's next Education Minister.
NathanJ,
Does anyone believe she'd know what to do ? I mean she doesn't seem to say or do anything of any substance/value now.

We stand on the shoulders of giants. One view is that teachers should gently guide them to the giants, help them to find the measurement of the world for themselves. Knowledge is divided by humanity into taxonomy- in order to become proficient there are fundamental concepts.

The film "The BFG" is on tonight on 7FLIX (76)
for those interested in giants. It's an adventure.
An orphan girl befriends a giant.

Worth a look.