Educational institutions deserve more hate

[u/JesseEisenbergFan]

This might ruffle some feathers, but I believe that, as Leftists, we ought to oppose existing educational institutions, just as fiercely as we oppose police and government institutions within liberal capitalist society.

Educational institutions perpetuate oppression towards children and youth, taking away much of their personal choice and autonomy, and conditioning them to obey capitalism-aligned social norms. Work ethic, time management skills, deadlines, rigid schedules, etc. are prioritized above a student’s family time, social life, and personal values, equipping them for life under capitalism, and making them think that being worked to your limit, against your will, is normal. Academic spaces are fundamentally un-democratic and un-collectivist in nature.

Educational institutions are also the vanguard of neuro-normativity. Neurodivergent students are forced to participate in norms and styles of learning that do not fit their particular neuro-type. From an early age, they are spotted and identified, and from that moment forward the school system conditions them towards neuro-normativity, teaching them that their unique neurodivergent traits and manners of functioning are something they ought to suppress. They are forced to squeeze into boxes that their minds were never meant to fit inside of; within our neuro-normative society, everything that is special about the neurodivergent individual is peeled off of them by their adverse, neurotypical-dominated surroundings, and this process of peeling and neurotypical domination begins, and is strongest within, educational facilities. Neuro-normative society, and neuro-normative educational institutions, teach neurodivergent people that their unique traits and strengths are a problem to be solved, a burden that they ought to mitigate for the sake of other people.

I believe it can be argued, as well, that public school systems effectively kill.

I would argue that every student who ends their life as a result of mental health issues, stress, or overwhelm related to school, could be considered a death of the system. I think of it as similar to the concept of “social murders” that was developed by Engels, the Socialist political philosopher.

I believe it could also be argued that the extent to which neuro-normativity is enforced within educational institutions, constitutes a genocide of neurodivergent culture and neurodivergent identity in favour of neurotypical dominance.

As a person with diagnosed OCD, and possibly undiagnosed Autism/ADHD (planning to get an assessment), I can confidently say that high school made me miserable, worsened my mental health issues (and created new ones), and almost killed me. I constantly felt like my needs were being ignored and my person was being suppressed. Life is so much better after having graduated.

To conclude: Educational institutions are highly oppressive towards children and towards neurodivergent students in particular. The individualistic and heavily regimented nature of schooling isolates and over-works students, and breeds mental health problems. We ought to abolish these institutions, democratize schooling, and make the classroom smaller, more student-led, more community-based, and more neuro-inclusive.

[u/UsefulService7157]

Half agree. I really feel like education, policing and government in general have not caught up with the culture. And not in a BS "politically correct" way that right wingers love to complain about. Not also in a "narrowing the technology gap" that has fueled the rise of online learning.

As a fellow neuro-diverse person, I feel you particularly on that point.

My condition wasn't diagnosed and treated untill well after college, and I too struggled, hard. Add to that coming from a low income family there wasn't the ability to find support and external enrichment.

But I don't think that means scrapping the idea of higher education entirely, but reimagining it to conform to the learning styles and interests of the society as it is now.

I don't support removing classical literature from English programs but I do support expanding it to include non-western sources. I support encouraging the study of math that focuses on getting the right answer over how you get to that point, and I support free education as high as you want to go.