Invariably, whenever in the past few months I have mentioned to anyone that I took the family to Florida for the month of January I've had to endure:
Yeah, that's great. You gotta take advantage of that now while the kids are young....before they're in school and you can't do that.
No one fully comprehends the *slavery* of outsourcing the education of their brats. Homeschoolers can do whatever they want. Many travel extensively and on a whim. Just think what your family could do if unburdened from the *school year*.
Of course, schools are only half-responsible for modern slavery. The other taskmaster is Corporate America. Most all of us are, to a degree, wage slaves for big corporations. In fact, some of my best friends are wage slaves! (As is Mrs. C-Nut.)
Young people today need to be taught and warned about these *chains* waiting for them to voluntarily step into.
They need to visualize an ideal life based upon self-employment and self-education. Because without seeing the real possibility and full bounty of unfettered living, without a target the kids have nothing to aim for. They'll be like us, sheep following a Moron in front and leading a another fool at the rear.
Think about it. Schools co-opt your kids, your family for 180 days per year. Or, you could argue they take up 10 out of 12 calendar months. So, minimally, between 50% and 83% of the parent/child relationship has been expropriated by Big Education - an institution that was actually designed for that very purpose. Read John Taylor Gatto.
And the Corporate prison is even worse. What do most wage slaves get for time off? Three to five weeks per year? And that has to be held against all of the *overtime* - like business travel and the Blackberry tether. After we break free from the grips and fetters of Big Education, why do we so eagerly shackle up for a new master?
Because they pay us? Or is it because everyone else is doing it?
Well, hopefully my homeschooled kids will have experienced the thrill of making money and the windfall of *free time* long before the age of 22.
That way, they won't be so nonchalant about forfeiting their personal liberties.
9 comments:
C,
Ouch... I feel like this post was somehow personally directed at me... 22 sure was a weird number to pick!
Couldn't agree more though, this entire thing has kept me up at night, many nights.
Haha!
Ouch?
Or thank you?
Would you rather learn these truths when you were 30+ like I did? When your options (with a wife and kids and an accustomed lifestyle...) were fewer?
This post most expressedly WAS NOT targeted at you. Though, I can charitably send personal criticism quite effortlessly - if there's a demand for it.
The post was inspired by the conversations I mentioned at the onset, about Florida.
4th generation self employed here. Proud of it.
Slow out.
Ohh yeah-did I mention that neither my Mother, grandfather, or great grandfather has gone to college. I myself am finishing an associates degree only because my wife signed me up for the final class. What a waste of time. I already got a PHD at 22-poor, hungry, and driven-though I must admit the poor and hungry part were entirely self inflicted.
Of course, my wife, the corporate lawyer, has a different take on edumacation.
Captious
I am an "employed" person dreaming of breaking loose from the chains of slavery. Though I went to a convent school, I think I didn't get ruined completely, because I wisely spent my holidays buried in great books, music and stuff you'll never find in the backyard of a school.
But the self employment part, while its a very thought provoking idea, I don't get the gist enough. If the whole world is self employed do you think there will be less chaos? Do you think you will be able to visualize and broaden the thought a little bit in your post?
Lets say we are all self educated in our own special trades. (In my country, a part of the population have been doing this for centuries.. for example Carpenters by tradition are a caste by themselves, for generations the carpentry skill has been passed down from parent to child, and most of them still are self employed, free lance carpenters; same with goldsmiths, gemstone traders, temple builders, bankers, tobacco vendors, masons, temple priests, etc). These were specialized skill-based jobs, and they learnt little about any other trade.
If we extend this to everyone else (the convent groomed, university churned graduates that make up the bulk approx. 40% of the population in my country), do we have enough trades for us to uphold each one of us? For example, how would a modern day hospital run ? Doctors, themselves employees , may have life missions that sing a tune different from those of the hospital founders. But is it possible for them to be working on their own?? They can run clinics on their own but can never learn anything just by themselves. Who will fund the entire population? How many want to take the risk of doing something on their own?
Thanks in advance for the thought-provoking ideas!
One need look no further than about 200 years ago right here in America to envision a thoroughly self-employed, libertarian society. See Weapons of Mass Instruction for more on this.
Back then we were the world's center of innovation and a booming exporter toppling erstwhile industrial powerhouses; e.g. steel, electricity, rail,.... Sure it was more *chaotic*, but that is a tradeoff well worth its cost. We were also far more literate; prisons didn't hold 1% of our population; women who didn't want babies wore chastity belts; etc.
Yes, the economic bounty from pooled and limited risk is the upside of corporatization. But it also breeds monopolization, stagnation, and political corruption. Because of their *rational* profit-seeking make-up, corporations are essentially mandated to buy political influence.
Modern medicine needs to go. It's a convoluted business that mis-allocates most of its resources to life-extension - not quality of life improvement.
Independent doctors would earn more money and presumably care more about their patients who wielded their dollars in a competitive industry. They could push yoga instead of *pills*. Deregulated, price discriminating health insurance would spur more people to quit smoking and lose weight. A world without *modern medicine* as its currently constituted would be PROGRESS in my book.
The fact is, economic opportunity and output rise drastically with entrepreneurialism. So yes, there'll be plenty of *jobs* to go around.
I submit that risk-taking is a natural proclivity in all of us. It can either be stoked or smothered depending upon our formal education and our experience. This was a point I think I conveyed in Sheep To Slaughter. People, particularly young'uns, can't imagine ideas and possibilities that are systematically hidden from them.
All of what I'm saying here is covered by John Taylor Gatto. Read him if your interest is piqued. One of his books, is online for free - Underground History of Education.
My kids went to public K thru 8, after that - fahgetaboutit. I own business' and travel the US and overseas alot. All my kids took "independent study" which allowed them to travel with me, learn the business', see how commerce is conducted, meet new people, see the world, AND finish high school at their own pace, i.e., quickly.
My 21 yo graduates in May (international business), my 20 yo next year (communications), and my 18 yo will be a sophmore at Uni (business major).
Public education is a NIGHTMARE. Get them working young. Though all my kids worked in the family biz, they all worked outside of it as well. My youngest has wrked in a local law office since she was 16, a job she snagged while working two other jobs.
Thank you Captious,
Re modern medicine, I'm one with you on that. these doctors know nothing. And soon I'm gonna prove it to them in person. And I'll probably write a book on that, and screw the pharmas and their hired butchers.
And thanks to you, I'm reading Will Durant and spreading the word !
Well FCB,
I'm going to one-up you.
My 4 year old is starting a chimney sweep biz this week!
Anon,
When you finish all 8,200 pages of Will Durant, according to West Coast Tom you can list that feat on your resume.
Post a Comment