The Nature of Schooling

Alan Mather, principal of Lindblohm High School, addressing a group of teachers. Our schools are built around three primary concerns of schools: control, compliance, and coercion. Why, he asks, do schools oppose every new technology and idea? Pagers were a sign of drug dealing. Calculators will kill your ability to add and subtract. Cell phones should be banned. The problem is that schools are all about teachers and not very much about students. Students are meant to comply--not to be engaged. Alan is a rare voice of freedom and reson. Our educational system is built on fear, power, and hierarchy. Frankly I despair for the future of our schools, and because of that our democracy. Our schools are in the hands of people who are committed to preserving their power and positions.