Has the western education system created a rise in unanimous thinking and authoritarian leadership?

Think about it, nothing breeds more compliance than an institution.

An institution is all about rules, law, persistence and continuity. It has a hierarchal structure which is rigid in nature and condemns the questioning of authority.

After leaving these institutions, unless you really have it in you, its very hard to not think or operate how you’ve been trained to, especially if you have been within this institution for a significant part of your developing years.

In schools, airing a view which could disrupt the classroom or be in direct opposition to the majority, may leave you in detention, or labelled problematic….and yes, this was my experience.

But what I find super interesting is how these classroom laws impact real life.

Look at social media for example. It went from being a global arena for public discourse to an island that you can be booted off for not being in agreeance with everyone else.

It felt just like school, but in this case, teachers were appointed by blue ticks and status, and the student follows whatever Mr or Mrs bluetick says.

Tell me what’s the difference?

Twitter has classroom bullies, labelling people conspiracy theorists and mentally unstable due to their views being indifferent.

Twitter gives you detention, kicking you out, and allowing you to get piled on by people again, questioning your sanity all because your not in agreeance with them. You may even get hit by one of their very popular twitter slurs, ‘conspiracy theorist’, or ‘woke’.

Ha, a weird comparison but honestly, this is one of the reasons I left Twitter in 2021.

But, I digress, in real school, I remember being the outspoken student, the one always speaking up in class questioning why, challenging my teachers on their contradictory arguments or for saying the n-word when reading Of Mice and Men.

“Excuse me Miss, that’s racist”. You can already imagine, they didn’t like that one.

But even as a child, I found it hard just to accept information without question or nuance. I would always speak up and ask, ‘But what if’ this and ‘What if’ that. This would result in me being in the same place during my lunch hour, my headteachers office where we would eat sandwiches and discuss different ways I can learn to be….quiet.

I didn’t realise that I, like many other children, blessed with natural curiosity was gradually having compliance forced upon me. I was not being nurtured, but I was actually being indoctrinated, and it has taken me many years to shake off this experience, which was subliminally teaching me that speaking up would only lead to trouble.

What they didn’t realize is I was an Entrepreneur in the making. I was working in salons, being picked up by my friends mothers after school, just to do their hair. While I was missing out on classes after being isolated for again, talking way too much, I was building a client list, working out prices, organizing appointments and making good money.

This time I would be spending with women older than me, taught me more about life than what I learned in school.

Now let me get serious for a second. Having a natural inclination to critical thought processes leads us to innovation. Einstein, Nikola Tesla, I mean they were some real critical thinkers. Based on their own judgment of the world around them, they questioned everything, tested their theories and proved the world wrong when the world told them that their theories were crazy.

This leads me to believe that a child’s schooling experience is as significant as the schooling itself. Their experience of school will shape them, and has the power to either dim their light or illuminate it.

The Scrutiny Hour season 2 Unschooling the West discovers the world of parents who have taken their children out of school after losing faith in the current education system.

From ex-teachers to educators, school owners and unschoolers, this podcast gives you a small glimpse into the world of parents taking their children’s education into their own hands, and turning their backs on the traditional school system for a new world of learning.