We are just a number

Lan8r

Lan8r

Jedi Master
I am not sure where to post this, or if this even warrants a thread of it's own, so move me if need be.

But, I am absolutely floored over this. We all know the evils of the Public School system. Especially here in the US. Heck, I am 50 yrs old and it was bad back in my day.

Anyway, I heard from my Sister about my Niece's first week in First Grade. A big deal for a little kid. My Sis made my niece Alyssa special first day at first grade school brownies. In celebration of her big day. Unfortunately, her teacher wouldn't allow her to eat her special brownie at lunch time. Okay, a brownie might not be the ultimate health food choice, but then again, nor are school lunches. However, it was in the lunch that her Mother sent with her along with other healthy foods. That was just the first day.

Alyssa then started bringing home her papers and assignments from her first week in first grade. My sis, the proud mother that she is, looked them over carefully. Noticing the # 12 written at the top of the pages. No Name, like we were instructed to write at the top of our work in our day. When she asked Alyssa why the #12 was on all her papers, Alyssa told her that 'that's my number'. 'We don't write our names, we write our numbers'.

It is official now, I guess, our schools are obviously prisons. Where are children are assigned inmate numbers, are openly trained, in first grade, to be just a number.

I am absolutely floored.
 
You are right that there is much amiss in the school system. The problems are fundamental and are both a consequence and a cause of our deeply 'off key' world.

But to stay practical here, is it not possible that the numbers are used to ensure that the grading process is unbiased? Ie. the person doing the grading does not know which pupil he is grading and therefore can not play favorites?
 
sarek,

A valid point under certain circumstances. But we are talking about First Grade. Here in the US that is 6 year old children. With a teacher that assigns the numbers. I can't believe that it is for unbiased purposes. Not at this level of education.

Seriously, No child should ever fail First Grade, even if they color outside of the lines. Especially if they color outside of the lines! :)
 
I am in my twenties, I went to a nun's private school (for boys and girls) near my home and they have always assigned us a number, since I was 4 years old until I graduated at 18. Every year there were new people and all of them had the same way in their's schools, each one of us had a number assigned according to our surname. For instance, I have always been "11" or "12" :) I am talking about Spain, at least. It is very usual here.

I don't see it as evil to be honest, it was quite practical: the teacher called us by our name, but with exams or homework we would put our number. Sometimes, we would write our name and our number.

At university, I have never put my name/surname alone, always my identity card number, and exactly the same with all State oficial exams I have taken all my life. It is done to protect our anonymity. (Not from the state of course,as nothing they do is "for" us, but for the people in general)
 
sarek said:
You are right that there is much amiss in the school system. The problems are fundamental and are both a consequence and a cause of our deeply 'off key' world.

But to stay practical here, is it not possible that the numbers are used to ensure that the grading process is unbiased? Ie. the person doing the grading does not know which pupil he is grading and therefore can not play favorites?
Click to expand...

Well I'm sure the teacher would become quite aware eventually of which number each student was assigned, unless they are sending off 1st grade homework to be marked by some corporation (which absolutely wouldn't surprise me).

Schools are such dens of evil these days, the scale of which can hardly be put into words, and this is just another small piece of the dehumanization process.
 
Its for a good reason Gurdjieff had a lot to say about education in Beelzebubs tales.

Its not just the inaccuracies. Far worse is the system of values that the school system tends to teach to children. Our society essentially sees other people as competitors and schools are a major part of keeping that competition going and ensuring everyone has equal chances to beat their fellow humans to the top of the food chain.
 
Personally, I would have to think that what the Education System is teaching to children/people is more of a concern than the mere numbers which they are given.
 
JayMark said:
Personally, I would have to think that what the Education System is teaching to children/people is more of a concern than the mere numbers which they are given.
Click to expand...

FWIW, I prefer the term 'Schooling System'. And I agree wholeheartedly that WHAT the SS (heh) is teaching is (ought to be) the concern. Just this afternoon I was visiting a friend of mine who is a 10 days new father to meet his 'girl', as he says, and the baby. Who is absolutely precious, BTW. During a smoke break, I got into a discussion with him and his sister-in-law dealing, in a general sense, with the 'schooling system'. It absolutely blows my mind how otherwise intelligent people are/can be completely 'elephant-in-the-room' blind. One of the main horrors for me is the fact that parents seem to be okay, perhaps even glad, to send thier child/ren off to a semi-random group of strangers/'educators' for 8 hours a day. 99% of the time, factoring in the so called 'parent teacher night', parents have NO CLUE who it is that is responsible for the future well-being of thier kids.

Kris
 
Quote from: JayMark on August 25, 2013, 07:15:41 AM

Personally, I would have to think that what the Education System is teaching to children/people is more of a concern than the mere numbers which they are given.
Click to expand...

Understood, however, one of my many concerns with regards to the current 'Education System', is the fact that they are now teaching our children that they are literally just a number.... At the age of 6, in First Grade! When, in my time, we were required to write our names on the top of our papers in order to learn how to ... write our names.

But to blatantly Teach a 6 yr old child, at that time in their development, that they are only a number? WTF?
That Is of equal concern.

I have spent my whole life, including grade school, disregarding what the 'Education System' has taught me. I have never had children of my own, so maybe that is why now (at 50 yrs old), when I hear about my nieces first days in First grade, I am so shocked. Luckily, my Sis does everything she can to re-educate Alyssa and to encourage her sense of self worth.
 
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