What do you think is the purpose/should be the purpose of public school?

[zarus tathra]

John Taylor Gatto and the Rockefellers both think that compulsory schooling exists primarily to "discipline" the industrial poor and make them more open to the influence of bankers and industrialists. Paul Graham thinks school is basically a kind of soft prison that exists to keep the kids out of everybody's hair while their parents are at work. Amaury de Riencourt thinks that it exists to integrate people, especially immigrants, into a uniform American culture derived from New England schools to create some semblance of social order. Liberals think it's there for equality or something, or that it should be.

I think that if school serves any purpose, it is to help people become intelligent, inventive, and productive, to train them to contribute to scientific and technological progress. There are other purposes that might under most circumstances contribute to this objective, but where there is a conflict, the interests of science and technology should prevail.

[SGOS]

They're there to provide sports teams for the community to watch.

[doorknob]

they aren't there to educate people. Especially city schools. I could get into it but won't

I think science and technology should be pushed a lot more in schools. I've been reading my daughters biology book and I approve of it. Currently she is cyber schooled

[GrinningYMIR]

my schools always pushed civil rights and negated or made small certain events such as the entirety of WW2 and the Cold war

And Napoleon, and Europe in general except for the revolutionary war.

My curriculum until AP classes was as follows "Revolutionary war, Slavery, more Slavery, Civil War, Reconstruction, little bit of ww1 and 2 (I actually remember a certain text book having 2 pages on WW2) Civil Rights, Civil Rights, Rosa Parks, Civil Rights, and then Modern Civil rights"

I'm not downing civil rights here, but I do think not learning about ANYTHING else hurts us, particularly the wars and the European things we did, hell I didn't even know we were the ones that started trade and modernized Japan until 2008

No wonder Europeans hate us

[Jason Harvestdancer]

Government schools educate according to government wishes.  It really is that simple.  This is but a small part of a larger question:

Is Democratic Behavior behavior that is good for a Democracy or is it behavior that a Democracy likes?

[Hydra009]

my schools always pushed civil rights and negated or made small certain events such as the entirety of WW2 and the Cold war

And Napoleon, and Europe in general except for the revolutionary war.

My curriculum until AP classes was as follows "Revolutionary war, Slavery, more Slavery, Civil War, Reconstruction, little bit of ww1 and 2 (I actually remember a certain text book having 2 pages on WW2) Civil Rights, Civil Rights, Rosa Parks, Civil Rights, and then Modern Civil rights"

I'm not downing civil rights here, but I do think not learning about ANYTHING else hurts us, particularly the wars and the European things we did, hell I didn't even know we were the ones that started trade and modernized Japan until 2008

No wonder Europeans hate us

Mine did wars.  Wars like you wouldn't believe.

French and Indian, American Revolution (which all sensible and patriotic Americans supported and worked splendidly), French Revolution (which was an absolute disaster), war with Mexico, an imperial ton on the Civil War (aka the war of Northern Aggression), we got to act out the alliance system that basically started WWI (As the German rep, I basically bribed the Russian rep with a juice box into staying neutral as the Fatherland steamrolled western Europe.  Wir lieben vereint, wir hassen vereint, wir alle haben nur einen Feind: ENGLAND!), sadly we didn't roleplay WWII but we covered the hell out of that and by that I mean just the main battles that the U.S. participated in (it took me a few years to figure out that China was even involved).  I think we had just enough time left for an overview of the Cold War and a little bit of Vietnam (it was a screw up, but we totally could have won it if we had bombed just a little harder...)

But anyway, it's one part minimum security prison, one part factory farm with facts instead of corn, and one part not-so-subtle social engineering.  But the pizza's great.

[GrinningYMIR]

Mine did wars.  Wars like you wouldn't believe.

French and Indian, American Revolution (which all sensible and patriotic Americans supported and worked splendidly), French Revolution (which was an absolute disaster), war with Mexico, an imperial ton on the Civil War (aka the war of Northern Aggression), we got to act out the alliance system that basically started WWI (As the German rep, I basically bribed the Russian rep with a juice box into staying neutral as the Fatherland steamrolled western Europe.  Wir lieben vereint, wir hassen vereint, wir alle haben nur einen Feind: ENGLAND!), sadly we didn't roleplay WWII but we covered the hell out of that and by that I mean just the main battles that the U.S. participated in (it took me a few years to figure out that China was even involved).  I think we had just enough time left for an overview of the Cold War and a little bit of Vietnam (it was a screw up, but we totally could have won it if we had bombed just a little harder...)

One of My AP classes did something similar to that with the treaty of Versailles, my friend managed to sneak in a clause to reform the Holy Roman Empire, which I found hilarious

but I'm still disappointed in the fact that we put so much emphasis on one topic, that we missed everything else.

Hell, the way they teach it now, we practically won the Revolutionary war all by ourselves, and that Washington was the greatest tactician in history

similar to WW2 teachings too, public schools never mention the fact that the Russians the Germans were beating the hell out of each other far worse than us and the Germans, or that D-Day wasn't even the largest amphibious invasion of the war

[Hydra009]

Hell, the way they teach it now, we practically won the Revolutionary war all by ourselves, and that Washington was the greatest tactician in history

Pssht.  Like the Spanish and the French were running interference for us all over the place and actually fighting alongside the colonists on occasion.  That's crazy talk.

[Sal1981]

I'll just echo what my class teacher told me, it's to prepare the kids to be able to function in today's society.

All this loaded bullshit about "what the government wants" or whatever are clueless about education.

[SGOS]

I'll just echo what my class teacher told me, it's to prepare the kids to be able to function in today's society.

I think that's the basic idea behind the concept of education.  I doubt that many teachers would deny that.  That's not to say the concept is not threatened by special interest groups that would like to make amendments to the basic premise.  Christians would like a glorified Sunday School to teach the Bible.  Jocks want it to be about building confidence through the sports program.  Some parents want to see automatic A grades, and others want political indoctrination.  And administrators want..., well I'm not sure.  I think they are just political animals who want to keep the peace. 

But the basic idea is to help kids be better informed, and I believe people understand this.  It does stumble from time to time, and it often finds itself in a hostile environment, but it is not some organized conspiracy to fuck us over. 

[Aroura33]

I think they server more than one purpose in America, though specific curriculum  can vary a bit from school to school (clearly).

The 2 main purposes are to give all people access to basic skills, such as reading, writing and arithmetic.  Even gas station attendants need to be able to do simple math and read.  Hopefully they also include some basic logic, a bit of history, social studies, geography and so forth, but these are the areas that vary greatly.
The second purpose is indeed social integration, and I can't say that is a bad thing.  Getting everyone somewhat functional in the same society is important for harmony.  Not that America has anything resembling harmony, lol.

[Solitary]

They're there to provide sports teams for the community to watch.

He! He! Funny!

[SGOS]

They also teach children how to play musical instruments, so they can have a marching band that supports sports.

[Solitary]

Also funny!

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Teach basic skills to think for themselves with basic knowledge of the real world,not some fantasy "We wish the world was X" bullshit.