The national socialization of children through public schooling involves "dumbing children down" so they are unable to use democratic machinery and traditions to defend themselves against a managed society. This practice also eliminates local control of educational goals and practices, allowing families to be replaced by the hired voices…

The five essays in this book criticize the "deadening heart" of compulsory state schooling, described as a series of assumptions and structures that stamp out the self-knowledge, curiosity, concentration and solitude essential to learning--a system wherein education and schooling are mutually exclusive terms. The book argues that between schooling…

Briefly explores differences between educational systems in Switzerland and the United States. Discusses 9 assumptions and 21 contradictions concerning shortcomings of compulsory public schooling in the United States. Suggests that schooling has moved away from intellectual development or skills training toward socializing students to become part…

Suggests that modern schooling was founded on elitist principles and has resulted in making people dumber, weakening families, replacing religion, lowering incomes, reproducing the class structure by dividing children into classes that correlate closely with family income, and concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a small fraction of the…

Public schooling fails by educating students to become dependent thinkers; by providing irrelevant curricula; and by weakening social institutions such as family, community, and religion. On the other hand, public libraries give students the freedom to choose what they want to read, encourage critical thinking, and be nonjudgmental of students.…