Wyldkat, based on going to observe in quite a few schools now, I agree with your comment, at least in regards to kindergarten. I might not use the word cruelty, but would be happy with something like "Orwellian personality modification experiment".
I've seen 4 public Ks now and simply by walking into a classroom and looking at the kids appearance I can tell without hearing a word uttered roughly how that school ranks nationally. It appears to be entirely due to socio-economic status. They could do away with testing and just average the parental tax returns.
At the lowest ranking one the kids enter with many not knowing colors, and none reading. There is an incredible task for the teacher and they do achieve an amazing amount of catch up. At the highest, all are reading by mid-year and there is all along a little bit of time for extra content and the occasional child directed moment.
At almost none of the public schools (and definitely not at 2 privates) have I seen examples of children rewarded or encouraged in independent thought, personal self expression, or creativity. On average, children's comments not directly in answer to a teacher question were just tolerated without response. At the worst they were squashed. At one single school, the highest socioeconomic status public, I saw one instance of a child expressing a personal experience relevant to the class activity which was given respect: a reply and exchange lasting a few moments.
Kindergarten at every one of the 6 I've viewed appears to be simply the first of many years of immersion therapy to shut up and listen to an authority figure who will tell you exactly what you are supposed to know.
At every school, a 10 or 15 minute break with access to toys or the outdoors seems to be a frantic rush to expel pent up tension. At no time did I see cooperative complex interactions between students such as complex imaginary scenarios or a child invented game (and this would be the main time they are allowed to speak to one another besides lunch).
In K a child can get through 6 hours straight without speaking other than reading specific words they are instructed to or answering primarily rote memorization type questions. If anyone noticed the child was silent it might be to think the child was well behaved and possibly reward them for that.
It seems really strange to me that the school system does this to 5 year olds.
The children at most of the schools (excepting the strictest private and 1 public) seemed happy and engaged, but I put that down to children being resilient and flexible and to their teachers being generally extremely friendly and energetic people. Happiness in a 5 year old does not necessarily mean it's a system that prepares them well for life after 17.
My husband recently helped interview high achieving high school grads that are looking for money to attend selective colleges. He commented to me that virtually none of them have anything interesting to say, they give no hint of the type of deep thinking or individuality that actually thrives at university. They can not come up with a real answer for what subject interests or excites them. They are consumed by an obsession over grades and promoting themselves via their glowingly long list of run of the mill extracurriculars. And they seem to have no sense of how vacuous they sound, they seem not like individuals but like a herd of hoop jumping monkeys.
I'm sure there are exceptions of course but I have to wonder if the exceptions survived the system rather than were benefited by it.
It is just hard not to jump to conclusions about causality, seeing the school system and then hearing about the product.
Polly
