I
t's pretty remarkable the amount of misery we're just okay with letting children go through in our schooling process. I think education is extremely important, but the American school system is just a travesty, almost across the board. It's largely ineffectual, just wastes enormous amounts of children's time, teaches them vulgar habits of compliance and memorization; and this isn't even to mention the horrible social pressures that go on within schools, in which it is a rare child who escapes without trauma. What percentage of people would rate their overall experiences in middle and high school as "positive"? 40%? 25%? 10%? It is a near-universal experience to suffer immensely in the schooling environment, and we've become so used to this fact, that we assume this must be an important "rite of passage" or something, the way that we get exposed to the realities of the world.
I'm calling bullshit on this one. I think we tolerate the suffering of our children because we've painted ourselves into a corner, and now need this painful daycare in order to make our economy function properly. I think it is grossly unnatural to expose children to the level of bullying, clique-making, grade-obsessing, drug exposure, and the thousand other ills that beset our ten- to eighteen-year olds. I think that likely a great number of our societal ills are founded in the middle school, and that a happy childhood is how you form a well-rounded, confident person.
There's plenty of time to learn about the ills of the world. But someone hardened to them from a young age will just accept pain and suffering as the way of things; someone who has been built on a strong foundation will fight to make things better, for themselves and for others.