Deb Fillman: Why Do We Send Kids to School?

Education writer and entrepreneur Deb Fillman joins Just Asking Questions to discuss the tenuous relationship between school and education.

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Deb Fillman: Why Do We Send Kids to School?

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It's back-to-school season, and the very meaning of a proper education seems to be more up for grabs than ever before. K-12 education is still bobbing in the long, tumultuous wake of pandemic lockdowns that invited unprecedented parental scrutiny of what happens in the classroom, resulted in years of learning loss, and catapulted schools into the political and cultural arena. 

We've invited on Deb Fillman, creator of the fascinating Substack The Reason We Learn, because she offers sharp, critical analysis of the current state of American schools informed by a blend of her real-world experience as a teacher, tutor, and homeschool parent and her philosophical commitment to individualism and free and critical thought, all of which she believes are under sustained attack. We also debate whether Fillman is correct in her opposition to school choice programs.

0:00—Introduction

2:48—Defining a good school

6:01—The literacy crisis in education

8:55—Teaching methods and their impact

12:00—The importance of the Western canon

14:47—Digital age and reading habits

21:09—Socioeconomic disparities in education

24:05—The future of education and equity

37:05—Ideological capture in education

41:29—The role of ethnic studies in schools

48:58—The complexity of historical narratives

54:50—The shift in educational focus

01:01:08—The rise of collectivism in education

01:07:55—The evolution of identity politics

01:10:56—Fillman's critique of school choice programs

01:30:54—A question Fillman thinks more people should be asking

Mentioned in the podcast:

"Not-so-great expectations: Students are reading fewer books in English class," by Sharon Lurye

"Teaching Teens to Think in a World That Doesn't Want Them To," by Deb Fillman

Voices: An ethnic studies curriculum

"American Kids Are Functionally Illiterate, and Only Their Parents Can Fix It," by Tim White

• Producer: John Osterhoudt

Comments

[Gaear Grimsrud]

To keep them off our lawns?

[JesseAz (Prime Meanster of Sarcasia)]

To get a Comms degree so they can get paid to pontificate on economics?

[Chumby]

Because normies are lazy fucks that want someone else to pay for the govt provided daycare/indoctrination of their offspring.

That’s why.

[tracerv]

Beat me to it.

[TJJ2000]

Clarify the question first...
Send them to school or send them to commie-indoctrination camps for kids?

Could you imagine what would happen if people sent their kids to Micron, Intel, Space-X, Caterpillar Corp, Mechanic Shops, etc, etc, etc business to actually LEARN how to be an actual asset?

Why. It just might follow that adults in the US wouldn't need a Big Fat Government of oppression/taxes to live on anymore.

[TJJ2000]

But instead we've got those who can't do ... teach kids how to ?can-do?.

Politicians who rely on Commie-Gun theft for a living.
Bureaucrats who rely on Commie-Gun theft for a living.
Experts who rely on Commie-Gun theft for a living.

All of which are never asked to be competent enough in their own service to provide enough *real* VALUE anyone would want to pay for.

'Guns' are not the right tool to teach kids with.

[tracerv]

Day Care?

[Uncle Jay]

"Why Do We Send Kids to School?"

1. So babysitters can pretend they're teachers.

2. So the public education blob and relieve us of the awesome responsibility of deciding to do with our money we earned.

3. So the "educators" in public schools can indoctrinate our children in failed Marxist bullshit.

4. So the babysitters, educrats and staff in public education can purchase their third luxury car, the second vacation home in the Bahamas, do not have to work in the summer and not feel guilty about it.

5. Because we're all stupid enough to put up with this insanity.

[Moonrocks]

Because we were already voluntold to pay school bureaucrats tens of thousands of dollars per student.

[Winston in Wonderland]

...So my girlfriend and I can have some snuggly time alone with each other...

[Incunabulum]

For the same reason we don't bake our own bread.

[TJJ2000]

Speaking of. The only welfare ever really needed was a bucket of wheat. If one is too lazy to bake their own food then they are definitely too lazy to be on welfare.

[Panhandle]

I think it is safe to say a lot of parents are sending kids to school for free baby sitting. If they cared about their education, more of them graduating high school would be able to read/write at the presribed level. However, my AI tells me that the average american reads at the 7/8th grade level and only 37% read at or above the NAEP proficient level. That is so sad.

[Lester75]

It's fun to read to kids and it can make them lifelong readers. I don't know why this practice is fading out.

[TJJ2000]

Or maybe Government standards/education are the issue (NEAP).
Exactly what 'reading' was tested for comprehension? How to be a Commie?

Begging the question; Is it the student that is the problem or the curriculum. Is the horse being led to water but refusing to drink the poison? Resulting in low performance?

I believe it would shock the world how much kids want to learn how to be an asset (i.e. productive). Something government/politicians are inept to test/do because they don't produce anything.

The line between education and competency has been entirely corrupted (it's gone) by politicians.

[Vernon Depner]

Based on my personal experience, especially on the job, I think those reading stats are too generous. At least one in five Americans is almost completely illiterate, and I believe that's rising, as voice-to-text apps make it easy for illiterate students to fake their way through school.

[NotForNoReason]

No, the real question is why do we send kids to schools that have utterly failed/are failing? Kids come out without being able to read or do math. No critical thinking skills. All under pain of loss of children and prison time. Why haven't we burned the system down and rebuilt a system that works?