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.