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“Childhood and Education #9: School is Hell” by Zvi


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This complication of tales from the world of school isn’t all negative. I don’t want to overstate the problem. School is not hell for every child all the time. Learning occasionally happens. There are great teachers and classes, and so on. Some kids really enjoy it.

School is, however, hell for many of the students quite a lot of the time, and most importantly when this happens those students are usually unable to leave.

Also, there is a deliberate ongoing effort to destroy many of the best remaining schools and programs that we have, in the name of ‘equality’ and related concerns. Schools often outright refuse to allow their best and most eager students to learn. If your school is not hell for the brightest students, they want to change that.

Welcome to the stories of primary through high school these days.

Table of Contents

[...]

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Outline:

(00:58) Primary School

(02:52) Math is Hard

(04:11) High School

(10:44) Great Teachers

(15:05) Not as Great Teachers

(17:01) The War on Education

(28:45) Sleep

(31:24) School Choice

(36:22) Microschools

(38:25) The War Against Home Schools

(44:19) Home School Methodology

(48:14) School is Hell

(50:32) Bored Out of Their Minds

(58:14) The Necessity of the Veto

(01:07:52) School is a Simulation of Future Hell

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First published:

March 7th, 2025

Source:

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/MJFeDGCRLwgBxkmfs/childhood-and-education-9-school-is-hell

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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