Thread by @ChrisMasterjohn

People who want to ban or allow any particular theory in schools inadvertently emphasize that school is a form of mass media just like television.

The main differences are that, unlike television, 1) school is mandatory and 2) it is forced on a more vulnerable population.

The other major difference is that it’s curriculum is under political control rather than private control.

In theory, that would allow it to be accountable to “the public,” hence people can debate on national tv whether to ban a theory from being taught.

In practice, however, most curriculum decisions are made by unelected people appointed by unelected people only distantly accountable to elected people who generally are elected on broad issues and not on any specific curriculum decisions.

So actually, parents, students, and the public in general have almost no input into school curricula.

If parents and students could ar will decide to leave one school and go to another, they would have more power over the content, just like people choosing to view one channel versus another have more power over TV content.

However, most TV has had a rather tight Overton window and has produced rather consistent appeal-to-the-common-denominator content. That’s a function of most of it being opened by a few giant companies.

The internet has decentralized information flow and massively opened up a diversity of content because people have more choices to make about what to watch, and what content to produce themselves.

The alliance of government and big tech are clearly trying to reverse that trend.

School obviously should operate within certain boundaries in that it should deliver education that students desire and/or need, but it shouldn’t be operating under such constraint that 51% majorities control what goes on within its walls.

All that does is allow 51% of people to band together as psychological tyrants to control what people learn and what ideas people are exposed to.

I’ve spent a considerable part of my life as an educator, and I also have an unusual relationship with schooling as a student. So I have strong ideas about how things should be taught in schools.

For example, rather the teaching any theory as a proposition to which students are required to assent (brainwashing) I want theories to be taught and students equipped to support or refute them (critical thinking).

Although I think I’m right, the right way for me to achieve this is not to rally up 51% of people to force this on the 49%, nor to infiltrate the layers of unelected people who decide state curriculums to impose this without the 51%.

The right thing is to allow a diversity of options, teach by good example when I teach, propose ideas for others to vet and include, and make good choices of where to put my kids when I have them.

I think what @DeAngelisCorey is doing to try to get funding attached to students rather than schools is a critical but small step in the right direction.

But we need a lot more innovation and creation outside of political control.

I hope it that the collision of COVID lockdowns and debates about what content should and shouldn’t allow facilitate more people thinking outside the box about this.