Semantics

[Bring4th_Austin]

Abridgetoofar, I will make the assumption that the militarized class was more free because it had discipline in place.

I think that I enjoyed ROTC so much because it was intended to be an outlet to explore these restrictions. It's sort of like a healthy marriage...you're not free to participate in relations with other people, but it is a happy situation because it's what you expected from the agreement to begin with. It was also a unique view of a group of people functioning as one. With the restrictions so well defined, we were able to explore within those restrictions with complete freedom. Along the lines of what you mention here...

On your dumb system thought- I won't disagree, because whatever the system is, is. I'm not going political.
What I notice is that you praised Montessori for it's open learning and then condemn public schools for not teaching you anything. All the while, learning interests were at your free will all along. You could've delved into learning all you wanted.

I acted upon my learning interests during that time-period, just outside of the confines of school. In fact, I delved very deep into learning. I learned much during those years, but on my own accord, after school hours on my own as well as through interaction with my friends (which, it should be noted, that this interaction with friends is becoming less and less during school hours for our children).

It's not that public schools didn't try to teach me anything, it's that I had absolutely no say in what I wanted to learn. In classes I wanted to learn, I did, but then I was still stuck in the confines of the class. I couldn't move ahead if I grasped a concept quicker than other children (resulting in boredom), and I couldn't spend more time on a particular subject I was interested in or struggled with (resulting in me falling behind, and eventually being so lost I stopped caring).

Likewise, I was forced to learn information I felt I had (and still have) no use for. So much time wasted on such useless information being literally forced down my throat. It bugs me even more in hindsight, thinking about how I'd stare out the window at a tree. If I had known then that I could have learned so much more by meditating under that tree rather than sitting in class, I probably couldn't have handled it. I would have shut down completely.

The Negative part, I believe, comes in when we are judged by our scores. Life isn't that black and white. I don't intend to hold my children to a piece of paper. I intend to help them blossom into this world they will grow into.

Indeed, it is a small part of the negativity. But I don't think it's such a bad idea to gauge how well a concept is grasped, but to be so harshly judged by the gauging is what is negative. Like I said, I never had a problem with any tests. I am bugged by the testing system, but it was not the source of my intense discomfort going through public school.