Are schools necessary?

I think that schools aren't necessary, especially if they're run like Gatto says they are, for the most part. (After all, homeschoolers do just fine, as he points out. And homeschoolers don't have to be just you and your siblings taught by you parents. There are homeschooling groups for the social part, where you gather at people's houses. Homeschoolers can join groups for more social interaction. You might have to be more motivated as a homeschooler, but they do work). I've never been to a public school, so I'm not sure if the 'Prussian' system is actually the norm or if it is just an exaggeration for argument's sake. My suspicion is that it is not acutally like that for the most part. Still, if the purpose of schools is to learn, both academically and socially, then schools aren't necessary. People can learn in groups, in unregimented educational systems, etc. However, as in some parts of the world, the purpose of an education is also to learn sanitation, health, good habits, etc. If one comes from a family in which all that is taken for granted, then that's fine. Or if not, and one goes to a learning place with kids/adults who know all that, then that's fine too. However, whether schools are necessary or not really depends on where you are in the world. But generally, they're not. And 'warehouse' public schools certainly are not.

Education Value

I value parts of the nonacademic education we get at school, in the way that Mann describes it. He has divides up school into parts like physical education, intellectual education as a means to remove poverty, political education, moral education and religious education. I do value religious education in the way he describes it: not converting students, but teaching them how to decide which religion is right. Learning about different cultures and religious is helpful in understanding conflicts in the world; being forced to believe in something is not. Therefore, I think the way that that works in school is a good thing.

I value the intellectual education as a means to remove poverty/to get rich a little bit. I'm not badly off, but since I'm not rich either, and if you do well at school, you get to go to college and graduate school and get a job, then you get rich, so I value school for that. I value some intellecutal education for its own sake- but Mann doesn't talk about that. I value the political education part. It makes a lot of sense to have to know what to vote and how to think about the world before you actually have a say in government. (Even if your say is negligible on its own and not en masse.)

The political education we get is a good thing too, in my opinion, for the same reasons Mann says. It's essential to know how the government works and what the issues are before you actually vote.

As for the physical and moral education part- no, I really don't value it. I don't need to learn sanitation and health- common sense is enough there. I have a sport- I don't need physical education. Mann's praise of it just seems strange. I don't value the moral education, either. Maybe I lack school spirit or whatever, but our Core Values seem more like common sense and basic good things to do and not like something that needs to be instilled into the my head. I don't feel I need a moral education at school because I know what's right and wrong. I think it's good that schools encourage being a good person, but I don't really care or think much about it.