Feeling Smashie?

I don't think you can overhaul the education system and retain rotting foundations. The very center of the academic mindset is such that it cannot help but produce a system where almost everyone fails. It doesn't matter if that happens under capitalism, socialism, feudalism, whatever.

One thing that stood out right away though is the worry about muh standardized testing. There is nothing wrong with a standardized test in of itself; tests fucking ought to be standardized, rather than subjectified so that special people get to take special tests. Subjective testing just leads to people being pre-assigned academic castes. The problem with the existing standardized tests is that they aren't very accurate or useful for determining ability. I don't know how the hell anyone thinks multiple choice tests are at all acceptable. Of course, the multiple choice tests are not really the core of educational policy - sure your official grade is based on the test, but your real grade is based on which academic caste you are assigned when you enter the school system. If you're an average student, as a rule you are not going to have a place in the future society, your role is to be someone fit to draft into the military or the low ranks of the civil service, or if your behavior is unacceptable / positions are not needed to be fuel for the base economy. Only the college-bound students, delineated at an early age and never much more than 20% of the population, are to have any future worth noting.

This 20% of the population possesses all of the machinery to conduct a revolution, and will never tolerate being in an inferior position or under the watch of the underclasses, even in a superficial way like being obligated to serve the people and maintain the government to a level where the underclasses can at least live a decent life. The only reason the underclass is not totally sacrificed for their body organs now, is because such a thing would be logistically impossible and economically problematic, and the underclass has the habit of not cooperating and scurrying around like rats when attacked. Hitler and the Nazis learned that and weren't as successful as they would like, and they openly disdained civil society and democracy in a culture that had little genuine history of democracy or liberalism at the time. The next time such a regime conducts a revolution, they are not going to let themselves bend to the small decency of ordinary people, and the behavior of the current generation is a perfect example of why most of us are fucked.

Anyway, I think you need to do more than adjust the education system to reflect idealistic reality. Shit doesn't work like that - schools, universities, churches, they don't build their education systems to do the right thing or idealism, they build schools to reinforce the existing social structure, or effect changes that suit their class needs, and the teachers within them have their antagonistic class interests with the administrators. The wants of the uneducated underclass do not matter, and never will. The Prussians knew exactly what they were doing when they built their model, and that model more or less informs the methods of education used today in the public school system. Universities are literally social clubs - you don't go to university to learn, you go to university to pass the credentialing process and make the connections necessary to join higher society. (That many people entering the university system fail is neither here nor there.)

If I were looking for somewhere to overhaul, I'd look at the universities. Since the universities have a large degree of independence (and how does no one question the independence of universities under capitalism, and how student loan debt is exempt from bankruptcy protection?), this is not likely to happen.

I don't really think you can question it, ultimately, without questioning the humanism that has underpinned the liberal enlightenment and the socialist movement; and then, you would also have to contend with the vast horde of reactionaries who explicitly want to restore monarchism and divine right, which is even worse (and ultimately, rooted in the same mystical superstition). I simply do not see a case where that happens, either if socialism prevails in the long run or, more likely, eugeno-fascism and an eternal dark age snuffs out any such thought forever. Humankind then will be a closed loop, like a masturbation addict that makes excuses and turns into a goddamn incel.

ur stupid

care to elaborate?

Reading the article, it sounds a little crypto-lib, but it is undeniably eight about a lot and is totally useful from a Communist perspective.

Ironically the right wing also has a repugnance for education for its own ideological reasons. It's really the liberals who still hold to the romantic notion about the egalitarian and meritocratic nature of education and the educational system.

Totally a radlib.
What a shame.

Yeah man. Capitalists yet again prove themselves unable to do anything correct. I can't wait for Socialism. It's good for everyone. It's literally the best solution if you care about children, freedom, and basically all of the positive things people care for. Geez.
How true is this, guys?

There’s no shortage these days of disenchanted current and former Ivy League students trying to warn others about the waste of sweat, blood, tears and money getting into one of these schools is.

Their warnings fall on deaf ears.

After all, everyone “knows” what an excellent school Harvard is, and the sort of doors it can open up. Never mind the fact that a sizable portion of Ivy League grads end up in the same sort of careers their state university counterparts do, or that a quarter of them are either unemployed or chronically underemployed a full two years after graduation.

Also never mind that fact that the vast majority of kids who make it into these institutions sacrificed the opportunity to develop interests or a unique personality when they spent all that time making SAT flashcards and joining nine clubs during high school. If you like to hang out with people who manage to be both toweringly arrogant and amazingly boring simultaneously, perhaps the Ivy League is for you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t bother

i'm
I think its a case of experience may vary. My younger brother will most certainly make it into an Ivy League, for example. I really can't say thought that he has sacrificed his life or interests. He has a social life, friends, a gf, hangs out with them every weekend and goes to restaurants (I'm in an upper middle class family). I imagine he probably hides a lot of the stress as teenagers tend to do but he's excelled in all subjects. Now, this all come with caveats, I think. He never put any work into "english/literature" class and bought all of his essays and homework offline. It's quite possible he bought a lot other homework and tests offline too. On top of that, all of his classmates collaborate through Whatapp etc. on homework and if I were to investigate the well may go even deeper. However, I'm certain he is studious in calculus and other AP classes and top of his class essentially I won't write it off that he's a brainlet. However, I have no doubt he cheated the system to an extent and has less stress for it. On one hand it pisses me off considering in my HS years I adhered to my own set of moral standards and refused to get answers from online when I was his age. I got into a liberal art college but not an Ivy by any stretch, and while I'm not entirely upset about the outcome I am envious that I didn't get into an Ivy simply because the meme of it increasing your social status.

Hey look another retard like me. feels bad man.

While in college, I browsed /lit/ on 4chan at the time and I was struck by the extremely crass manner of the university threads on that board. While there was possibly a degree of trolling, the degree of snobbery and entitlement of the Ivy Leaguers who came to post on that thread and assert the superiority of their institutions made me upset and feel inadequate. My parents having attended Ivys in combination with those assertions of superiority, took a toll on my psyche. In retrospect not only could those have been trolls but people who need to assert their superiority like that probably have their own problems and say these things to convince themselves of the righteousness of their choices and their situation at the top of the university hierarchy. But I can't help but feel disturbed by the Ivy League people and I get a feeling that the lot of them are immensely and supremely arrogant and contemptuous of anyone below them. It pisses me off that these people will for the rest of their lives be able to tell a story to themselves about how superior they are to others and how they are the peak of achievement and meritocracy. My upbringing being what it is part of me will always be saddened that I didn't get into an Ivy just so that I couldn't be the object of imaginary scorn I imagine Ivy leaguers feel for people like me. My parents always denigrated everyone because they didn't have their educational status (even though they didn't get great grades) and because they are doctors. Perhaps I can rejoice that I will never be shackled in this spookdom? Would, in another timeline, I be some Ivy League idpol who thought he was woke?

/end blog

Tell me your story

I'm currently attending a two year community college on my last year. I think I need to take a break from this (for maybe a year) since I am not doing very well in CALC II. I need to sort my life out as I'm planning to get a masters in physics. I'm high school I tended to take a absurd amount of AP classes and at least pretended to be a tryhard but in reality I did about as good as a really good honors student. I felt out of place in my High school years from my peers. I managed to just barely do good enough to pass the entry exams and tool a more SATs that I needed to for some odd reason. I was originally planning on going to my state university for this fall but now I am having second thoughts. Haven't really met a academic adviser for this yet. I've felt that I'm always a grade or a class below everyone in my calc classes but I'm fine with all of the math classes that I had to take due to how badly I took the entry exam. I feel that I'm wasting my life doing this but at the same time I know these classes will help me solve problems in my day to day life. The core of the problem that I have with myself at the moment is that I have not developed a good work ethic and I tend to leave things to about three days before they are due. No amount of advice will on the Internet will actually help so don't even try. I just need a year to prepare and get my act together.
\end rant

Ivy League tech programs are total fucking bullshit. This should be common knowledge. They are only "good" (for American hegemony) because they allow smart people to be in the proximity of rich kids who have access to capital.

I understand. I like to think that typing out my thoughts clearly and honestly might be a therapeutic experience but I'm always disappointed with the results tbh. While others might take sympathy I usually feel empty and even vulnerable pouring out my inner life. Honestly the only thing that makes be feel better is working. Complaining and moping is a superfluity. Ironically though I am a depressive type and I get distracted by internet forums so I find it hard to muster energy to do other shit. I wish very much to quite the Chans, honestly, but I feel like something is missing in my life because in a way the discussions I have here are more intellectually fulfilling than anything IRL besides doing my own personal reading. Anyway, I hope all goes well for you. I graduated college with good grades and if I can so can you dear user

Those quads doe