Preko FB-znanke Nicole Rozen sem našel ostroumno razmišljanje Erice Goldson o srednjem šolstvu (ki pa je le nadgradnja osnovnega) v ZDA. Spoznanja o njegovi zgrešenosti še kako veljajo tudi za slovensko šolstvo.

Najboljša srednješolka v poslovilnem govoru spregovori o zgrešenosti šolstva v ZDA
Erica Goldson je 7. julija 2010 zaključila svoje srednješolsko šolanje na Atenski srednji šoli Coxsackie kot najboljša v svojem letniku. Namesto da bi svoj poslovilni govor izkoristila za proslavitev svojega dosežka, srednje šole in učiteljev, ki so bili zaslužni zanj, je v slogu Ivana Illicha raztrgala smiselnost celotnega šolstva in najboljšega srednješolca v letniku.

Erica je svoj govor objavila v spletnici Sign of the Times; ker ne potrebuje niti krajšanja niti urejanja, je prepisan v neokrnjeni obliki:

Tako menim (posnetek njenega govora –http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M4tdMsg3ts)

V zgodbi o mladem, a prizadevnem učencu zéna (*1) je učenec pristopil k svojemu mojstrskemu učitelju in ga vprašal: " Kako dolgo bom  potreboval, da dosežem zén razsvetljenost, če se učim zelo prizadevno? Mojster je pomislil in odgovoril: "Deset let." Učenec ga je nato vprašal: "Toda če se zelo potrudim, se prizadevno in res hitro učim ... koliko časa bi potem potreboval? Učitelj je odgovoril: "Potem pa dvajset let." "Toda če se resnično močno potrudim, koliko pa potem?" je vprašal učenec. "Trideset let," mu je odgovoril mojster. "Toda ne razumem," je odvrnil razočarani učenec. "Pravite, da bolj prizadevno ko se bom učil, dalj časa bom potreboval. Kako to?" Mojster mu je odgovoril: "Kadar z enim očesom gledaš svoj cilj, se le z enim očesom osredotočaš na pot."
Prav takšna razdvojenost je značilna za ameriško šolstvo. Tako zelo se osredotočamo na cilj, tj. bodisi na uspešno opravljanje preizkusov znanja oziroma na zaključitev srednješolskega študija kot najboljši v svojem letniku. Vendar se na tak način ne učimo zares. Počnemo vse, kar je v naši moči, da dosegamo prvotni cilj [šolanja – dodal MF].

Verjetno nekateri menite sledeče: “Kadar uspešno opravljaš preizkuse znanja ali postaneš najboljši srednješolec svojega letnika, si se s tem že nekaj naučil, mar ne?” Dobro, res se naučiš nekaj, toda ne vse, kar bi se lahko. Verjetno si se naučil kako si zapomniti imena, kraje in datume, ki jih pozneje pozabiš, zato da si razbremeniš spomin za naslednji preizkus znanja. Šola ni niti približno, kar naj bi bila. Zdaj je predvsem ustanova, kjer večina ljudi ugotovi, da jo želijo čim prej zapustiti.

Zdaj dosegam ta cilj. Zaključujem srednješolski študij. To naj bi bilo nekaj spodbudnega, zlasti ker sem najboljša v svojem letniku. Vendar, če se ozrem nazaj, ne morem reči, da sem kaj bolj brihtna kot moji vrstniki. Z gotovostjo lahko trdim le, da sem najboljša v izpolnjevanju šolskih zahtev in da sem jih obrnila sebi v prid. Bila naj bi ponosna, da sem zaključila obdobje nekritičnega sprejemanja učne snovi, vendar menim drugače. Jeseni se bom vpisala v naslednjo stopnjo izobraževanja, kakor se pričakuje od mene, da bom [po končanem študiju – dodal MF] pridobila potrdilo o svoji sposobnosti za delo. Vendar ugovarjam – nisem delavec – temveč človeško bitje, mislec, pustolovec. Delavec je nekdo, ki je obsojen na opravljanje ponavljajočih se opravil – je suženj ureditve, v katero je vpet. Torej sem dokazala, da sem bila najboljša sužnja. Kar se je zahtevalo od mene, sem počela najbolje od vseh. Medtem ko so drugi med poukom brezciljno risali, da bi pozneje postali veliki umetniki, sem si sama delala zapiske, da sem odlično opravljala preizkuse znanja. Medtem ko so sošolci prihajali k pouku brez narejenih domačih nalog, ker so se učili tisto, kar jih zanima, sem sama vedno napravila vse naloge. Ko so drugi ustvarjali glasbo ali pisali pesmi, sem se jaz trudila z dodatnimi nalogami, čeprav jih nikoli nisem potrebovala. Zato se sprašujem, ali sem si sploh kdaj želela biti najboljša v svojem letniku. Seveda sem si to zaslužila, toda kaj bom imela od tega? Bom uspešna ali povsem izgubljena, ko bom zaključila šolanje v šolskih ustanovah? Sanja se mi ne, kaj bi rada v svojem življenju. Ne vem, kaj me v sresnici zanima, ker sem med šolanjem vsak srednješolski predmet dojemala kot nalogo, zato nisem v vseh predmetih iztopala zaradi želje po učenju, temveč zaradi želje izstopati. In odkrito rečeno, zdaj me je strah.

John Taylor Gatto, upokojeni šolski učitelj in borec proti obveznemu šolstvu, pravi: “V otrocih bi lahko spodbujali njihove najboljše odlike, ki so značilne za mlade – radovednost, pustolovstvo, vztrajnost, zmožnost presenetljivih spoznanj – že s tem, da bi se jim časovno bolj prilagajali s spisi in preizkusi znanja, s čimer bi otroke vzgajali v zrele odrasle, in s tem, da bi študentom prepuščali pobudo, ki jo potrebujejo za občasno tveganje. Toda tega ne počnemo.« V šolskih učilnicah se od vseh pričakuje, da smo enaki. Urimo se za opravljanje ukalupljenih preizkusov znanja z najboljšimi možnimi ocenami, kdor pa se temu upira, ker vidi življenje drugače kot drugi, po merilih javnega šolstva ni nič prida, zato je zaničevan.

H. L. Mencken je v reviji The American mercury aprila 1924 zapisal, da javno šolstvo ne “vceplja znanje v mlade predstavnike človeške vrste in ne prebuja njihovo bistroumnost. … Kajti v resnici počne ravno obratno. Stremi … zgolj k ukalupljanju šolajočih se v varne okvire, da državljane vzgaja in uri po vnaprej predpisanih merilih, da omalovažuje oporekanje in izvirnost. K temu stremi šolstvo v ZDA.”

V ponazoritev zadeve, ali vas ne mika zvedeti smisel pojma “kritično mišljenje”? Ali sploh obstaja “nekritično mišljenje”? Misliti pomeni presojati informacije z namenom ustvariti si mnenje. Toda če takih informacij ne presojamo, ali potem sploh mislimo? Oziroma ali to ne pomeni sprejemati tuja mnenja brez razmisleka o njihovi resničnosti?

Prav to sem počela in bila bi pogubljena, če ne bi imela redke sreče, da sem naletela na napredno učiteljico angleščine, Donno Bryan, ki mi je dovolila preverjati v učbenikih zapisane trditve in jih presojati, preden sem jih sprejela. Zdaj sem razsvetljena, toda umsko se še vedno počutim nemočno. Moram se izuriti misliti nanovo in obenem ne pozabiti, da je navidezno razumno srednje šolstvo v resnici nezdravo za um.

Torej živim v svetu, ki mu vlada strah, v svetu, ki zatira vsem nam lastno samoniklost, v svetu, kjer lahko sprejmemo nečloveško nesmiselnost državno vodenega in podjetniškega nadzora ter pehanje za gmotnimi dobrinami ali pa si prizadevamo spremeniti zadeve. Šolstvo nas ne spodbuja k večji osveščenosti, če nas potihoma pripravlja za delo, ki bi lahko bilo avtomatizirano (*2), da se pač opravlja delo, za sužnost brez želje po doseganju pomembnejših ciljev. V življenju, kjer je glavna spodbuda denar, nimamo druge izbire. Vendar bi nas morala spodbujati strast, ki pa jo izgubimo, čim vstopimo v kolesje šolstva, ki nas uri, namesto da bi nas navdihovalo.

Smo več kot le roboti, ki jim šola vceplja znanje iz knjig, da bi znali na pamet v šoli naučena dejstva. Vsak izmed nas je zelo samosvoj, vsak človek na tem planetu je nekaj posebnega; ali si torej ne zaslužimo česa boljšega in svoj um, namesto za brezplodno učenje na izust, raje uporabljamo za ustvarjalnost, da se namesto za duhovno nazadovanje odločimo za razmišljanje in um raje s pridom uporabljamo za iznajdbe? Ne obiskujemo srednjo šolo, da si pridobimo dobro spričevalo in nato službo, da bomo lahko porabljali industrijsko potrjena pomirjevala drugega za drugim. Zmoremo več in še dosti več.

Najbolj žalostno pa je, da se večina srednješolcev ne sprašuje in ne razmišlja, kot sem se jaz. Večina srednješolcev gre skozi isti postopek pranja možganov, da postanejo ubogljiva delovna sila, ki dela v prid prikritih namenov vlade in velikih podjetij, česar se srednješolci sploh ne zavedajo, kar pa je sploh najhuje. Nikoli si ne bom mogla povrniti minulih 18 let. Ne morem pobegniti v drugo državo, kjer bi šolstvo, namesto k podjarmljenju stremelo k razsvetljenstvu. Ta del mojega življenja je minil in storila bom vse, kar je v moji moči, da ne bo noben otrok več podvržen silam, ki stremijo k nadziranju in izkoriščanju. Smo človeška bitja. Smo misleci, sanjači, raziskovalci, umetniki, pisci, inženirji. Lahko postanemo, karkoli si želimo – a le v šolstvu, ki nas ne tlači, temveč spodbuja. Drevo lahko raste le, če ima zdravo podlago za rast.

Tisti, ki morate še naprej sedeti v šolskih klopeh in požirati samovoljne trditve učiteljev, ne obupujte. Še vedno se lahko uprete, sprašujete, presojate po lastni pameti in si ustvarjate svoj nazor. Zahtevajte šolanje, ki vam bo omogočalo razvijati si um in širiti obzorja, ne pa vas usmerjalo. Zahtevajte, da naj bo pouk zanimiv. Ne pristajajte več na izgovor: "To se morate naučiti za preizkus znanja." Izobraževanje je odlično sredstvo, če se uporablja pravilno, toda raje se osredotočajte na učenje kot na dobre ocene.

Vas, ki delujete v šolstvu, kakršnega obsojam, nočem žaliti; želim vas spodbuditi. Vi lahko korenito izboljšate obstoječe šolstvo. Vem, da niste postali učitelji ali upravni delavci zato, da bi dolgočasili šolajočo se mladino. Ne smete podleči zahtevam šolskih oblasti, ki vam odrejajo, kaj in kako morate poučevati, ter da boste za neupoštevanje teh zahtev kaznovani. Na kocki so naše zmožnosti.

Tiste, ki zapuščate srednjo šolo, pa pozivam, ne pozabite, kakšen je bil naš srednješolski pouk. Ne dvignite rok od tistih, ki prihajajo za vami. Predstavljamo prihodnost in ne bomo dopustili, da nas obstoječe stanje povozi. Zrušili bomo stene podkupljivosti in omogočili, da se vrtovi znanja razrastejo po vsej Ameriki. Ko bomo pravilno izobraženi, bomo zmogli karkoli in predvsem bomo svoje zmožnosti uporabljali v prid dobrega, kajti bomo izobraženi in pametni. Nič ne bomo verjeli na slepo. Spraševali bom in zahtevali resnico.

Zato menim takole. Nisem edini najboljši srednješolec. Izoblikovalo me je okolje, torej vsi moji vrstniki, ki sedite in me poslušate. Brez vas ne bi mogla doseči, kar sem. V resnici ste vsi vi zaslužni, da sem postala osebnost, kakršna sem. Z vami sem tekmovala, a zaradi vas sem se tudi umsko mojstrila. Zato smo vsi najboljši srednješolci v letniku.

Menda moram zdaj pomahati v slovo tej ustanovi, vsem, ki jo predstavljate, in tistim, ki menite tako kot jaz ter me podpirate, vendar upam, da se poslavljam bolj v smislu "nasvidenje", da bomo z združenimi močmi začeli novo pedagoško gibanje. Toda najprej stopimo po tisti kos papirja, ki potrjuje, da smo dovolj brihtni za kaj takega!

(angleška predloga)
Why I Am Homeschooling My Child...
19. oktobra 2010 objavila Nicole Rozen v facebooku

Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech
On July 7, 2010, Erica Goldson graduated as valedictorian of Coxsackie-Athens High School. Instead of using her graduation speech to celebrate the triumph of her victory, the school, and the teachers that made it happen, she channelled her inner Ivan Illich and de-constructed the logic of a valedictorian and the whole educational system.
Erica originally posted her full speech on Sign of the Times, and without need for editing or cutting, here's the speech in its entirety:

Here I stand(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M4tdMsg3ts)
There is a story of a young, but earnest Zen student who approached his teacher, and asked the Master, "If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take for me to find Zen? The Master thought about this, then replied, "Ten years . ." The student then said, "But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast -- How long then?" Replied the Master, "Well, twenty years." "But, if I really, really work at it, how long then?" asked the student. "Thirty years," replied the Master. "But, I do not understand," said the disappointed student. "At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?" Replied the Master, "When you have one eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path."
This is the dilemma I've faced within the American education system. We are so focused on a goal, whether it be passing a test, or graduating as first in the class. However, in this way, we do not really learn. We do whatever it takes to achieve our original objective.
Some of you may be thinking, "Well, if you pass a test, or become valedictorian, didn't you learn something? Well, yes, you learned something, but not all that you could have. Perhaps, you only learned how to memorize names, places, and dates to later on forget in order to clear your mind for the next test. School is not all that it can be. Right now, it is a place for most people to determine that their goal is to get out as soon as possible.
I am now accomplishing that goal. I am graduating. I should look at this as a positive experience, especially being at the top of my class. However, in retrospect, I cannot say that I am any more intelligent than my peers. I can attest that I am only the best at doing what I am told and working the system. Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination. I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work. But I contest that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer - not a worker. A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition - a slave of the system set up before him. But now, I have successfully shown that I was the best slave. I did what I was told to the extreme. While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test-taker. While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment. While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it. So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost? I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I'm scared.
John Taylor Gatto, a retired school teacher and activist critical of compulsory schooling, asserts, "We could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness - curiosity, adventure, resilience, the capacity for surprising insight simply by being more flexible about time, texts, and tests, by introducing kids into truly competent adults, and by giving each student what autonomy he or she needs in order to take a risk every now and then. But we don't do that." Between these cinderblock walls, we are all expected to be the same. We are trained to ace every standardized test, and those who deviate and see light through a different lens are worthless to the scheme of public education, and therefore viewed with contempt.
H. L. Mencken wrote in The American Mercury for April 1924 that the aim of public education is not "to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence. ... Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim ... is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States."
To illustrate this idea, doesn't it perturb you to learn about the idea of "critical thinking." Is there really such a thing as "uncritically thinking?" To think is to process information in order to form an opinion. But if we are not critical when processing this information, are we really thinking? Or are we mindlessly accepting other opinions as truth?
This was happening to me, and if it wasn't for the rare occurrence of an avant-garde tenth grade English teacher, Donna Bryan, who allowed me to open my mind and ask questions before accepting textbook doctrine, I would have been doomed. I am now enlightened, but my mind still feels disabled. I must retrain myself and constantly remember how insane this ostensibly sane place really is.
And now here I am in a world guided by fear, a world suppressing the uniqueness that lies inside each of us, a world where we can either acquiesce to the inhuman nonsense of corporatism and materialism or insist on change. We are not enlivened by an educational system that clandestinely sets us up for jobs that could be automated, for work that need not be done, for enslavement without fervency for meaningful achievement. We have no choices in life when money is our motivational force. Our motivational force ought to be passion, but this is lost from the moment we step into a system that trains us, rather than inspires us.
We are more than robotic bookshelves, conditioned to blurt out facts we were taught in school. We are all very special, every human on this planet is so special, so aren't we all deserving of something better, of using our minds for innovation, rather than memorization, for creativity, rather than futile activity, for rumination rather than stagnation? We are not here to get a degree, to then get a job, so we can consume industry-approved placation after placation. There is more, and more still.
The saddest part is that the majority of students don't have the opportunity to reflect as I did. The majority of students are put through the same brainwashing techniques in order to create a complacent labor force working in the interests of large corporations and secretive government, and worst of all, they are completely unaware of it. I will never be able to turn back these 18 years. I can't run away to another country with an education system meant to enlighten rather than condition. This part of my life is over, and I want to make sure that no other child will have his or her potential suppressed by powers meant to exploit and control. We are human beings. We are thinkers, dreamers, explorers, artists, writers, engineers. We are anything we want to be - but only if we have an educational system that supports us rather than holds us down. A tree can grow, but only if its roots are given a healthy foundation.
For those of you out there that must continue to sit in desks and yield to the authoritarian ideologies of instructors, do not be disheartened. You still have the opportunity to stand up, ask questions, be critical, and create your own perspective. Demand a setting that will provide you with intellectual capabilities that allow you to expand your mind instead of directing it. Demand that you be interested in class. Demand that the excuse, "You have to learn this for the test" is not good enough for you. Education is an excellent tool, if used properly, but focus more on learning rather than getting good grades.
For those of you that work within the system that I am condemning, I do not mean to insult; I intend to motivate. You have the power to change the incompetencies of this system. I know that you did not become a teacher or administrator to see your students bored. You cannot accept the authority of the governing bodies that tell you what to teach, how to teach it, and that you will be punished if you do not comply. Our potential is at stake.
For those of you that are now leaving this establishment, I say, do not forget what went on in these classrooms. Do not abandon those that come after you. We are the new future and we are not going to let tradition stand. We will break down the walls of corruption to let a garden of knowledge grow throughout America. Once educated properly, we will have the power to do anything, and best of all, we will only use that power for good, for we will be cultivated and wise. We will not accept anything at face value. We will ask questions, and we will demand truth.
So, here I stand. I am not standing here as valedictorian by myself. I was molded by my environment, by all of my peers who are sitting here watching me. I couldn't have accomplished this without all of you. It was all of you who truly made me the person I am today. It was all of you who were my competition, yet my backbone. In that way, we are all valedictorians.
I am now supposed to say farewell to this institution, those who maintain it, and those who stand with me and behind me, but I hope this farewell is more of a "see you later" when we are all working together to rear a pedagogic movement. But first, let's go get those pieces of paper that tell us that we're smart enough to do so!

Ericino razmišljanje o šolstvu v ZDA velja tudi za slovenskega, k čemur dodajam sledeče:

V nedavno prebrani noveli Muriel Spark, The prime of Miss Jean Brodie, je precej nazorno opisan pedagoški pristop, za kakršnega se Erica Goldson zavzema v svojem govoru. Prosvetnica Jean Brodie tudi razčleni izvor angleške besede education, ki s svojim izvornim pomenom nakazuje, kaj je učiteljeva oziroma prosvetnikova naloga. Angleška beseda education izvira iz latinske educatio, ki je sestavljena iz:
- predpone e-, ki pomeni ven, na plan, in
- korena duco, ki pomeni voditi

V slovenščini se izhaja iz glagola izobraževati, ki bi torej moral pomeniti spravljati ven, na plan sposobnosti-zmožnosti šolajočih se. Dosti bolj določen je glagol prosvetljevati, ki pomeni s poučevanjem doseči, da kdo misli, dela brez predsodkov, razumno.

Da šolajoči se mlad človek spozna svoje sposobnosti-zmožnosti in se izmojstri v kritičnem mišljenju, potrebuje vodstvo in zgled prosvetljenih šolnikov, tj. prosvetnikov, ki bi morali mladim, ne vcepljati znanje iz knjig, temveč jih navdihovati za kritično mišljenje in spodbujati njihove najboljše odlike – radovednost, pustolovstvo, vztrajnost in zmožnost presenetljivih spoznanj.

Res pa je, da od tega med drugim odvračajo tudi učni načrti, ki predpisujejo predvsem vcepljanje obilice znanja iz knjig. Torej je poziv Erice G. šolnikom, naj ne podlegajo tovrstnim zahtevam šolskih oblasti, še kako na mestu in verjetno odločilen, kajti tudi v Sloveniji imajo prav šolniki največjo moč, da obstoječe šolstvo korenito izboljšajo, ga spremenijo v prosveto, sami pa postanejo prosvetniki.

Sklepni spoznanji:

• Ni enostavno biti šolnik v žlahtnem pomenu besede, tj. prosvetitelj, saj sedanjim šolnikom očitno manjka prosvetna osveščenost in-ali pogum, da bi delovali proti pranju možganov in podjarmljenju šolajočih se mladih ter namesto tega raje v njihov prid.
• Zato bi bilo namesto izrazov izobraževanje oziroma šolanje in šolstvo morda primerneje uporabljati izraze prosvetljevánje (razsvetljevánje) in prosveta, kar bi šolnikom dalo vedeti, kaj je njihovo resnično poslanstvo.

junij 2012 poslovenil in napisal Mitja Fajdiga