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Britni Brown O’Donnell's avatar

This is interesting to read, coming from an animal science and education backgrounds. I actually got into of education largely because of observed difference in public perception versus the reality of doing the work. A very clear and relevant example is there is no such thing as factory farming- farms churning out livestock by treating them all the same in the most minimal but effective way that not only negates the individual needs of each animal but also does it with as little human interaction as possible - implying a cold detached push of products through the system to maximize profits at the expense of everything else. That simply doesn't exist; there is a network of people working together to meet standardized mass production needs- sure- but its very much a hands on process that contains way more interaction and relationships between people and animals than the general person assumes.

Thing is -its infuriating, from an agricultural standpoint, to hear people lament about factory farms when they have zero idea what actually goes into producing their foods.

But the people complaining about the factory model of education have actually been through an education, and likely know someone currently going through the educational system. The problem isn't so much that schooling doesn't look like factory production in some way or another (because it really doesn't)- its that people come out of the system *feeling* like a product and like their education was simply something applied indiscriminately to everyone so they can be that product. The feeling of being churned out doesn't change with people's historic understanding of education, and is the far more important aspect of the term, in my opinion.

*the term factory here is ill-suited, as the goal of factories doesn't involve one-size-fits-all methodology and therefore turn all input into the same output; the goal is to find the most effective and efficient method for completing each step of the process, so the whole process comes together in the most efficient and effective way

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Ralph's avatar

The points you make are fair, but there's still very much a mass-production feel about schooling. If we took education more seriously, there'd be better teacher training and remuneration; fewer cries of "there's no money" (a statement of values rather than of economics); fewer children ground into failure and misery by a system in which they're a square peg in a round hole. Despite all you've said, I still regard mass education as a second best option to small-group or 1:1 learning where there can be a truer connection between teacher and pupil.

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