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Comment by jeandejean | Hacker News Reader

I guess learning to live together in a society and putting yourself at risk of other's judgement is more stressful than the comfort of your house where everything you need is provided for by hardworking parents... But that's a very necessary step towards growing up.

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Society is nothing like school though. Who has 30 friends all the same age that you spend most of your life with and that you can't change for the next 5-8-11 years?

School is organized the way it is, because we need workers and soldiers. Not because we want kids to behave better or to "grow up". People "grew up" before we had schools.

Schools were made to get people used to working fixed hours and teach them the minimal skills required to operate the mills [1]. It's really time to rethink schools (and work).

[1]Behemoth: A History of the Factory and the Making of the Modern World

From the study, in-person schooling increases teen suicides by 12-18%. Is this fatality rate acceptable on the basis that it's "very necessary" to socialize the remaining children in this way? Is there evidence that kids in online classes wouldn't have "grown up"?

I find this line of thinking abhorrent. If it will reduce suicides by 15%, in-person schooling should be stopped outright until someone fixes what's wrong with it.

I understand this can be shocking, but to me excessive precautions (such as no in-person school to avoid suicides), just lead to another ripple effect that is extremely detrimental to us as a society. The problem needs to be addressed for sure, but it doesn't mean home schooling is superior to in person.

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