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Comment by sandworm101 | Hacker News Reader

It is naive to think that gradeschool is all about education when it serves so many other social functions. Firstly, it is free daily child care, a concept that allows parents to be more productive workers. A school is the point where various government agencies have contact with children. Vacinations, nutrition and the general welfare of kids is daily inspected. If a kid is in trouble, a teacher is the most likely government employee to notice. But perhaps most importantly, school is a testing ground. Our society doesnt have the resources to turn everyone into doctors and astronauts. School is where we start sorting out who will be granted access to future education and who will not. It isnt about actually learning anything.

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> It isnt about actually learning anything.

It is definitely appreciated if you actually learn something there, and often required to earn any of the goodies.

And this is exactly why people are, have been, and should continue to opt out and/or opt in if they choose.

I appreciate your comment doesn't try to state if these are good or bad things, just that they are.

If this is remotely true, then schools have either always had these functions, or there was a great tipping point where the schools were dramatically repurposed worldwide.

Taking children out of the farm workforce was actually a huge negative; so much so that laws were passed to require their attendance - everywhere, essentially.

Vaccines and suppplemental nutrition are only a very modern idea. Children brought their own lunches, and suffered from now mostly-extinct diseases.

Schools, even general education, existed before the poor had a real path to higher education. Doctors and lawyers were admitted based on criteria like if their fathers had attended - thus excluding the poor a priori.

You're 0/3.

So when are you claiming this great sea-change in schooling occurred? Coincident with the fluoride-based 5G mind control?

So, your take is that schools are:

1. Free government daycare

2. Inspection/interference with parenting

3. Surveillance towards prosecuting negligent parents

4. Evaluation of conscripts

I think I agree 100%. It is exactly those things, even if I can't be so cheerful as you about it. That's why my children have never stepped foot inside a school.

There was no cheer in the comment you’re replying to, just facts. The fact that you misinterpreted that is strange.

The fact that you have strong feelings about having your children reviewed by other adults for signs of abuse and neglect is stranger.

You do understand how children are vulnerable and parents aren’t always reliable, yes?

Homeschooling your children can be done well, in theory. However the majority of the time it’s done by imbeciles for religious, political or pseudo-medical reasons and results in children far less educated than the system you criticize and who are also imbeciles.

This is a form of abuse that will destroy a child’s potential far more readily than the four core elements above that you seem to be protesting.

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