In class, we discussed the role of education in creating and maintaining the work force through its means of instilling in students a sense of obedience and respect for authority. To me, the systems appears to start priming students for their given class-based work-force as early as kindergarten. In kindergarten, student learn to follow the leader, listen to their teachers, and obey the rules. Questioning rules and ideas can often be considered "talking back", which is a punishable offense. Students are taught to follow these rules, never questioning them, and never doubting their validity.
When the students who have been successful in such classrooms attempt college, they often experience a rude-awakening. These students have not learned to be critical thinkers and they can feel out-of-place in discussion based courses. They may feel uncomfortable addressing their professors by their first names, and may not know how to analyze a concept past its surface meaning. Should these students drop out of college because they lack the skill-set required to succeed, the educational system has accomplished its goal by pushing the students back into the work-force they belonged in. How can such students change their class or status if they are only taught how to succeed in their given work-force.
Are the fates of these students determined for them before they even enter the educational system?
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