Does Compulsory Schooling Serve to Liberate Children?

  Dennis Hackethal addressed criticism #38.

Forcing someone to think is impossible. The student remains free in his thoughts.

(Kant)

#38·Dennis HackethalOP, over 1 year ago

So children already have freedom of thought? You originally said that children only have freedom of thought when their minds have reached a certain level of maturity; that this was the purpose of school in the first place. That doesn't fit together.

  Dennis Hackethal addressed criticism #37.

If freedom of choice is sufficiently restricted, freedom of thought is also restricted.

Anyone who is forced to spend hours every day dealing with topics they would otherwise not deal with has neither freedom of choice nor freedom of thought.

#37·Dennis HackethalOP, over 1 year ago

Forcing someone to think is impossible. The student remains free in his thoughts.

(Kant)

  Dennis Hackethal addressed criticism #36.

We need to distinguish between freedom of choice and freedom of thought.

School serves to educate students to have freedom of thought. This is achieved by restricting freedom of choice.

(Kant)

#36·Dennis HackethalOP, over 1 year ago

If freedom of choice is sufficiently restricted, freedom of thought is also restricted.

Anyone who is forced to spend hours every day dealing with topics they would otherwise not deal with has neither freedom of choice nor freedom of thought.

  Dennis Hackethal addressed criticism #35.

That is not what freedom means.

Freedom does not consist in the guarantee of certain thoughts or scope for action.

Roughly speaking, freedom is when you are left alone by others when you want to be left alone.

If you are sent to school against your will, you are not free. School is a forced program.

Forcing children to be free is a contradiction in terms.

#35·Dennis HackethalOP, over 1 year ago

We need to distinguish between freedom of choice and freedom of thought.

School serves to educate students to have freedom of thought. This is achieved by restricting freedom of choice.

(Kant)

  Dennis Hackethal criticized idea #34.

Freedom is achieved when the mind reaches a certain level of intellectual maturity: when it thinks for itself.

This is the purpose of compulsory education: to liberate children.

(Kant)

#34·Dennis HackethalOP, over 1 year ago

That is not what freedom means.

Freedom does not consist in the guarantee of certain thoughts or scope for action.

Roughly speaking, freedom is when you are left alone by others when you want to be left alone.

If you are sent to school against your will, you are not free. School is a forced program.

Forcing children to be free is a contradiction in terms.

  Dennis Hackethal started a discussion titled ‘Does Compulsory Schooling Serve to Liberate Children?’.

Archive of a discussion tree between Dennis Hackethal and Roswitha Kant from the old Veritula website. The creation dates of the ideas were not retained but newly set. The discussion originally took place in German between August and October 2023 and can be viewed in full here.

The discussion starts with idea #34.

Freedom is achieved when the mind reaches a certain level of intellectual maturity: when it thinks for itself.

This is the purpose of compulsory education: to liberate children.

(Kant)