You seem to be reading these comments out of context. Cliff notes: That is John Taylor Gatto’s claim—that the American school system is based on the Prussian school system which was designed to create soldiers and the Prussian belief was that this required them to do things that stunted intellectual growth. Shminux said JTG seemed like a conspiracy theorist and my comment was in response to that.
You should definitely read JTG. At least read “The Seven Lesson School Teacher” (linked in my previous comment) if nothing else.
True: I had only read a small part of the thread at that time. My intent was to point out that there are plenty of others here on LW who have considered questions like the one above, and who have (in my case independently) come to conclusions that align with those you attribute to JTG. (That’s not hugely surprising, given Eliezer’s educational background.)
I wasn’t aware of the Prussian connection specifically, Wikipedia seems to confirm that the Prussian system has inspired other countries (including mine). (Not that I trust WP overmuch, but other sources concur.)
You seem to be reading these comments out of context. Cliff notes: That is John Taylor Gatto’s claim—that the American school system is based on the Prussian school system which was designed to create soldiers and the Prussian belief was that this required them to do things that stunted intellectual growth. Shminux said JTG seemed like a conspiracy theorist and my comment was in response to that.
You should definitely read JTG. At least read “The Seven Lesson School Teacher” (linked in my previous comment) if nothing else.
True: I had only read a small part of the thread at that time. My intent was to point out that there are plenty of others here on LW who have considered questions like the one above, and who have (in my case independently) come to conclusions that align with those you attribute to JTG. (That’s not hugely surprising, given Eliezer’s educational background.)
I wasn’t aware of the Prussian connection specifically, Wikipedia seems to confirm that the Prussian system has inspired other countries (including mine). (Not that I trust WP overmuch, but other sources concur.)