For the content of the "lessons" being largely irrelevant, ask: what can anyone remember from their lessons at 14?
The answer is random with respect to the individual: I cannot predict what you will know. Really only fragments of trivia were acquired. This is the opposite situation of skill acquisition: if you are a practising plumber/doctor/programming, I can predict what you will know.
This test, predicting the knowledge/ability of a person who practices a skill, really defines successful education.
What can you predict a person knows after high school?
You might also look at "Discipline and Punish" or works to that effect to gain a socio-political perspective on the scheduling/routines/rituals of certain institutions.
It is no accident that a school closely resembles a prison. That is its primary function: to limit the behaviour of children, to discipline them into conforming with the scheduling of working life, to occupy their time.
When you are tutored (to play a piano, in mathematics, etc.) you are really acquiring a skill: to play a piano, etc.
Contrast those two environments.
Learning a skill requires an environment almost the opposite of a prison, it requires a patient and highly skilled tutor, and some attentive practice and engagement. (Infant/primary education is closer to tutoring than high school).
Imagine high school not starting until 14 at which point you spent 4 years with tutors: at most classes of 5 with skilled mentors that guided you through skilled practice. Consider the social environment: how you'd interact with peers, your relationship to your mentor, the hours you'd keep, how much practice you'd get.
Contrast this again with prison life within a school: the teacher is not a mentor, they are a master. An enemy largely. You and your peers are at war for attention and time.
For the content of the "lessons" being largely irrelevant, ask: what can anyone remember from their lessons at 14?
The answer is random with respect to the individual: I cannot predict what you will know. Really only fragments of trivia were acquired. This is the opposite situation of skill acquisition: if you are a practising plumber/doctor/programming, I can predict what you will know.
This test, predicting the knowledge/ability of a person who practices a skill, really defines successful education.
What can you predict a person knows after high school?
You might also look at "Discipline and Punish" or works to that effect to gain a socio-political perspective on the scheduling/routines/rituals of certain institutions.
It is no accident that a school closely resembles a prison. That is its primary function: to limit the behaviour of children, to discipline them into conforming with the scheduling of working life, to occupy their time.
When you are tutored (to play a piano, in mathematics, etc.) you are really acquiring a skill: to play a piano, etc.
Contrast those two environments.
Learning a skill requires an environment almost the opposite of a prison, it requires a patient and highly skilled tutor, and some attentive practice and engagement. (Infant/primary education is closer to tutoring than high school).
Imagine high school not starting until 14 at which point you spent 4 years with tutors: at most classes of 5 with skilled mentors that guided you through skilled practice. Consider the social environment: how you'd interact with peers, your relationship to your mentor, the hours you'd keep, how much practice you'd get.
Contrast this again with prison life within a school: the teacher is not a mentor, they are a master. An enemy largely. You and your peers are at war for attention and time.