[freemint]

Because then you end up with a society with extreme STEM brain. You will not raise citizens but a politically uneducated servant class in a society vulnerable to extreme fracturing as common frameworks to think about politics were not established.

Poltical education has been part of the education for the rulers since forever and since the enlightenment it has been more and more become part of education of everybody. By not teaching politics to a class of people you make them unable to work as lawyers, judges or (suprise) politicians taking away their control and feedback into how society develops. Those positions will be taken up instead by a different class of people by the accident of whom they have been birth been found deserving to get such an education. I hope do not elaborate why that is bad.

You could argue that people could get the same education from the internet. However as long as the internet is not censored people will spread versions of political education that are not aligned along country borders and not constrained by being a reproductive, self sustaining system of thought. This leaves the political order highly vulnerable.

We teach politics so that nations do not fall apart into local fiefdoms ruled by an elite class tied to who the parents are. By proposing to axe political education you are proposing to get onto a path to pre-enlightment political structures. This is not hyperbole. Political education goes beyond "how do i vote and how does my government work", it includes all of history, large parts of art, literature and so on. Political education like that is an pre-requisite to be able to find your own individual political opinion and it is a prerequisite for contributing to shape society. If you take away that power (in particular along a public/private education line) you kneecap one side of the politics of power and possibly irreversibly trigger a run-away feedback leading to a categorical change/tipping point how society works.

I hope i could persuade you that this is an extremely bad idea.

[RobertRoberts]

What is wrong with just teaching facts about politics instead of beliefs about political positions?

(my education list what not exhaustive)

[freemint]

1. Facts are in contention and can also be politicised. When it comes to humanities there are often no facts just interpretations backed by arguments which you guessed it are political. Interpretations impose higher order structures. Recognizing such structures is important to draw parallels and apply learnings from history to the current time. If you just teach (= have people memorize) facts they will not be able to learn from history.

2. You can not act upon facts. To rationally decide what action to take you need a value system. Value Innsystems are political.

3. If you do not teach a value system people tend to construct irrational, selfish, short sighted value systems or just without reflection assume value system of their environment. Some viral value systems teach helplessness, people wouldn't dare to use their own mind but instead consult book or preacher.

4. Without encouragement for unified values nations fracture. So without politics having a thumb on what goes on in schools nations can not reproduce over successive generations.

What's wrong? Your suggestion would cripple western society (actually any society) and might get people killed.

[RobertRoberts]

How do you solve the issue when your ideals are rejected by parents (adults) of children being taught? Is it just "too bad for them?" (whether democrat or republican?)

No, my suggestion is to view schools as politically agnostic. This is possible, and the best option for everyone everywhere.

Political beliefs can, and should be, left to adults to decide on their own.

[freemint]

> How do you solve the issue when your ideals are rejected by parents (adults) of children being taught?

The best one can do is teaching about the existence of the variety of values (i am against teaching ideals) walk through some of the consequences, discuss it and encourage students to reflect. If the memetic power of values of the parents are so low that knowledge of the existence of values which conflict with them causes them to not be transmitted to the next generation then i say "tough luck". If soley one set of values is being taught and all others are demonized that would be something parents can be justifiably enraged by.

I wouldn't trust the americans education system to get things right anyway but it can get things less wrong.

> (whether democrat or republican?)

I do not care much about this destinction.

> No, my suggestion is to view schools as politically agnostic.

My suggestion is to have schools teach tolerance and give people a rough enough understanding of the different value systems so they do not cause offense because of ignorance. I find this preferable. If existence of different values causes offense to the parent "too bad for them".

> Political beliefs can, and should be, left to adults to decide on their own.

For people to be able to make their own choice, they should be guaranteed the right to learn about other choices. (I am against home schooling, if you can not tell but i am not sure abolishing home schooling would be worth while use of political capital as it is used to plaster over a lot of problems in education system that would have to be fixed first).

[RobertRoberts]

>> (whether democrat or republican?)

>I do not care much about this destinction.

This is the crux of the problem here, American's very much do care about this distinction. So to dismiss it is to not solve the problem.

[freemint]

You asked me for my opinion. I gave it. You Americans need to sort it out on your end.

Not teaching politicized stuff is dangerous as that means a sufficiently large minority screaming loud enough have a mechanism to censor any school content by making it political even if it shouldn't be.

It did offer a solution in my reply. Explain multiple sides, explain other world religions, if students have a good understanding of all compatible with society ideologies they can pick when they are old enough.