How the Young Are Indoctrinated to Obey - Chomsky

public schools. Caught hell for it in school and at home. With a few special exceptions, I could tell when authority was defective, incompetent, or corrupt and I couldn't follow their directives.

From day one I was "questioning". From day one, I was punished in some way. I stood in the hall, wrote sentences, did extra work, got paddled, sent to the Principal's office. Or they'd "get rid of me" by letting me be a Library aide, or go make mimeographs, or be the "Red Cross" rep - anything to get me OUT of their classroom for any length of time.

I met very few teachers who liked me at all. I interrupted their flow, their lectures, their lesson plans, their indoctrinations. I questioned and probed and disagreed and argued and debated in just about every single class I had. Very few teachers like that. They want you to sit still, be quiet, listen, and do what you're told. I was never very good at that.

Do you want to be yourself or let someone define you?

Je n'regrette riens as Edith Piaf would sing.

time, this was in catholic school, so you can imagine how well THAT went over)

that, ultimately, was the reason I was ex-commed a few years later--questioning, challenging.

They do have to be respectful, so as long as they know not to call names or whatever, we're good.

This makes me think of a great student I had last fall in my long-term sub job. She was awesome, questioning, brilliant, interesting, funny, and her comments on the text always made at least a few in the class think. She'd been ostracized, and she knew it and didn't care. Awesome kid.

Anyway, one day all of us English teachers were grading the 9th and 10th graders' writing pre-assessments in the conference room, and another teacher saw my student going into the school from the tech center. She asked who had Torie this year, and everyone shrugged. I said I did and smiled, saying she was a great student. The whole table went silent as everyone turned to look at me. Another teacher said that Torie could be good but was a real problem, and I said that she was getting an A in my class and was doing really well. Everyone looked shocked and said that was impossible. I shrugged and kept grading, but I knew then that I was in the wrong school.

She wrote me the nicest thank-you note after I left, and then I found out later she was back to flunking because the regular teacher just couldn't appreciate her or protect her from the bullies in that class.