Why Grow Up - Education

 Alivia Wilkinson

12-10-2023

Professor Oliver

Section - 11

Education - Why Grow Up

    In the "eduction" section of the book Why Grow Up by Susan Neiman, the school system and enlightenment are the main topics. Why are our suicide rates so high? What does it really mean to be mature? These question all fall back to the same general answer, education. Suicide rates are high, because people are not educated on how to cope and reshape their lives for happiness. The questions of maturity can only be answered by those who are educated enough to understand, and their response would be, education. Education is more than just literature and physics. Education is your entire knowledge of yourself and the world around you, and Neiman does an amazing job on explaining why.

    Growing up is a process if shifting through your parents choices about everything. As we grow up ideas are embedded in us by our parents. It's not until we experience life outside of home that we start to create our own values. A quote from Neiman on page 126 states, "that's what i'd chose had I been able to choose myself." You are not grown up until you reject at least one ideal from your parent. This blog states that realizing your parents are people is the last step in growing up. Idealization is the main reason for staying oblivious or staying in the "child" role for an extended period of your life. Once you can recognize that parents are humans who are still understanding the world, you can finally grow up.

    School is that place that most people spend their childhood. In traditional school houses physical/corporal punishment was legal, resulting in resentment towards schools for young children. Now, in the 21st century, it is very illegal to hit a child as punishment in the public school system. Even though this is true kids still resent the structure of the education system. Not everyone visions school as all evil, although it is corrupt it is a great place for enlightenment. On page 28 Neiman states, " Traditional schooling may be better than none at all, just as rice and beans are cherished by a child who is starving." Below is a video of how the world would be without schools.

   Educators and parents over generations fought to change the standard of education; some even by homeschooling, most by following Immanuel Kant's three principles. The first was that in early childhood, a child must be free, except in the face of danger. The second was that a child must be able to achieve their own goals, and let others achieve theirs. The third one was that a child will not depend on the care of others. There must be an understanding that education is forever changing, as a we are learning new things everyday.

    In the united states test scores are low, but in the area where they are high there is a positive correlation to suicide rates. Ivan Illich proposed the idea to shut schools down completely; however that will cause the extinction of our species. We mislead our children by refusing to admit that the problems were facing are as hard as they really are. Children need to experience their parents failure in order to gauge and develop their own strengths. School is what introduces a child to those conflicts.

    Passion, honesty, and knowledge is what it means to be grown up, it's also what you need in order to raise a grown up. Pushing yourself and questioning the world are grown up activities. Let us be mindful to the souls around us  and the environment we all belong to, that is how we grow up.