The Necessity of School

In the essay, the other offers the idea that we don’t actually need school. That is not to say that we do not need education, but rather that we do not need the rigid seven hour a day, five day a week, nine month a year compulsory schooling states require. Though many would bring up the idea that it gives the students the necessary abilities such as the three R’s, he rebuts this by saying that there are plenty of home-schooled people who know that stuff just as well, if not better. Instead, he says that schools are designed to train people to listen to directions, be grouped up and taught only so far as they need to be taught before being dropped into whatever job they go to. It is not meant merely to educate them, but to form them into a body of people more responsive to authority and resigned to whatever task they eventually take. Though I believe that it is true that schools may currently be influencing people in this way, I don’t think that is what schools are trying to do and I still believe that schools are necessary. It gives a place for adults to leave their kids while they go to work and know there kids will be in responsible hands. It gives a place for the kid to gain an education if the parents do not have enough time to home school them, as most do not. Finally, it aids the child in social development and the development of friendships. Without the social interaction, the kid would be socially handicapped throughout his whole life. It is due to these factors that school, while imperfect, is still necessary.