Why School Won't Educate You | Nietzsche

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Nietzsche dedicates a few paragraphs in Twilight of the Idols to the problems with modern education.

Most of his problems with modern education stem from his elitism. Which in turn stems from his disdain for the herd, or the great masses.

Nietzsche’s antagonism towards modern education is built on three foundations:

First, the lack of good teachers. Second, the democratization of education. Third, the hastiness by which modern education must happen.

[kurseng]

This is why you never let your schooling interfere with your education.

[reef]

The most intellectual development I ever had was from 16-20 dropped out of high-school, no job, so much free time to study, learn and create. Now I have a job I feel like a complete waste again, no energy for anything, just existing, once I earn enough money to build a substantial backlog of books I may consider going homeless for a year or two, and just enjoy 10+ hour a day to read again. Then get a job for a year, save up and repeat.

[iyziejane]

I was a physics professor until the recent mandates, and my assessment is that all public funding to universities should be ceased. University faculty have been subverted entirely by small-minded administrators who only see these institutions as businesses for training specialized slaves. There is nothing intellectual left in these places, critical thinking and challenging authority are explicitly forbidden, and obedience is their highest virtue.

[funknotik]

Even in the stem field, I’ve met alot of network engineers who where horrible at trouble shooting but had a bachelors degree. They never did any practical work just tests and memorization.

[jackwilliam]

Very instructive video. I would also like to add this famous Peanuts strip where a kid tells another one in class :'Nobody will give you the education you need to overthrow them.'

[nonserviam]

I remember I used to skip classes to read in the bathroom.
Now, I think there is no more nefarious and malignant institution than systematic education; especially during this political psychosis.

[brennus]

Really appreciate this, recently returned to University after leaving for sometime and found that I had more of a desire and energy to learn when I was not in it.

[andredelacerdasantos]

Although self learning is a great way to cope with public education, you should never eliminate feedback from professionals in your field, otherwise, it's just play.

[willb]

I'm turning 19 this November and am currently in college. I plan to enroll in medical school when the time comes. I was always a good student, but all my life I thought that one "learned" something insofar as one receives a high score by the end of the course. I have since changed my opinion. One can easily get a high score by merely showing up everyday and doing the bare minimum. When I realized this, I figured that a good score was by no means reflective of a good education. I'm currently in the process of cultivating the discipline needed to self educate on and off campus. In the mornings I'll do my school studies, while in the evenings I'll have a scholar's education in philosophy, mathematics, sciences, and literature. I tried to find courses that would do this well, but I soon came to the conclusion that Nietzsche did: don't rely on any system to educate you; you must do it yourself.

[WeltgeistYT]

We're back on the regular uploading schedule after I've had to take a break for health reasons. We hope you enjoy this one! More coming in the future. -Weltgeist

[dfgniib]

School is a place of conditioning identical to a church, no living individual can come out from it, only dead & uncreative carbon copies programmed to think & act the exact same way.
Leaving it early was the uttermost best choice of my life, I went from a soulless fool to a polymath, well versed in philosophy, art, poetry, and more; which school, previously completely prevented me to become so.

[xxcrysadxx]

School does indeed suck but the alternatives tend to be just as bad or worse for young people's intellectual, personal and social development.

[xxcrysadxx]

I think there's a lot of value in being in an educational setting with a trained instructor who is an expert in their field, surrounded by a bunch of fellow students who are interested in the subject and motivated to learn more. Too many people take an unstructured approach to their education when they learn independently, and because they have no coursework to reinforce what they hear in lectures or read in textbooks, and don't engage in dialogue with other likeminded students, they tend to have very serious gaps in their knowledge and understanding.

[kotharianlightning]

Honestly, the biggest trouble conceptually with our current Western education system (setting aside the numerous systemic problems) is that it doesn't acknowledge a very simple fact: Knowledge about any sufficiently complex subject is only preserved if a person constantly works with that knowledge and thinks about it. For example, it's fine to say that you took a language course, but if you aren't actually constantly immersing yourself in that language, proficiency will fade with time. Btw, this doesn't even take that long, especially with young minds. The first weeks of school after summer break assume that the student has lost the vast majority of their proficiency in any given subject after mere months. And this long period of time spent in class actually dulls the desire of young people to learn, instead making them think of learning as a pseudo-job, and a job that they don't even get paid to do.

As for Nietzsche's elitism, the problem of the "masses" is a construct of civilization If you look at any of the primitive cultures, the ones before aristocracy is developed, they are fundamentally defined by the belief that everyone is expected to grow into a entirely sufficient member of that culture. Thus, they are defined by a combination of anarchy and democracy. There were, of course, people who were better at certain tasks and people who were smarter than others, or leaders of clans who held more sway in democratic proceeding, but such things are matters of nature. The issue in civilization is that we've spent millennia constructing two classes, one that rules and the other that obeys, and the propaganda is designed to reinforce that (whether of religious or secular indoctrination). It's not incorrect to say that only the aristocratic/more thoughtful man can conceive of breaking that cycle, but to truly break it we actually need democracy (and I'm speaking of an actual democracy, not the lazy elective oligarchy, aka Representative Democracy, that we currently have).

[silent_stalker]

The fact that I was punished for reading books in school and doing stuff and just writing down every other step should be telling.
The fact that I had to argue with a teacher for 10 minutes who was looking at a book for the answer.
She said 60 divided by 15 is twelve.
I said it was 4 and pointed out the clock, minutes and quarters. What my 2nd grade teacher used to teach us division. This is in 11th grade.
‘That’s time, not math.’

Then when I had her English class she gave me the wrong paper to do, failed me for ‘not writing the correct subject’ and never gave me the correct paper.
And when we had a writing subject and I said ‘heck it I’ll do it last minute’ she with a smile handed it back saying ‘you did really good’
Meanwhile…
F grade with the ‘did you still this form a video game or something?’ And laughing emojis written over it.

People offed themselves going to that school for years- but now ‘it’s only because CRT’ and parents are protesting to send their kids there but with no CRT.
They rather be labeled terrorists rather then put their kid on online classes or possibly have to explain anything to them.
If they turn out well… ‘thank god I did so well or else it would be a disaster. You owe me your entire life when I retire and I expect to be paid.’
If you off yourself ‘ oh so tragic how could I have missed it?!’
If someone else offs themselves and other people ‘that’s not allowed!’
And let’s say you turn out bad? ‘Oh they were always rotten, they were mean- they always were doomed for this’ while saying ‘if you don’t do well in school you’ll starve to death on the streets’ and so on.

Get diagnoisss with depression because the girl I love offed herself and so much more stuff- repressed memories, memory loss between 2015-2021…

“Nah we don’t need anti depressants we need new anxiety medicine their grades aren’t getting better.”
- my Parents in 2012 when this happened, to the doctor who diagnosed me with moderate/sever depression.
They took away my phone and computer and any way I could to check in with my friend to make sure they survived because “it could interfere with your grades!”

[Anonymous-rjlk]

Higher education is made exceptional and for the chosen few just because its titled as a superior form of education, everyone can study whatever they want, all you need is the right book and a will to understand and think.

[bluefires_]

I don't know if school sucks or I'm just lazy and not putting in the work like some teachers say.

[charlesjohnson]

Ralph Ellison in Invisible Man:
“I see the bronze statue of the college Founder, the cold Father symbol, his hands outstretched in the breathtaking gesture of lifting a veil that flutters in hard, metallic folds above the face of a kneeling slave; and I am standing puzzled, unable to decide whether the veil is really being lifted, or lowered more firmly in place; whether I am witnessing a revelation or a more efficient blinding.”

[Ed-qqux]

This video could possible end all current debates in the USA about the education system. I've never read Nietsche, but have been thinking the same things for years. Time to check out some of his writings.

[nate]

One of the best things I learned in College was "never stop learning". This despite being a Kinesiology major! lololol Oh what a fool my younger self was....