The classroom is the breeding ground for conformity, expecting all students to arrive at the same conclusions, analyze the same information, and suppress opinion until the bell rings. I relate this scenario to bee societies, in which the queen bee feeds her workers (all genetically related) food which suppresses individuality and selfishness, coercing them to cooperate for the advancement of their group rather than selfish interests. Clearly, conformity provides the best outcome for this lifestyle.
Therefore, maybe Buckley's system doesn't seem too horrible.... After all, we all end up on a more level playing field and end up with hundreds of community service hours, the intellectual techniques having taken 10 AP's, an acceptance letter from Harvard, and great money-making careers, but at whose expense? In this way I agree that elementary children should engage in more fostered and structured learning whereas, upper school students should be expected to have developed their critical thinking abilities and thus form opinions and perspectives on their own.
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