Yes, I had issues separate from school. I don't mean to suggest that all of my issues in high school were due to school itself, but whatever issues I had were compounded and magnified by it.
Forcing children to 'learn' in such an unnatural environment creates tension in the mind, which leads to children lashing out at one another. Bullying in school would happen much less often if children weren't spending most of their waking life in an institution that breeds discontent. I strongly suggest reading the 7 lesson schoolteacher essay as a way of better understanding the gravity of the situation.
That's true, but yet we need education on children badly, even if they don't want it. What are the alternatives to our current school system?
People have a natural curiosity to learn and discover. I believe creating environments that are more conducive to bringing out this nature are the way to achieve this.
Of course we need education to reach our potential, but we need to throw out the existing paradigm completely and start over. A reexamining of the curriculum and what school intends to achieve and through what means is an absolute necessity.
Frankly, I don't see government schooling ever reaching this point. I believe the homeschooling movement is an answer. I know it isn't always available to many parents when both are working, but I believe if we value our children's future and raising them according to our ideals, it is worth the challenge.
Years ago, I ran a small group in my town. I had a woman come speak to us about the idea of unschooling, as she was practicing it with her children. There are varying degrees of this method, but the basic idea is allowing children to learn on their own terms, because we are most engaged in our education when we are the ones deciding what to focus on.
I intend to seek out unschooling/homeschooling movements in my area to discover what others are doing to remediate this situation. I will report back with another post and let you know what I find!