T ae reais, Jt, that have w show you tow to explore this new continent that Te led you to" “Tm gla to hea thay” I told i, “Perhaps you'd lke to hear how T Best began to explore i mysel “Ta ke that very uch." “Last Sunday T mentioned the name Ra hel Sokolow asthe person who made i sie for me to maintain this eatblh ment. You don't need to know how ths came about, but I knew Rachel from in fancj-was ia communication with hers You and Ire in communication Thad no nc) My Tahmecl experience of your educational system when Rachel started schoo! Not having any reason to, Va never given it even a passing thought. Like most five-year-old, she was thrilled to be going off to school at last, and I was thrilled for her, imagining (as she did) that some truly wonderful experience must be awaiting her. lt wan only after several months that I began to notice that her encitement was fading—and continued to fade month afier month and year after year, until by the time she was in the third grade she Was thoroughly bored and glad for any opportunity to miss a day of school. Does this all come as strange news to you "Yeah" I suid with a bitter laugh. “Only about eighty millon kids went to bed last night praying for six feet of snow to fll so the schools would have to close “Through Rachel, I became tem In effet, T went to school with her. Most ofthe adults in your Society seem to have forgotten what went on when they were in School as small children. If as adults, they were forced to see i all ‘gain through the eyes oF their children, I think they'd be as ‘ounded and horrified.” “Yeah, I think so t00.” "What one sees frst is how far short real schooling falls from ‘he idsal'of ‘young minds being awakened. Teachers for the tect fart would be delighted to avaken young minds, bu the system within which chey must work fundamentally eusteates that desire by insisting tha all minds must be opened inthe same order, sing the same tools and at the same pace, on a certain schedule: The teacher is charged with getting the class as a whole to a certain predetermined point in the curriculum by a certain predetermined time, andthe individuals that make up the class soon learn howe no Pele te teacher with this task. This i, ina sens, the fis thing they must learn. Some learn it quickly and cay and athers lea it slowly and painfully bu all eventually lara it Do you have any idea what Pan taking about?” "L think 0." student of your educational sys-Daniel Quiaa “What have you personally learned to do to help teachers with their ask?” “Don't ask questions.” “Expand om that abit, Jie.” “IF you aise your hand and say, “Geo, Ms. Smith, T haven't understood a single word you've sid all day’ Ms. Smith is going to hate you. If you tse your hand and say, ‘Gee, Ms. Smith, I haven't understood a single word you've said all week,’ Ms. Smith is going to hate you five times as much. And ifyou raise your hand and say, ‘Gee, Ms. Smith, T haven't understood a single word you've sid all yea,’ Ms. Smith is going to pull outa gun and shoot you.” “So the ida isto give the impression that you understand et crything, whether you do or not.” “That's right. The lst ding the teacher wan to hear i hat you haven't understood something.” . “Dhutyou began by giving me the rule against asking questions. You haven't relly addressed that.” “Don't ask questions means... don't bring up dhings just because you wonder abou them, T mean, like, suppose you're studying tidal forces, You don’t raise your hand to ask if its true that crazy people tend to be crazier during the foll moon. T can imagine doing something like that in kindergarten, but by the time you're my age, that would be taboo. On the other hand, some teachers like to be distracted by certain kinds of questions, 1f they've gota hobbyhorse, chey'l always accept an invitation to ride it, and kids pie up on that right away.” “Why would you want to bave the teacher riding a hobby- horse “Because it's beter than listening t© him explain how a bill passes Congress.” “How else do you help teachers with their task?” “Never disagree. Never point out inconsistencies. Never ase ‘questions that go beyond what's being taught. Never let on that My Ishmael you'te lost, Always try to look like you're geting every word. It all comes to petty much the same thing.” “L understand,” Ishmael sid. “Again, {stress that this is defect ofthe system itself and not of the teachers, whose overriding obligation is to “get through the material” You understand that, in spite ofall this, yours isthe most advanced educational system in the world. It works very badly, but it's still the most advanced there i.” "Yeah, that’s what I understand. I wish you'd smirk or some- thing t0 show when you're being ironical.” “Tm not sure T could even manage such an expression, Julie... To return to my story, I watched Rachel being marched through the grades and I should add that she went toa very expensive private school—the most advanced of the ad- vanced) As [did so I began to put what I was scing together with what I aleeady knew of the workings of your culture and what I already knew of the working of those cultures that you are so far in advance of. Ac this point, [had developed none ofthe theories you've heard hete so far. In societies you consider primitive, youngsters ‘graduate’ fom childhood at age thirteen or fourteen, and by this age have basically learned all they need in order to function as adults in theie community. They've learned so much, Jn fact, that if the rest of the community were simply to vanish fovernight, they'd be able to survive without the least difficulty, ‘They'd kaow how to-make the tools needed for hunting and fish ing. They'd know how to shelter and clothe themselves. At age thirteen oF fourteen, their survival value is one hundred percent. T assume you know what I mean by that.” “OF cours.” “In your vastly more advanced system, youngsters graduate from your school system at age eighteen, and their survival valu is Virealy zero, If the rest of the community were to vanish over- night and they were left entirely to their own resources, they'd have tobe very lucky to survive a all. Without tools—and withoutDaniel Quine ven tools for making tols, they wouldn't be able to hunt afisk very effectively (f a all). And most woulda't have any idea what wikd-growing plants are edible. They wouldn't know how 10 clothe themselves or build shelter.” “That's righe” "When the youngsters of your culture graduate from school (unless their familie comtinve to take cate of them), chey must ‘immediately find someone to give them money to buy the things they need in order to survive. In other words, they have to find jobs. You should be able to explain why this is so.” 1 nodded. “Because the food is under lock and key.” “Precisely. I want you to see the connection between these two Uhings. Beans they have no survival value an theis oven, they mst ‘get jobs. This isn’t something that's optional for them, ules they independently wealthy. Is ether get a job or go hungry.” “Yeah, I see that” : ‘sure you realize that adults in your society are forever saying that your schools are doing a tervible job. They're the most advanced in the history of the world, but they're still doing a terrible job. How do your schools fall short of what people expect of them, Julie?” God, I don't know. This isn’t something that interests me very ‘much. I just tune out when people start talking about scuff like a "Come on, Julie. You don't have to listen very hard to know thi” T groaned. “Test scores are lousy. The schools don't prey people for jobs. The schools don't prepare people to have a good life. T suppose some people would say that the schools should give us some survival value. We shoud be able to be successful when se sgraduate.” “That's whac your schools are there for, isn't it? They're there 1 prepare children to have a suecessful life in your society.” aioe Ishmael nodded. “This is what Mother Colture teaches, Jae My lebmeel Tes truly one of her most elegant deceptions. Because of course this isn’ at all what your schools ate there Fo “what sce they there for, then?” “Te took me several years to work it out. At that stage I wasn’t used to uncovering these deceptions. This was my frst attempt, and I was litle slow att. The schools are there, Julie, to regulate the flow of young competitors into the job market.” “Wow,” Tsai. "T see that. “A hundred and fifty years ago, when the United States was sill a Targely agrarian society, there was no reason to keep young people off the job market past the age of cight or ten, and it was not uncommon for ehildeen to leave school at that age. Only a small minority went on to college 10 study for the professions ‘With increasing urbanization and industzialzation, however, this ‘began to change. By the end of the nineteenth century, eight years of schooling were becoming the rule rather than the exception. As urbanization and industrialization continued to accelerate through the 1920s and 1930s, twelve years of schooling became the rule After World War Two, dropping out of school before the end of twelve years began to be strongly discouraged, and it was put about that an additional four years of college should no longer be considered something only for the elite. Everyone should go to college, at least for a couple of years. Yes?” was waving my hand in the sir. “I have a question Fescems to ‘me like urbanization and industrialization would have the oppo- site effect Instead of keeping young people off the jab market, the system, would have been trying to put them on the job market.” Ishmael nodded. “Yes, onthe surface chat sounds plausible. But Jimagine what would happen here today if your educators suddenly decicied that a high-school education was no longer needed,” I gave that a few seconds of consideration and ssid, "Yeah, I see ‘what you mean. There would suddenly be twenty milion kids out there competing for jobs that don’t exist. The jobless eate would go through the roof.” “Te would literally be catastrophic, Julie. You see, i's not onlyDaniel Quinn cst to Keep thee foureent-ghten-yar-lds of the job anatkt, fs alo exental to keep them at home a8 non-wage- carning consumers” "What does he mean?” “This age group pulls an enormous amount of money—ewo hundred ilion dlrs a year estimated ov of tee Frees forks tobe spe on boots, clothe game, neki, compact Gis and sina things hata ese pet forte od te oe elie. Many enormous indus depend on teenage ctw sumer. You mut be aware of at” Yea, 1 guess: est never thought oft in thee terms” “IF cs tinages were adden pected to be wage erst and no Tones 2 bers to pl blo of dls rn tp tn” pocket, these yuth-otedindustiea would vanish Dre ih pitching more millon ox nto the job market” "Tse what you mean. If fourteen year-cks hyd wo support chemaces they wouldn't be spending their money on Nike sho arcade games, and CDs “Fifty pers ago Flic teoages wont to movies made for acuits and wore dohing designed fr aduite‘The muse hey tened fo was nt ame writen and performed for them, at Imusic written and performed for adults—Py adults like Cole Por ter Glenn Miler, and Benoy Goodin, Ta be ia on the Fist ig postwar clothing Ta tenge is scavenge thi Father” bite Bhim shies. Soch a thing would never pen toda” Tha forse” Ishmael fl sent for afew minutes, Thon he sid “A while ago you mentioned ining ta teacher explain how al ass Congress 1 asame you have in fe id thsi choo” “Tacs ght In eves” “Do you actually know how a bill pes Congres?” “haven ele, shack “Were you tte on" stm sre Las” “Did you pa?” My Iehmacl “OF course | nove fil est.” “So you supposedly ‘earned’ how a bill passes Congest, passed a test on the subject, and promprly forgot al about i.” “Thats ight.” “Can you divide one Fratonal number by another?” “L think s, yeah “Give me an example.” “Wal Jet's see. You've gor half «pie and you want to divide i into thirds. Each piece will bea sixth.” “That's an example of multiplication, Jie. One-half times one- third equals ones.” “Yeah, you're right “You sudied division of fractional numbers inthe Furth grade, probably.” “L remembr it vaguely.” “Try again tose if you can tink ofan example in which you would divide one fractional muenber by anothee. 1 gave ita shot and had to admit it was beyond me. “If you divide half pe by three you get a ath of pie. Thats clear enough, Ifyou divide hala pie by evo, you get a four of a pie IF you divide hal a pie by one, what db you get?” 1 stared at him blankly. “Ifyou divide hal pie by one, you get ball pe, of course Any number divided by one i that number.” “Rigi” "So what do you ge if you divide half «pie by half” “OK wow. One whole pie?” “OF cours. And what do you get if you divide half pie by 2 thica?” “Thee halves 1 think. One and half pi.” ‘-Thacs right, In the fourth grade, you spent weeks tying ro rnaster this concept, but ofcourse ifs for too abstract for fourth srades. Bu presumably you passed thts. “Ym sue I did" “*So you lenmed as much as you needed to pas the tet thenDaniel Quinn promptly forgot all shout it, Do you know why you forgot about ca “L Forgot about it because, who cares?” “actly. You forgot about it for the same reason that you, forgot how bill pases Congress, because you had no use for it in your life In actual fact, people seldom remember things they have no use for” “That's rue” “How much do you remember from what you learned in schoo! last year?” “Almost nothing, Td say.” ‘Do you think you're different from your classmates in this regard?” “Not at all ‘So most of you remeanberalinost othing from what you letra Jn school from one year to the next.” “That's ight Obviously we all know how to rd and write and do simple arthmetic—or most of us do.” “Which pretty well proves the point, doesn't it. Reading, eit- ing, and arithmetic ace things you actually have use for in your lives” “Yes, that’s certainly true” “Here's an interesting question for you, oli. Do your teachers expect you ta member everything you learned last year?” ‘No, I don't think $0. They expect you to remember having ‘card about it Ifthe teacher says ‘tidal forces she expects everyone to nod and say, ‘Yeah, we stadied those lst year. Do you understand the opecation of tidal force, Julie?” "Wall I knew what they are. Why the oceans bulge out on both sides of the earth atthe same time makes utzry no sense to me.” “But you didn’t mention this to your teacher.” “Of course not. think I got 297 on the quiz. [remember the arade better than the subject.” “But now you'ee in a position to understand why you spend 1a My Ichmael lierally years of your life in school learning things you instantly forget once you've passed the test.” “am?” “You are, Give ita shot.” 1 gave it a shor. “They have to give us something to do during the years we're being kept off the job market. Andvthey've got © ‘make it look good. Its got to look Hike something r-ee-e-a-L-y Useful. They can't just let us smoke dope and rock ‘a’ roll for twelve years” “Why not, Julie?” “Because it woulda’e look right. The jig would be wp. ‘The secret would be out. Everyone would know we were just there Kill time.” “When you were listing things thae people find wrong with your schools, you noted that they do a poor jab of preparing people to et jobs. Why do you think they do such a poor job at this?” “Why? I don't know. Pan not sure Teven understand the ques- ion.” “Tm inviking you to think about this the way T would.” "Oh" I said, ‘That was as far a8 got for about three minutes. ‘Then f admitted I didn't have any idea how to go about thinking about this the way he would, “What do people think about this failure ofthe schools Julie? ‘This will give you a clue as to what Mother Culture teaches.” “People think the schools are incompetent. That's what Pd uess people think “Try to give me something you feel more confident in than guess” | worked on it for a while and said, “Kids are lazy, and the schools are incompetent and underfunded “Good. This is indeed whar Mother Culsure teaches, What would the schools do if they had more money?” aa8Daniel Quinn “IF the schools had more money, they could get better teachers for pay teachers more, and I guess the theory is that the extra money would inspire teachers todo a better job” “And what about the lazy kids?” “Some of the more money would be spent buying new gadgets sand better books and pretier wallpaper, and the kids would not be as lazy 28 before, Something like that.” "So let's suppose that these new and improved schools turn out new and improved graduates. What happens then?” “L doa't know. 1 guess they have sn easier time getting jobs.” "Why, Julie?” “Decate they've got heter skills ‘They know how 10 do things employers want.” . “Excellent. So Johany Smith isn’t going to have to go to Work as « bagger in a grocery store is he? He can apply for job as an assistant manager.” “That's right” “And dha’: wonderful, sn’ i" "Yes, Fed think so." “But you know, Johnny Smith’s older brother graduated from school four years ago, before they were new and improved.” aa “Hie too went ta work for the grocery store. But of course, having no skis, he had to start as a bugger.” - “Oh, Right” “And now, after four years, he too wants 10 apply for that job as an assistant manager” “Uh-oh,” I said “And then there's Jennie Jones, another of your new and im- ‘proved graduates, She doesn't have to take a job as a lowly admin- istrative asstant at the accounting firm. She can go right in as And that’s tert, is “Ie isso far” “But her mother went back into the workforce a few years ago, and having no skills, she had to stare as a lowly administrative My Ishmael sista at that accountng lem. Now she's ready tobe promoted 1 office manager.” eae “How do you think people are going to like your new and improved schools that prepare graduates for good jobs?" hey'te not.” iow do you know why schools do a poor job of preparing sraduates for the workplace?” “sure do. Grads have to start a the bottom of the lade.” “So you sce that your schools are doing just what you actually want them todo. People imagine that they'd ike to se heir chil dren enter the workplace with relly useful business skills, but if they actualy did so, they'd immediately hogin competing for jobs with their older sbings and their parents, which would be eata- strophic. And if graduates ame out of school wth advanced kil, who would bag the groceries, Julie? Who would do the sweeping up? Who would pomp te gas? Who would do the filing? Who would flip the burgers?” suppose it would turn into an age thing.” “You mean you'd tll Jobnay Smith and Jennie Jones that they can't have the jabs they want, noe because others are more quali fied but because others are older.” “Thae’s right.” “Then what’ the point of giving Johnny and Jennie sil that ‘would enable thems eo do these jobs?” “L guess if they graduate with the skills, then at east theyll have them when thee time comes.” “Where did their older siblings and paren pick up hese skills?” “On the job, ¥ guess” “You mean while bagging the groceries, sweeping up, Pumping the gas, doing the filing, and flipping the burge “Yeah, guess.” “And won't your improved graduates pick up the ste skills their older siblings and parents picked up by doing these jobs?”Daniel Quinn oo “Then what do they gain by learning ther in advance, since theyll be learning them on the job anyway?” “I guess there's no advantage any which way,” I said “Now lets see if you can figure out why your schools men out sgraduates with zero survival vale.” “Okay . . To begin with, Mother Culuee says it would be pointless to urn out graduates with a high survival value.” “Why is that, Julie?” “Because they don’t need it Primitive people need it, sure, but ‘not civilized people. 1d be a waste of time for people to learn to survive on their own.” ‘ Ishmael told me to continue “L guess if you were conducting this conversation, you'd ask ‘what would happen if we turned out 2 class af new"and improved students with a hundred-percent survival value.” He nodded. T sat there for a while working it through. “The frst thing I thought of i tha they'd go for jobs as wilderness guides or some- thing, But thats completely stupid. The point is if they had a hhundzed-percent survival valu, they would’ need jobs a all.” “Go on.” . “Locking up the food wouldn't Keep them in the prison ‘They'd be ont, They'd be fre!” Ishmael nodded again. “OF course a few of them would sil lect to say behind—but that would be a matter of choice. I dare- say a Donald Trump or a George Bush ot Steven Spielberg ‘woulda’t have any inclination to leave the Taker prison behind.” “Pl bet it would be more than a few. I'l bee half would stay.” Go on, What would happen then?” “Even if half stayed, the door would be open. People would ‘come pouring out. A lot would stayin, but alot would come out” 138, My Ishmael “You mean that, for lot of you, getting a job and working until retirement age doesn’t lok like heaven.” “Te sure doesn',” I sid "So now you know why your schools turn out graduates with 0 survival value.” “That's right, I do. Since they don't have any survival value, they'te forced to enter the Taker economy. Even if they'd rather ‘opt out of that economy, they can't.” “Once again, the essential point to note is that, for all your ‘complaining, your schools are doing just whar you actually wang them to do, which is e produce workers who have ao choice but to enter your economic system, presorted into various grades, Hligh-schoo! graduates are generally destined for blue-collar jobs. ‘They may be as intelligent and talented as college graduates, but they haven't demonstrated this by surviving a further four years of| studies—studies tha, for the most part, are no more useful in life than the studies of the previous twelve. Nonetheless, « college degree wins admitance to white-collar jobs that are generally off- limits to high-school gradvates “What blue-collar and white-collar workers actually retain of their schooling doesn’t much matter—in either their working lives ‘or their private lives. Very, very few of them will ever be called ‘upon to divide one fractional number by another, parse a sentence, dissect a frog, critique a poem, prove a theorem, discuss the eco. nomic policies of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, define the difference be- ‘ween Spenserian and Shakespearean sonnets, describe how a bill ‘passes Congress, or explain why the oceans bulge on opposite sides of the world under the ingluence of tidal forces. Thus, if they graduate without being able to do these things, it really doesn't ‘matter in the slightest. Postgraduate work is obviously diferent Doctors, lawyers, sientists, scholars, and so on actually have to use in real life what they leara in graduate school, s0 for this small percentage of the population schooling actully does something besides keep them off the job market, 130Desiel Quinn “Mother Culture’s deception here is that schools existe serve the needs of people. In fact they exist to serve the needs of your economy, ‘The schools ura out graduates who can’t live without jobs but who have no job skill, and this suits your economic needs perfectly. What you're seing at work in your schools isn't a sytem. defect, i's a systean requirement, and they meet that requirement with close to one hundred percent eficiency.” Ishmael, I said and our eyes met. "You warked ths out ll by yourself?" “Yes, ver several years, Julie. I'm a very slow thinker” Tarmac asked if 4 watched any younger siblings grow up from infancy, and T told him no. Then you woulda’t know from experi- ‘ence that smal children ate the most power ful learning engines in the known universe “They effortlesly learn as many languages as are spoken in their households. No one has to sit them doven in a classroom and drill them on grammar and vocabulary. They do rho homework, they have no tests, no grades LLeasning their native languages i# no chore atall, because of course it's immensely and immediately useful and gratifying to them. ‘Everything you learn ducing these earlyDaniel Quiaa years is immensely and immediately useful and gratifying, even if it’s only how to crawl or how to build a tower of blocks or hovr to bang a pot with a spoon or how to make your head buzz with a piercing screech. The learning of small childeen is limited oaly by what they're able to see, hear, smell, and get their hands on. This learning drive continues when they enter kindergarten, a least for while. Do you remember che sor of things you learned in kin- dlergarten?” “No, Lean’ say that Td." “These are things Rachel learned twenty years ago, but I doubt if they're any different nowadays. She learned che names of pri- mary and secondary colors—red, blue, yellow, green, and s0 on She learnel the names of basic geometric shapes—square, circle, triangle. She learned ow to tell time. She learned the dajs of the week. She learned to count. She learned the basic units of ‘money-—penny, nickel, dime, and so on, She learngghthe months and the seasons of the year. These are obviously things everyone would learn whether they studied them in school or not, but they’se sil somewhat useful and somewhat gratifying to know, so most children have no difficulty learning them in kindergarten. After reviewing all this in grade one, Rachel went on to learn Addition and subtraction and to master beginning reading skills {though in fae she'd been reading since she was four years old at leas. Again, children generally find these to be useful and gratify- ing seudies. I don't intend to go through the enste curriculum in this way, however. The point I want to make is that, in grades K. through theee, most children master the skills that citizens need in order to get along in your culture, commonly characterized as the ‘twee R’s'—reading, writing, and arithmetic. These are skills that, even at age seven and eight, children actually use and enjoy using |A bonded and fifty years ago this was the citizen's basic educa- tion. Grades four through twelve were added to the curiculum in order to keep youngsters off the job market, and the skills taught in these grades ae the ones most students find to be neither useful in their lives nor gratifying to master. Addition, subtraction, multi- My Ishmael plication, and division of fractional numbers exemplify these skills No children at all (and very, very few adults) ever have occasion to tse them, but they're available to be added to the curriculum, and so they have been. They take up months and months of time, and this is all to the good, since the whole point of the exercise is to take up the students’ time, You've mentioned other subjects like ives and earth sciences, which present plenty of epportunity for time-consuming activites, remember that Rachel was required to memorize state capitals for some course or other. My favorite ex- ample of the tendency came to my notice when she was in the cighth grade. She actually learned to fill out a federal income-tax form, something she wouldn't need to do in aetual life for a least five yeats, by which time she obviously would have forgotten the form, which would by then be substantially different anyway. And of course every child spends years studying history—national, state, and world, ancient, medieval, and modern—of which they retain about one percent.” 1 said, “I would have thought.you would endorse the teaching of history.” “I do very much endorse it I endorse the teaching of every- thing, because everything is what children want to know. What children very deeply want to know of history is how things got 0 be ‘this way—but no one in your culture would think of teaching them that Instead they're overwhelmed with ten million names, dates, and facts they ‘should know, but that vanish from their heads the moment they're no longer needed to passa test. I's like handing & thousand-page medical text toa four-year-old who wants ro know where babies come from.” “Yeah, that’s absolutely true.” "You, herein these rooms, ate earning the history that matters to you, Isn't chat 50?” ~"Yes." “Will you ever forger ie?” “No, Not possibly.” "Childeen will learn anything they wun to learn They'l fail at 143Daniel Quinn learning how to Figure percentages inthe classroom but will ffort- lessly learn how to figure batting averages (which are of course just percentages). They'll fail at learning science in the classroom but, working at their personal computers, will effortlessly defeat the ‘most sophisticated computer security systems.” “True, te, true” “IF you monitor the right magazines, newspapers, or television programs, youll sce @ report at least once a week of some new scheme or other designed to ‘fix’ your schools. What people mean by fixing the school is making them work for people instead of just detaining them for ewelve year, then releasing them unskilled ‘onto the job market. In order to create something that works for people, the people of your culture think they have to iavent some- thing from scratch, It never occurs ro them that they say be tying to reinvent the wheel. In cate this expression is aew to you, "reinventing the wheel’ means struggling very hard duplicate a breakthrough that was actually made long ago. “Among tribal peoples, the educational system works so well that it requires no effort on anyone's pat, iflcts no hardship on learners, and produces graduates who are awlessly educated to take their place in their particular sociey. To speak of it as a system will be misleading, however, if you expect to sce huge buildings staffed by warders and their supervisors, under the di- rection of local and regional school boards, No such things exis. ‘The system is completely invisible and immaterial, and if you were task a tial people to explain it, they woulda’t even know what you sere referring to. Education occurs among them constantly and effortlessly, which means they're no more aware of is func tioning than they are of the finetioning of gravity. “Edueation occurs among them as constantly and effortesly as education occurs in a household where there's a three-year-old. Unless you confine it © er or a playpen, there's simply no way to stop a three-year-old from lesening. A three-year-old i quest My Iehmeel ‘ng beast with a thousand arms probing everywhere. Ft must touch everything, smell everything, taste everything, turn everything up- side down, se how it looks sailing through the ar, sce how it fecls ‘when swallowed oF pressed into an ear. The four-year-old is no less thirsty for knowledge, but it ao longer has to repeat the exper- Jiments of the three-yeat-old It has already touched, smelled, tasted, turned upside down, flung, and swallowed everything it rceds to. I's ready to move onward and outward—as is the Be year-old, the six-year-old, the seven-year-ld, the eight-year-old, the nine-year-old, the ten-year-old, and s0 on. Bat isnot allowed todo this in your culture. This would be too messy. Starting with age five, the child must be restrained, confined, and compelled to learn not what it want toearn but what your state legislators and ‘curriculum writers agree it ‘should learn, in locketep with all other children its age. “Not 0 a tribal societies. In tribal societies, the three-year-old is free to explore the world around it as far asi likes, which is not as far as it will go when i's four, ite, six, seven, or eight. There simply are no walls shuting the child in or eut at any age, 20 doors closed against it. There is no age when it should’ leara a given thing. Nor would anyone ever dream of giving thought ro such a thing, Ultimately all the things grown-ups do ace fascinat- ing toa child, and it eventually and inevitably wants to do them itsel*tot necessarily on the same day as every other child, nor ia the same week oF the same year. This process Jl, int culral, it's genetic. I mean that children don't lara to imitate their par- ents. How could such a thing be taught? I's hardwired into chil- ‘dren to imitate their parents. They're born wanting t0 imitate them, in exactly the same way that ducks are born wanting to follow the fest ching they see moving, which is usually their mother. And this hardwiring continues to operate within che child. unit when, Julie?” “What?” “The child craves to learn how to do every single thing its parents do, but this craving eventually disappears. When?”Daniel Quinn “Lord, how could 1 know that?” “You know it perfectly wel, Juli. This craving disappears with the onses of puberty.” "Wow," I sid, “It sure does” “The onset of puberty signal the end of the child's apprentice- ship tots parens Ie signals the end of childhood itself. Again, chis isn’ culeural, it's genetic, In trial societies, the pubertal youth is understood to be ready for initiation into adulthood—and mast be initiated into adulod. You can no langer expect this person ¢o ‘want to imitate adults. That craving bas vanished and that phase of life is over. In tribal societies, they make a ceremonial acknovl- cdgment of this, so everyone is clear about it. “Yesterday these people were children. Today they're adults. That’ it! “The fact that this ransformation is genetic is demonstrated by jour own flute to abolish it through cultural means-—legislation ind education, In effet, you've pased a law extending childhood ior an indefinite period and have redefined adulthood asa moral oivilege that ukimately can only be sel-awarded, on grounds that ie far fiom clear. In tribal cultures, people are made adults jus he way your presidents are made presidents and they no more loubt that they're adults than George Bush doubts that he's the nesident. Most adults in your evlere, however, ate never abeo- utely sure when they've managed to cross the line—or ever if hey've ever managed to cross it.” “That seems to be true,” Isaid. “I think all this has got to have omething to do with gangs.” “Of course it does. You can work that out, Fm sure.” “Td say thar kids in gangs are eebelling against the law chat tends childhood into an indefinite future.” “They are, but not consciously, of course, They simply find it tolerable to ive under this law, intolerable ta be asked to deny « genetic hardwiring that tells them they're adult. OF course, ings flourish only in relatively dissdvantaged groups. Other ‘ups are well enough rewarded that they'e willing to forgo lle privileges for a few more years. I's kids who are getting 146 My Tshmact absolutely no reward for itor atleast no reward that they eaee abou—who end up in gangs.” “Yeab, chat’ teu.” “Tve leds slighty off track here. wanted to show you a model ‘of education that works for people. Ic works very simply, without 0s, without effort, without administration of any kind. Children simply go wherever they want and spend time with whomever they want in order to Tearn the things they want to learn when they actually want to le them. Not every child's education is identical. Why on earth should it be? The idea is not that evecy child should receive the entze heritage but rather that every gener- ation should receive it. And itis received, without fly this is proved by the fact thatthe society continues to function, genera- tion after generation, which it couldn’ do if its heritage were not ‘being transmited faichfully and cotaly, generation after gencea- “Obviously many details are left behind from one generation o the next. Gossip isn't heritage. Events five hundred years old aten't remembered the way events fifty years old are remembered, Evens fifty years old aren't remembered the way events lst year are remembered. But everyone understands that anything not transmitted to the younger generation is simply lost, completely and irrevocably. But always the essential is transmitted, precisely because ita essential. For example, toolmaking skill) that are ‘ceded on a daily basis can't posibly be lost—precisely because theyre use on a daily bass, and children learn them as routinely as children of your culture lean to use telephones and remote ‘controls. Presentday chimpanzees lear to prepare and use twigs {0 fish for ants inside an anthill. Where the practice is found, its ‘wansmitied unfailingly, generation after generation. The behavior isn’ genetic but the ability to dear i is genet.” 4 told Ishmael that he seemed to be struggling very hard to say Something that wasn't quite geting through to me. To my great5 Daniel Quian laprise, he suddenly reached out for a stale of celery that he bit “to with a sound like @ pistol shot. He munched for 2 moment fore going 00. “Once upon a time a distinguished elder blue-winged teal by ve name of Titi called a great conference of other distinguished ders t0 be held on the Isle of Wight in che English Channel. ‘Then they were at last gathered and settled down, one slightly less \stingushed blue-winged teal by che name of Ooli stepped for- aed to make some introductory remarks. “Pm sure you all kaow who Titi’ he began, but in ease you ont, Tl tll you. He is, without doubs, the greatest scientist of a age, and the worlds Foremost authority on avian migration, ‘hich he has studied longer and deeper than any other tal ig istory, blue-winged or otherwise. don't kaow why he's called us gether here at this ime, but I don't doube that his reasons are ‘celle’ And with that, Ooli turned the meeting overto Tit “Titi rufled his feathers a bit to gather everyone's attention, ten said, Tve come here today to urge upon you a vitally impor- int innovation in the rearing of our young” Well, Ti certainly "ot everyone's attention with this announcement, and he was del- ged with questions from teals who demanded to know what was Apposed to be wrong with chick-rearing practices that had vorked for blve-winged teals for more generations than any of sem could count “recognize and acknowledge your indignation,’ Titi replied ‘hen he finally had them quieted down. ‘But in order for you to derstand iy point, you'll have to recognize and acknowledge vat I'm very different from you. As my ald friend Ooli men- oned, I am the world’s foremost authority on avian migration, “his means I have a deep theoretical understanding of a process tat you merely experience in an unthinking and routine manner ‘ery simply speaking, in the spring and fall of every year you perience a certain restlessness tha i ultimately relieved by tak- vg fight in one direction or the other over the English Channel in this 90" My Ishmael ‘All is listeners had to agree that this was so, and Titi went on. “T don’e dispute the fact that your vague fecings of restlessness serve the essential purpose of getting you moving, but wouldn't you lke to be abl to see your children’s lives guided by something ‘more reliable than vague felings of ceetlessness?” “When he was asked to explain what he meant, he suid, “IF you were making the sort of detailed observations that are made by scientists like me, you would know how amazingly often you dither about for a week or ten days, making one halthearted tart after another, flying this way and that, setting out a if you really ‘meant to migrate, then turning back after five or ten of even twenty miles. You would know how many of you actually set out and make what amounts to the whole tip—Aying in the wrong dlicetion “The teas in his audience waggled their wings in a nervous way and ruffled their feathers to hide their embarrassment. They knew that hat Titi was saying was absoluely true (and indced it 44 actually teue—not only of teals but of migratory birds in gen ral), but they were mortfed to learn that this sloppy behavior had actually been noticed by someone, They asked what could be done to improve their performance. “We must make our chicks aware of the elements of an ideal ‘migrating schedule. We must prepare them to observe relevant conditions and to ealeuate the optimum moment to set out “But it would seem that you, asa scientist, are already able to ddo that’ one of his listeners pointed out ‘Coulda’t you just tell us when to migrate?” “That would be supremely stupid,’ Tit replied. “There's no way [can be everywhere at once, making all the relevaat caleula- tions. You yourselves must make these calculations where you are, in reference to the specie conditions you individually face." “Tes not easy to hear a teal groan in ordinary circumstances, but this flock of teal produced a mighty groan on hearing these words. But Titi went on, saying, ‘Come, come, it's not a dificult as all cha, You simply have to uaderstand that migration becomesDaniel Quinn sn advantage when the suitability of your present habicar is less than the suitability of che target habitat times what x known asthe migration factor, which i ust 2 measure of the extent to which the portion of your potential reproductive success that is under your active control would decrease as a result ofthis migration. I realize that this may sovad like rather a beakful to you at the moment, ‘nat a few definitions and mathemacical formulas will make it per Teatly clear to you! “Well, these teals were mosdy just ordinary birds, and they couldn't imagine opposing such a renowned and respected author- ity, who clearly knew a great deal more about migration than they ‘did. They felt they had no choice but to go along with plans so ‘obviously intended for their own good. Soon they were spending long evening hours with their chicks trying to comprehend and ‘explain such things as track patterns, navigation mechanisms, de- ce of return, and degrees of dispersal and convergeaée, Instead of frolicking in the morning sunshine, chicks learned calculus, mathematical tool developed in the seventeenth century by 10 famous blue wings named Leibniz and Newton that enables one to ‘deal with the differentiation and integeation of functions of ane or move variables, Within just a few years every chick was expected to be able to calculate the migration-cost variables in both faculs- tive and obligatory migrations. Weather conditions, wind direction and speed, even body weight and fat percentages enter into the ‘aleulation of migration thresholds. “The initial failures ofthe new education system were spectct- lar bue not unexpected. Titi had predicted that migratory success would actually be lower than normal fr the frst five years of the progeam but would return to and then surpass the norm within another five years, By the end of twenty years he said, more teals would be migrating more successfully than ever before. But when teals eventually began to migrate with normal sucess once again, ic was discovered that most were faking the calelations—merely following their instines, matching data to behavior rather than ‘behavior to data. When stingent new cules were enacted to pre- My Ishmacl vent this form of cheating, migratory sucess droped steeply I seas ialy accepted thc ordinary parents were not infact quai= Bo teach thee children anything a comple 4 migratory ai nce, This was something only profesonals cond be expected 0 hal. Chick were henceforth taken from the nest at an ary age and turned over toa new cade of spciais, who organized thei Young charges ino brutally competitive unt, imposing on them high standards, uniform esting, and hac dip. A cerain amount of adverse reaction to the new regtne was expected and soo materialized, in the for of chronic tuany, hostility, depres sin, and suicide among the young. New cades of runey offers uards, prychotherapis, and counselor toga to keep things tnder contol but before lng members of the fock were steak ing away like residents of burning building (or Ti and Ook vies not quite mad enough to think they could keep the flock together by fre) “Afr the ewo old friends watched the last remnants ofthe flock seater into the sky, Ooi shook his head and wondered whore they'd gone rong. Ti rfl his feathers iritably and said, "We went wrong by fling t take into account a great tat, same that eal are tpi and ley, ad pefety content stay thar way? “The problems involved in migration—when to start, which way ‘to go, how far to go, when to stop—ate far beyond the power of ny computer to salve, but they're routinely solved aot only by relatively large-brained creatures like birds, tortoise, reindeer, bears, salamanders, and salmon but by plant lice, aphids, Bat- worms, mosquitos, click beetles, and slugs. They don't necd to be schooled in this, Do you understand?” “OF course I understand.” “Millions of years of natural selection have produced creatures capable of solving these problems in a rough-and-ready way that isnt peefeee but that does in fact work, becatse—behold!—theseDeniel Quina cxearuees are here. In the very same way, millions of yeas of natu zal selection have produced human creatures who are born with a ravenous desire to learn anything and everything their parents now and who are capable of fests of learning whose boundaries ar literally beyond imagination, Taddlers growing up ina house hold in which four languages are spoken will learn those four Fanguages flawlessly and effortlesly in a matter of months. They don't need to be schooled in this. But in ewo yeate—" T held up 4 hand, “Let me help, Ishmael. I dink I've gor it Kids will lara anything they ane to lesen, anything they have a ‘we for. But co make ther learn things they don’t have any’ use for, you have to send thom to school. That's why we need schol, We reed schools to force kids to learn things they have no use fop” “Which in fact they do not learn.” “Which in fact, when i’ all over and the lst bell rings, they have not learned, Bax 1 went on, “you don’ scrsly think that the original system would work inthe modern world, do you?” sidered that for a while, then ssid, “Your schools would work perfectly Ishmael if. what, Julie? “Tf people were better. If teachers were all brilliant and if kids were all attentive and obedient and hardworking and farsighted enough to know that learning everything in school would really he good for thes.” “You've found that people won't be bet ter, and you've failed to find a way to mane them better, so you do what instead?”Vaniel Quinn “Spend money.” “More and more and more and more money. Because you can't make people berer, but you can always spend more money.” “That's vight.”| “Whar do you call 2 system that will only work ifthe people in i are beter than people have ever been?” “I don’t know. Is there a special name for it?” "What do you calla system that’s built on the presumption that people in this system will be beste than people have ever been? Everyone in this sytem is going to be kind and generous and considerate and selfless and obedient and compassionate and peaceable, What kind of syst ie that?” “Utopian?” “Uiopian i ight, ule. Everyone of your ystems i wpian system. Democracy would be heaven-—if people would juft be better than people have ever been. OF course, Soviet communism was supposed to have been heaven too—if people iad just been better than people have ever been. Yous justice sytem would work. perfectly if people would jus be better than people have ever been, ‘And of course your schoo!s would work perfectly under the Sime conditions” "So? I'm not quite sure what you're getting at.” ‘Tm tuening your question back t0 you, Julie. Do you actually Yhink your utopian school system will work in che modera world?” “L see what you mean. The sytem we Aave docsn't work, Ex: cept asa device to keep kids off the job market.” “The tribal system isa system that works with people the way they are, not the way you wish they were I's a thoroughly practi cal system that has worked perfectly for people for hundreds of thousands of years, but you apparently think ita bizarre notion that it would work for you, now.” “T just don’t see how ix would work, How it could be made wo work.” 154 My Ishmael “First, ell me who your system works for and who it dossn’t work for.” “Our system works for business but it doesnt work for people.” “And what are you looking for now?” “A system that works for people.” Ishmacl nodded. “During the carly years of your children’s lives, our system is indsinguishable from the tribal system, You simply imeract with your children in a way that is mutually enjoy- able, and you give them the freedom of the house—for the most part. You won't let them swing on the chandeliers or stick forks imo electric light sockets, but otherwise they're free to explore hae they want to explore. At age four or fve, kids want to go farther afield, and forthe most par they're allowed to do so within the immediate vicinity ofthe home. Theyre allawed to vist other kids down the hall o next door. In school, these would be socal- studies lessons. At this stage, kids begin wo leara that not all fami- lies are identical. They differ in membership, in manners, in style After his point in your system, children are sent off to school, Where all their movements are controlled for most of the waking day. But of course that doesn't happen inthe tribal system, At age six and seven children begin to diverge widely in their interests Some will continue to stick close to home, sme will— 1 was waving my hand, “How ae they going to learn to ead?” “Julie, for hundreds of thousands of years, children have man- aged to earn the things they want to lesen and need t0 learn. They haven't changed.” "Yes, but how do they learn to read?” “They leara to read the same way they leaned how to see, by boeing around sighted people. ‘The same way they learned how to speak, by being around speaking people. In other words, they learn ‘0 rad by being around reading people. know you've learned not ‘have any confidence in this process know you've been taught that this is something best left to ‘he professional ut in feet the Professionals have a very doubtful record of success. Remember 185Daniel Quinn that, one way or another, the people of your culture managed 10 learn to read for thousands of years without ‘professionals teaching. them to do it. The fact is that children who grow up in reading hosscholds grow up reading.” “Yeah, but not all kids grow up in reading houscholds.” “Let us posit, for the sake of argument, a child who is growing ‘up in a houschold where the cooking instrutions on foo pack- ages are not read, where the messages on television screens ate not read, where telephone bills are not read, where the parents are totally, one hundred percent illiterate. Where the parents can’t even tell whether they're holding a one-dollar bill or a five-dollar bill” “Okay.” “At age four the child begins to widen his acquaintance of life. ‘Are we going to posit ane hundred percent illiteracy forall is reighbors? I think that would be going too far, kt le’ do it anyway. At age five the child's range extends even farther, and 1 think it's asking too much to suppose that his whole neighborhood is totaly iterate. He's surrounded by seriuen messages, bom- ‘barded by writen messages—all of which are intelligible to people around him, especially to his peers, who are not at all modest bout Baunting their superior expertise, He may not istandy learn to read at graduate-school level, but at thie age in your school, he would only be learning the ABC's anyway. He learns enough. Hle learns what he needs to know. Without fil, Julie, I trust him t0 do this. I trust him to manage to do what human children have been doing efforcssy for hundreds of thousands of years. And what he needs right now is to be able to do anything his play- sates do.” “Yeah, I can believe that” “Ac age six and seven, asthe child's range continues to expand, he's going co want to have a lite money in his pockets, the way his playmates da, He won'e need to go to school in order to learn the difference between pennics nickels and dimes. And bell tke in addition and subtraction like the air he breathes, not because My Ishmael he's “good at mathematics’ hut because he needs i¢ as he moves farther and farther out into the world “Childten are universally fascinated by the work their parents do outside the home. In our new tebal syste, patents will under- stand that including thee children in their working lives is their alternative to spending tens of billions of dollars annually on schools that are basically just detention centers. We're not talking bout turning children into apprentices—tha's something else en- tirely. We're just giving them access to what they want to know, ‘and all children want to know what their parents are up to when they leave the hovse, Once they're loose in an offic, children do the same things they did ar home—they dig up all the secrets, investigate every closet, and of course learn how to work every machine, from the date-stamp machine to the copier, from the shredder to the computer. And i they don't know how to read yet, ‘they'll certainly learn to read now, because there's very litle they can doin an office without reading: This int to say that children would be prohibited from helping. There's nothing children like better at this age than fecling like they're helping Mommy and Daddy-—and again, this isn’t something learned, this is genetic. “In wital societies, e's taken for granted that children will want to work alongside their elders, The work circle is also the social ‘rc. Tim not talking about sweatshops. There are no such things in tribal. societies. Children aten't expecced to behave like sssembly-ine workers, punching in and punching out. How else fare they to learn to do things if they're nor allowed co do them? “Bur children will quickly exhaust the possiblities of their par- ‘ents’ workplace, pecially if it’s one where the same tasks are performed over and over. No child is going to be fascinated by stacking canned goods in a grocery store for long. The rest ofthe ‘world is out theee, and our supposition is that no door is closed to them. Imagine what 2 twelve-year-old with a musical bent could learn ata recording studio. Imagine what a twelve-year-old with an interest in animals could learn ata 200. Imagine what a evel ‘Yearold with an interes in painting could learn in an artist'sDanicl Quinn studio. Imagine what a welve-year-old with an interest in per- forming could learn in a ciecus “OF course there would be no prokbition against schools, but the only ones that would actualy attract students are the ones that tract them now—schools of fine ars schools of music and dance, schools of martial arts, and so on. Schools of higher learning would doubtless attract older students as well—schools devoted to schel- arly studies, the sciences, and the professions. The important ching to notice is that none of these are merely detention centers. All are dedicated to giving students Knowledge they actually want and expect to use. “1 would expecta common objection to be that such an educa~ tional system would not produce ‘roundedstdents. But this ob- jection merely reaffirms your culture's lack of confidence in your ‘own children. Given free access to everything in your world, chil- {ren would not become educationally sounded? Tthinkthe idea is absurd. They would become as rounded as they wanted to be, and there would be no presumption that education ends at age eigh- teen or twenty-two. Why would there be? These particular ages would become educationally meaningless. And in fact it would appear that very few people yearn to be Renaissance men and ‘women. Why should they yearn for such a thing? If you're content to know nothing beyond chemistry or woodworking or computer science or forensic anthropology, whose business is it but your ‘own? Every specialty that there is somehow manages to find can- \didates in every generation who want to pursue it. I've never heard of a single specialty disappearing for lack of candidaces avid to pursue it. One way or another, every generation produces a few, people who burn to study dead languages, who are fascinated by the effects of disease on bodies, who yearn to understand the secrets of tat behavior—and this would be a true under the tvibal system as it presently is under your system, “But, of course, having your children underfoot in the work- place would seriously reduce efficiency and productivity. Even though sending them to educational detention centers is terrible My Ishmael for children, i's unquestionably wonderful for business, The sys- tem I've outlined here will never be implemented among the peo- ple of your culture at long at you value busines over people.” "So," I said, “you would be in favor of something like home schooling.” “1m not in the least in favor of home schooling, Julie. I's not merely linguistic whimsy thar connects the schooling of children with the schooling of fish, Schooling of any kind is unnecessary and counterproductive in human children. Children no more need schooling at age five or six or seven or eight than they need i¢ at age two or three, when they effortlessly perform prodigies of learning. In recent years parents have seen the utility of sending their children to reguler schools, and the sehools have replied by saying, ‘Well, all right, we'll permit you eo Keep your children at home, but of course you understand that your children still must bbe schooled, you can't just trust them to learn what they need 0 learn. Well check up on you to make sure you're nat just ling ‘hem learn what they need to learn but are learning what our state legislacors and curriculum writers think they should learn, At age five or six home schooling might be a lesser evil than regular schooling, but after chat it’s hardly even a lester evil, Children don't need schooling. They need access to what they want to leara—and that means they need access to the world outside the howe." T told Ishmael 1 could think of another reason why people ‘wouldn't go for the cial system. “The world is roo dangerous People wouldn't let ther kids wander around loose ina city these days.” “im not at all sue, Julie, that most urban business districts are any more dangerous than schools, these days. From what I read, children are much more inclined to go to school armed with deadly weapons than office workers are. Not many businesses need to have security guards in the hallways to protect executives from,Daniel Quinn bring attacked by workers and to protect. workers from each other.” [had to admit that he had a bunch of points th “Bu the main thing I want you to sce is that i's your systern that ie wopian, The tribal system isn't perfect, but item's utopian scheme. It's completely feasible, and it world save you tens if no hundreds of billions of dollars every yea.” “I don'e suppose you'd get many voes from teachers, however, Ishmael shrugged. “For half of what you're spending. cight now, you could retice every teacher inthe system with a fall pen "Yeah, they might go for that. But here's something I know people will sy about all this: There's so.much to fara in gur fabulously terrific culture that we have to send them to school for ile 7 “You're right that it will be said and those who gay it will be right in che sense that chere i a tremendous amount available to be learned in your culture that lable to be learned in any twibal culeure, But chis misses the point T'm making here. Your basic itizen’s education wasn’t expanded feom four grades ro eight in order to include astronomy, microbiology, and zoology. Tt wasn't expanded from eight grades to twelve in order to include astrophysics, biochemistry, and paleontology. It wasn’t expanded from twelve grades to siateen in order 10 include exobialogy, plasma physics, and heart surgery. Today's graduates don’ leave school with all the advances of the past hundred years in their heads Just like their grear-greatgrandparents a century ago, they leave with enough in their heads to start at the bottom of the job marke, flipping burgers, puniping gas, and baggiog groceries. Ie just eakes today’s graduates a whole lot longer to pet ther. "The neat day, Sucay, I wanted tog my weekend homework ot ofthe way before etn again wit onal, twat mide sfernoon bythe tne I gt down to oom 105. {had my hand on the kb when 1 tar someon onthe che sie of the dor say, very disinelys "The gods would “The do had ote in ahead of me For about ten seconds I considered hang. ing aroun for 3 while ten deeded gain it Peling pet len, {ured rund and headed me The gods would hare it T wonder what conversation tht reply 141