Therapist goes to middle school and tries to sit still and focus. She can’t.

[Aristotle]

Really interesting read.

Therapist goes to middle school and tries to sit still and focus. She can’t.

Except for brief periods of getting up and switching classrooms, I’ve been sitting for the past 90 excruciating minutes. I look down at my leg and notice it is bouncing. Great, I think to myself, now I’m fidgeting! I’m doing anything I can to pay attention – even contorting my body into awkward positions to keep from daydreaming. It is useless, I checked out about forty-five minutes ago. I’m no longer registering anything the teacher is saying. I look around the room to see how the children a few decades younger than me are doing.

I’m immersed in a local middle-school classroom environment. I quickly realize I’m not the only one having a hard time paying attention. About 50 percent of the children are fidgeting and most of the remaining children are either slouched in the most unnatural positions imaginable or slumped over their desks. A child suddenly gets up to sharpen their pencil. A few minutes later, another child raises their hand and asks to go to the bathroom. In fact, at least three children have asked to go to the bathroom in the past twenty minutes. I’m mentally exhausted and the day has just begun. I was planning on observing the whole day. I just can’t do it. I decide to leave right after lunch.

[Gromgor]

This is why I fully intend to home school. Well, not this specifically, but rather this is yet another reason. Everything about public education and it's system is completely contrary, abusive and ultimately nothing more than conditioning for later productivity for employers.

I can't make my kid live up to some grand ideal, but I can at least give him the tools to do so, and the freedom to practice it.