Letter: Schools prepare students only to be followers
America, land of the free and home of the mindless drones. We claim to be the country where anyone can achieve anything, and cite Steve Jobs or Bill Gates as an example of someone who came from nothing to build an empire. Yet these two are the exception rather than the rule, an unfortunate truth that can be traced to our schools.
The American education system is structured in such a way that it eliminates free thinking.
In every class we are pushed into one specific way of thinking. If we do something differently, though achieving the same result, we are reprimanded and reminded of the “correct” way. This turns our youth away from entrepreneurship long before it becomes a viable option.
School teaches us to do what we’re told without question, preparing us for a boring desk job in some corporate office. Our generation is being molded into followers, built to help perpetuate the social structure that keeps the general population in what is essentially a state of submission to the 1 percent.
In order to progress as a society, we must diverge from the status quo that is forced upon us in childhood and allow our minds to flourish.
Nicholas Chang, Richland
This story was originally published January 9, 2018 at 4:09 PM with the headline "Letter: Schools prepare students only to be followers."