Compulsory MIS-Education

Written in 1964, Paul Goodman's anaylsis of the educational system and bureaucracy has proven all too true. The system has gone farther awry than even Mr. Goodman could have guessed, as we have added the penal system and mandatory sentencing to those discarded as cogs/clones in the educational system. The sad part is, despite the warnings of Goodman and scores of others, our schools aren't getting any better. Academic inflation (quantifiable degrees vs. knowledge) has persisted beyond anyone's dreams. The whole educational/government/corporate troica has all but strangled free thought and innovation. It's a shame that this book is out of print, as it should be required reading for school teachers, legislators, parents. As our educational process becomes increasing irrelevant and more kids get lost in the shuffle to be scopped up by gangs/police, this book becomes all the more meaningful.

Paul Goodman has laid it out: school is another racket where people are taught they need the ministrations of the school system. Written in the sixties when it was still fashionable to speak of alienation, Compulsory Miseducation is a bracing reminder that human beings are born free and possess the capacity to shape their own lives outside the institutionalized context of schooling.