by
Jacobin
92
In capitalist societies, each nuclear family is thought to be a private entity, operating in opposition to each other and distinct from the state. Evangelicals might insist there be a patriarch at the head of that family, while liberals envision a broader spectrum of possible arrangements. But the family form is the same: atomized, and financially self-reliant. The child is the responsibility of the parents who almost solely invested in her, and parents are expected to vigilantly monitor risks to their investment, even when they aren’t around. If your child is harmed or becomes ill, damage has been done to you, not to society, and it’s your job to fix it
later on the page: "Bolsheviks saw state-run schools as having the potential to liberate mothers from the private drudgery of housework and economic dependence, while freeing children to participate in public, collaborative play"
In capitalist societies, each nuclear family is thought to be a private entity, operating in opposition to each other and distinct from the state. Evangelicals might insist there be a patriarch at the head of that family, while liberals envision a broader spectrum of possible arrangements. But the family form is the same: atomized, and financially self-reliant. The child is the responsibility of the parents who almost solely invested in her, and parents are expected to vigilantly monitor risks to their investment, even when they aren’t around. If your child is harmed or becomes ill, damage has been done to you, not to society, and it’s your job to fix it
later on the page: "Bolsheviks saw state-run schools as having the potential to liberate mothers from the private drudgery of housework and economic dependence, while freeing children to participate in public, collaborative play"
93
In capitalist societies like the United States, where public schools are increasingly used as tax-funded training camps for corporate workplaces, curriculum and standards focus more on preparing children for the demands of adulthood than on their immediate needs and development. Tech ceos from Bill Gates to Mark Zuckerberg to Tim Cook have advocated that coding be taught starting as young as kindergarten, and policymakers like Obama agree (meanwhile, the trendiest private schools in Silicon Valley don’t allow computers in the classroom). In America, school is preparation for “real” life. In the early Soviet Union, the school was life; maybe even more real than the adult world outside its doors.
In capitalist societies like the United States, where public schools are increasingly used as tax-funded training camps for corporate workplaces, curriculum and standards focus more on preparing children for the demands of adulthood than on their immediate needs and development. Tech ceos from Bill Gates to Mark Zuckerberg to Tim Cook have advocated that coding be taught starting as young as kindergarten, and policymakers like Obama agree (meanwhile, the trendiest private schools in Silicon Valley don’t allow computers in the classroom). In America, school is preparation for “real” life. In the early Soviet Union, the school was life; maybe even more real than the adult world outside its doors.