[magicink81]

I believe you are correct that public schools are instruments of social progress, but to assume that this is good for the students is a terrible assumption. A society may "progress" at the great expense of the people it's institutions purport to care for.

By definition progress is movement in a direction. Who set the direction? Toward which destination? To achieve which aim and goals? Who benefits? To assume it is the students, the teachers, or "the people" broadly, is a naive and destructive assumption.

Social progress by one definition might include the production of obedient soldiers and factory workers. It might include the limiting of cultural diversity, creating a common core of cultural conformity and homogenization among the youth a country populated by recent immigrants. It might include training the youth to accept authority without question.

If one is interested enough to learn about the actual thinking of the founders and maintainers of public school institutions in the United States and around the world, you can read what they published of their thinking for yourself. John Taylo Gatto unearthed much of this thinking and shared it with the world in his books and lectures.

Here is one transcript you may find enlightening:

https://smarthomeschooler.com/blog/2021/5/28/gatto-six-purpo...