Education
Freedom in childhood, education and exceptional people
Henrik Karlsson has an excellent essay on the childhoods of exceptional people whose biographies he has read.
The results, looking apart from the specific conclusions; how much does talent account for and such, it largely confirms what seems to be the consensus: tailored education and freedom to explore as a child are great enablers. That is if one is free from the strife of negative relationships and other too tiresome emotional burdens.
Childhoods of exceptional people - by Henrik Karlsson
Discipline in education
As Ivan Illich wrote in Deschooling Society: “The pupil is thereby ‘schooled’ to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new.” My grade school teachers said the tough standards would prepare me for high school, my high school teachers said the tough standards would prepare me for college, and my college teachers said the tough standards would prepare me for the professional world. But it was a lie. As I sat in class, I felt like a domesticated animal, training to serve the needs of institutions instead of myself.