So, these were educational projects, the purpose being to instill in children a sense of responsibility. I'd be interested in hearing about how well it worked. I've lived in rural America and I see a huge difference in maturity between suburban and farm kids. The daily responsibilities of farm life seem to instill a focus and determination that carries into the workplace. The trains project would be a much less immersive experience, so I wonder how pronounced any benefit would be.
Children's Railways of the Former USSR
21–30 of 102 posts
Re: Children's Railways of the Former USSR
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Schools under capitalism are somehow better? Creating nothing but obedient wage slaves who lack critical thinking abilities Not to mention, as another comment mentions this was to give them a sense of responsibility early not to get child labor
Man, if you think schools under capitalism churn out "obedient wage slaves who lack critical thinking abilities", you'd be completely lost for words at what happens when lack of critical thinking is overtly baked into the system, like in the commie states. I only caught the very tail end of the abysmal, soul crushing Soviet primary school education, and by the late 80s most adults were openly contemptuous of the tota…
China seems to be doing pretty well with education
Re: Children's Railways of the Former USSR
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
> My 30 year old masters students are not even allowed to run their own WiFi network Because they're students, or because IT doesn't want random people running their own networks that are halfway part of the school's systems but independently administered?
> because IT doesn't want random people running their own networks that are halfway part of the school's systems but independently administered? IT people have nothing to do with it. They just peck at webmin interfaces and pretend to understand what Microsoft tell them to do. If it were up to IT they'd just grunt and shrug, and the students would get on with it. Decisions to directly counter to the core mission of th…
I worked in IT at a state university and they were quite competent overall, many had done computer science research at a graduate level.
Re: Children's Railways of the Former USSR
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Man, if you think schools under capitalism churn out "obedient wage slaves who lack critical thinking abilities", you'd be completely lost for words at what happens when lack of critical thinking is overtly baked into the system, like in the commie states. I only caught the very tail end of the abysmal, soul crushing Soviet primary school education, and by the late 80s most adults were openly contemptuous of the tota…
China seems to be doing pretty well with education
China is good at education, but also good at avoiding certain topics. For example, fairly basic research skills are not taught until university level.
Re: Children's Railways of the Former USSR
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Schools under capitalism are somehow better? Creating nothing but obedient wage slaves who lack critical thinking abilities Not to mention, as another comment mentions this was to give them a sense of responsibility early not to get child labor
Man, if you think schools under capitalism churn out "obedient wage slaves who lack critical thinking abilities", you'd be completely lost for words at what happens when lack of critical thinking is overtly baked into the system, like in the commie states. I only caught the very tail end of the abysmal, soul crushing Soviet primary school education, and by the late 80s most adults were openly contemptuous of the tota…
> this system was based on institutionalized, merciless bullying
No bullying exist in the US and EU schools, sure.
Re: Children's Railways of the Former USSR
#26> Then, why is it "Children's?", you might ask. Because it is operated by the schoolchildren, 9-15 years old. This blew my mind, and immediately made me think of John Taylor-Gatto [1] who won numerous teaching awards trying, but ultimately failing, to convince American teachers to show children the same respect. My 30 year old masters students are not even allowed to run their own WiFi network never mind an actual RA…
> This scared the living shit out of governors and politicians who realised such a radical agenda might create young adults able to think and politically organise.
Can you provide any examples of this? I'm skeptical of this claim given that Gatto was a prominent Libertarian, which don't really believe in political organization. The Libertarian movement is inherently individualistic. Not to mention his work with a Christian documentary about children failing to learn about family and God in public school[0]. Not to cast stones here, but organized religion isn't big on teaching critical thinking either.
I can't find any quotes or responses from a governor or politician that supports your characterization of his work.
Re: Children's Railways of the Former USSR
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Man, if you think schools under capitalism churn out "obedient wage slaves who lack critical thinking abilities", you'd be completely lost for words at what happens when lack of critical thinking is overtly baked into the system, like in the commie states. I only caught the very tail end of the abysmal, soul crushing Soviet primary school education, and by the late 80s most adults were openly contemptuous of the tota…
> this system was based on institutionalized, merciless bullying No bullying exist in the US and EU schools, sure.
I think the previous poster is saying that the state was doing the bullying, which is characteristically different.
Re: Children's Railways of the Former USSR
#28I really would have loved doing this as a child. I'm left wondering though if actually working on a railroad would have negatively affected my love of trains I still have now as an adult. Any readers lucky enough to have worked on these railways?
Re: Children's Railways of the Former USSR
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm way too much of a simpleton to comprehend your philosophical musings of cosmic proportions, but this I know: students should not be in charge of the WiFi or anything else network related at an academic institution. This is a job for professional, dedicated IT staff.
I'm not following. Are you in favour of letting children operate trains or against it?
The GP was saying that comparing the children's railway to IT limitations preventing graduate students from running their own WiFi networks is absolutely ridiculous. University IT has lots of good reasons for centralizing the administration and allocation of WiFi networks that have nothing to do with "children" (30 year olds) not being "respected"
Re: Children's Railways of the Former USSR
#30> Then, why is it "Children's?", you might ask. Because it is operated by the schoolchildren, 9-15 years old. This blew my mind, and immediately made me think of John Taylor-Gatto [1] who won numerous teaching awards trying, but ultimately failing, to convince American teachers to show children the same respect. My 30 year old masters students are not even allowed to run their own WiFi network never mind an actual RA…
> This scared the living shit out of governors and politicians who realised such a radical agenda might create young adults able to think and politically organise. Can you provide any examples of this? I'm skeptical of this claim given that Gatto was a prominent Libertarian, which don't really believe in political organization. The Libertarian movement is inherently individualistic. Not to mention his work with a Chr…
> Not to cast stones here, but organized religion isn't big on teaching critical thinking either.
Some kinds of critical thinking are totally encouraged in eg some forms of Judaism and Christian Protestantism. (I don't know enough about other religions to comment.)