Does school prepare children for work?

his is a statement, I often hear. “School is just like work, and the children have to learn how to go to work, to be prepared for adult life.”

But Hell-NO. School is NOT like a workplace, and children’s lives in school are nowhere near the life of an adult at work.

Adults can quit their job, children are forced to go to school against their will. Forced by society, by laws, by parents, by teachers, via fear and shaming.

Peter Gray nails it again:

“I don’t know of any adults who would willingly accept a job where they are so tightly micromanaged as children are at school; a job where you can’t talk with your co-workers, can’t leave your seat without permission and are continuously monitored, tested, and compared with your co-workers in a manner that seems almost deliberately designed to shame. “
– Peter Gray , Psychology today – “The case against the case against homeschooling”.

And do not forget:

Adults see a point of going to work, and they have chosen this point themselves. They might not like it, but they have the freedom of the mind, to chose to work, and why – and chose the work they find the most meaningful (within reach).

Having your own reasons, your own aim in life is basic. Children do not get to have this unless they internalize the values and structures of society, telling them school is for the better.

What would happen if we set them free, and just asked them what they want to do, what is meaningful in their lives, what makes them motivated, energized, and happy?