Fitting the Mold: Shaped by School

Fitting the Mold

If you graduated high school, you suffered 13 years of domestication. You, the high school graduate, were beaten, ridden into the ground, and broken to fit a mold. That mold is best exemplified by the white, middle-class, entrepreneurial Christian male.

If you think about the perfect student the first thing you probably think about is a nerdy boy with glasses, a bowl haircut, blond hair, red suspenders, high waters, maybe some freckles. This student sits at the front of the class, does exactly what the teacher wants, never questions the teacher, absolutely never breaks any rules, knows a bunch of facts, loves to read, and do math. This perfect student probably doesn’t have very many friends, if he does it’s only because he is part of the chess club, and more likely than not, he doesn’t play any sports.

This is definitely a stereotype, but think about what it tells us:

He is a boy………………………………….In our society men rule.
With glasses………………………………...I’m guessing glasses were a sign of privilege back in the “good old days.”
A bowl haircut… …………………………..Nice and neat, slicked down.
Blond hair…………………………………..Anglo
Red suspenders…………………………….Very orderly and a throw back to olden days perhaps?
High waters……………………………….probably also old school, when people wore boots.
Maybe some freckles…………………….Viking? Maybe Scandinavian or Germanic.

Sits at the front of the class………………He loves the teacher and the school and both of them are funded by the government.
Does exactly what the teacher wants……He’s a pup or a sheep, whatever metaphor you wanna use. He’s docile, domesticated.
Never questions the teacher…………….He places all his faith in the government and he thinks that it is there to help anybody that reaches out to it, anybody that really tries.
Absolutely never breaks any rules………He has faith that the rules are just and that everybody is equal and we can all be achievers if we just try.

Knows a bunch of facts.............................Memorization. If you have a good memory you are golden. All you have to do is listen and you will learn. Don’t question, just listen and memorize.
Loves to read…………………………..Everything you need to know has already been written down by great men, no need to be creative or critical and think on your own.
Loves math……………………………JFK and others said that math and science were important for our economy, so schools started focusing on math instead of just old musty books by dead white guys.
Few friends……………………………He is an individual, he doesn’t need friends. In school you are not allowed to talk to others or work with them, it is just you and your work.
Chess club…………………………….It is a game of rules, order, memorization. Supposedly also of strategy and logic, its old school.
Doesn’t play sports……………………The mind and the body are two separate things in our society.

Now, aside from the perfect student, think about a stereotypical teacher. Probably a white, middle aged or old lady, puffy hair, glasses, old raggedy dress (polka dots?), standing at the front of the class next to a black board, maybe holding a piece of chalk or a stick as she is talking to the class.

I don’t want to get into what everything means, but think about where she is, why she is there, and what she is doing. If she is at the front of the class and she is speaking than the students MUST be learning. But are they really? No. They are simply hearing the teacher speak and either memorizing whatever she is saying or they are dismissing what she is saying as useless information.

The stereotypical classroom? All seats in rows facing the front of the class. This means that students should not work together they, should be separated, most likely competing against each other for the teachers attention and affection.

The stereotypical curriculum? Books, lots of books. In language arts you will get a lot of the “classics.” In other words, those books that white middle class Christians felt were the best books, the ones everyone should read. Since white Christian males chose the books you better believe the books will be written by Western/European writers about western things (individuality, competition, success, facing death) with a lot of references to Christianity.

So who is going to do best in school? The white middle class Christian male who is docile, has a good memory, loves facts and figures, and respects authority without questioning it. If you are not this person, then you are going to have to change something about yourself, the less you have to change, the less trouble you will have and the more successful you will be.