Educational Industrial Complex

It's enough to give people a complex

This is a continuation of the Foolsletter from Thursday.

Expectations kill experience

Our expectations for ourselves, others and the outcome of our efforts get in the way of dealing with what is. Now that children don’t come with purpose or utility, they come with expectations. In a lot of cases parents want to make sure they raise their children to a point where they have a level of independence. That seems to be the baseline for parenting: Raise them well enough to be able to pay for themselves.

Or in the case of the meritocrat, raise them well and help them compete and succeed such that they have a better life than you - or at least don’t fall down a rung on the social and economic ladder.

This makes children measure of a parents ability to raise a child. Frequently success in parenting becomes an overall statement of value. Kids turned out well? Good job. Good parent. They are struggling? Bad job. Bad parent. Children in this case are in process. Their purpose? To become a healthy ad…