I was given an assignment in photo class called “windows and mirrors”. The challenge was to take some pictures that either conveyed the way I view the world around me or that were self-reflective. Unable to capture what I wanted in one single picture, I wound up singling out 5 photographs that, when viewed one after the other like a slide-show, give my short photographic commentary on ‘school’. I still can’t decide if they qualify as ‘windows’ or ‘mirrors’. Maybe they’re both.
When I say ‘school’ I mean it in a general sense, including all institutionalized education for children. No disrespect, however, is intended toward anyone that may view these and have children in government schools. These photos are merely a small reflection of how I view public schools personally and are not intended to judge or condemn anyone.
“By preempting fifty percent of the total time of the young, by locking young people up with other young people exactly their own age, by ringing bells to start and stop work, by asking people to think about the same thing at the same time in the same way, by grading people the way we grade vegetables-and in a dozen other vile and stupid ways-network schools steal the vitality of communities and replace it with an ugly mechanism.” –John Taylor Ghatto
No need to apologize – many people, even outside of the church, have grown disillusioned with government-run education. Like government-run anything, quality degenerates over time. Nice, clean buildings does not equal good education – especially when run by governments.
Love these pictures! It’s interesting how our perspective of school changes over time.
AMEN, sister! LOVE the way you captured your message. LOVE those wings. How very appropriate to present home schooling with wings. I couldn’t agree more.
I am sitting here in the hospital bored with TV and happy to be inspired by your site. Oh, so much better than TV!
Something about the progression reminded me of the movie “Expelled.” Nice series!
I loved the way you made a story out of the pictures!