How the Young Are Indoctrinated to Obey - Chomsky
California is also a battleground. The Los Angeles Times reports on another chapter in the campaign to destroy what had been the greatest public higher education system in the world: "California State University officials announced plans to freeze enrollment next spring at most campuses and to wait-list all applicants the following fall pending the outcome of a proposed tax initiative on the November ballot."
Similar defunding is under way nationwide. "In most states," The New York Times reports, "it is now tuition payments, not state appropriations, that cover most of the budget," so that "the era of affordable four-year public universities, heavily subsidized by the state, may be over."
Community colleges increasingly face similar prospects – and the shortfalls extend to grades K-12.
"There has been a shift from the belief that we as a nation benefit from higher education, to a belief that it's the people receiving the education who primarily benefit and so they should foot the bill," concludes Ronald G. Ehrenberg, a trustee of the State University system of New York and director of the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute.
http://www.alternet.org/education/154849/chomsky:_how_the_young_are_indoctrinated_to_obey/
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From day one I was "questioning". From day one, I was punished in some way. I stood in the hall, wrote sentences, did extra work, got paddled, sent to the Principal's office. Or they'd "get rid of me" by letting me be a Library aide, or go make mimeographs, or be the "Red Cross" rep - anything to get me OUT of their classroom for any length of time.
I met very few teachers who liked me at all. I interrupted their flow, their lectures, their lesson plans, their indoctrinations. I questioned and probed and disagreed and argued and debated in just about every single class I had. Very few teachers like that. They want you to sit still, be quiet, listen, and do what you're told. I was never very good at that. 
They do have to be respectful, so as long as they know not to call names or whatever, we're good.
This makes me think of a great student I had last fall in my long-term sub job. She was awesome, questioning, brilliant, interesting, funny, and her comments on the text always made at least a few in the class think. She'd been ostracized, and she knew it and didn't care. Awesome kid.
Anyway, one day all of us English teachers were grading the 9th and 10th graders' writing pre-assessments in the conference room, and another teacher saw my student going into the school from the tech center. She asked who had Torie this year, and everyone shrugged. I said I did and smiled, saying she was a great student. The whole table went silent as everyone turned to look at me. Another teacher said that Torie could be good but was a real problem, and I said that she was getting an A in my class and was doing really well. Everyone looked shocked and said that was impossible. I shrugged and kept grading, but I knew then that I was in the wrong school.
She wrote me the nicest thank-you note after I left, and then I found out later she was back to flunking because the regular teacher just couldn't appreciate her or protect her from the bullies in that class. 
