I’m sad to say that my educational path (which I always assumed was of high quality) never led me to Swift’s treatise, but after a bit of Googling, I agree with those who say that Jules’ piece here has to be satire (and well-done satire at that). But still, some of this merits discussion:
I’m simply overcome by the idea of a wonderful Spartan-like society where our children — regardless of their career goals, lives, and abilities — are ripped out of our hands at 18 to be forced by the government to do work or fight.
That’s where I have issues with the proposal as well. As a music professor at a two-year college, that hits me in the backyard with both barrels. First, it would force talented musicians (and others in the arts) to abandon their instrument or voice (which they may have been studying since childhood) for two crucial years in their development, and it would also deplete the majority of the traditional students at our schools; how would we fill the classrooms during the first two years of such a project?
And those who say that it’s not the government’s job to turn people into productive citizens pretty much nailed it, IMHO.
