Stephen Dill

Providing growth solutions for colleges – currently on contract to Naropa U., Boulder CO. Co-founder of ASDE ( father, & husband.

[Stephen Dill @srdill]

@NoOneYouKnow @michaelfelger @bigjimmurray @FelgerAndMazz @PunditReview It's private, but that was the date of the show I saw. May have been the first time since my first show that I did not take a bio break during Drums and Space. Those graphics make it hard to leave the show.

[Hearty Human @heartyhuman]

Adultism isn't just common—it's the norm.
Schools, laws, media, family structures are all built on disrespecting kids. You don't see it because it's everywhere. We all grow up disrespected.

[Hearty Human @heartyhuman]

Forced schooling isn't education, it's indoctrination. When you're legally required to absorb state-approved 'knowledge', you're not learning - you're being programmed.

[Stephen Dill @srdill]

@LACMA Is your website down? The home page loads, but attempting to get tickets starts the move to a new page and then times out. Is anybody looking into that?

[Hearty Human @heartyhuman]

The nice 'respectful' teacher teaches kids that they should tolerate mistreatment and violations of their consent as long as the perpetrator is nice about it. This sets them up for a lifetime of self-doubt and difficulty advocating for themselves in the face of friendly coercion.

[Stephen Dill @srdill]

I love this! The fundamental difference between public education and unschooling is here in this question.

[Hearty Human @heartyhuman]

The idea that children need to be 'tamed' is rooted in a view of human nature as inherently flawed or sinful. But what if we saw wildness as a sacred gift, a connection to the creative power of the universe?

[Hearty Human @heartyhuman]

Forced schooling is a human rights violation that is widely considered to be justified, but the justification is not based on any wrongdoing, as it is in prisons and jails. It is based on inhumane, unscientific and ignorant stereotypes about kids, not unsimilar to racism.

[Hearty Human @heartyhuman]

Adults seem to think that kids are dependent children until they become independent adults, but the truth is we're all interdependent humans all the time.

[Hearty Human @heartyhuman]

To trust children, we must first learn to trust ourselves… and most of us were taught as children that we could not be trusted.
— John Holt.

[Stephen Dill @srdill]

@heartyhuman Have you read “Wounded By School” by Kirsten Olson? That and “Nurture Shock” talk about the pressure to be average.

[Stephen Dill @srdill]

@heartyhuman So true! Thank you for your commitment to steering away from coercive education.

[Stephen Dill @srdill]

@AlaskaAir my 2d trip on Alaska, 2d time you’ve forced me to check my $30 paid-for carry on when there are many poorly-loaded overhead bins with spaces. The inefficiency and denial of my experience offends me. This is my last trip on Alaska. #fail

[Hearty Human @heartyhuman]

School is an institution built on the axiom that learning is the result of teaching. And institutional wisdom continues to accept this axiom, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
-- Ivan Illich

[Hearty Human @heartyhuman]

The available evidence suggests quite strongly that school is bad for children’s mental health. Of course, it’s bad for their physical health, too; nature did not design children to be cooped up all day at a micromanaged, sedentary job.
-- Peter Gray

[Nick Taber @NickTaber]

Let's not lose sight of how much learning takes place in the school system. Kids learn that their interests don't count. They learn to not trust themselves. They learn to fear others. They learn to be egocentric.

[Hearty Human @heartyhuman]

Our whole world is caught in a cycle of abuse largely unexamined and unnamed. And at its root lies our dehumanization of children.
Stinney Distro

[Hearty Human @heartyhuman]

'Compulsory' means 'forced' and force is violence, and what people call 'education' is violence against kids. To respond to that as if this were something subjective by saying, "I'm sorry you feel that way", ignores this in your face and very objective truth.

[Hearty Human @heartyhuman]

The Fifth Amendment in the Bill of Rights declares, "No person shall be deprived of liberty without due process of law." Nowhere in the Constitution...is there any statement that a human child is not a person. Yet children are regularly deprived of liberty.
-- Peter Gray

[Hearty Human @heartyhuman]

Children are schooled to understand that despite how they feel about it, compulsory education is not abuse, and teachers are not abusers. And any child who disagrees with that will be punished.