Why School?

What is the purpose and goal of American education, especially public education? This question may seem silly, but I really want to know.

Why do we do what we do?
What philosophy of education lies behind and underneath our individual schools?
What benefits does our system produce, especially when compared with other educational systems?
How seriously do we take the responsibility of shaping young, impressionable minds?

I suppose my questions make it clear that I am a little suspicious of American public education. I will admit that I have my doubts, but I would actually be happy to be proved wrong.

To that end, comments, suggestions, and ideas are welcomed [but I am looking for civil discourse, and not just ad hominem attacks or defenses of the system]. Also, if you know of any good resources for further research, I will be appreciative.

Hazards of the Road

A few days ago as I drove home for my lunch break I noticed that there were a few places where wires or small cables of some sort had been taped to the road. The wires ran from the street all the way to a small box located in the median.

Why were there two sets of wires and small boxes on my commute? Dozens of cars would run over them in the course of a day. What if I were the 299th car to run over the wires and the boxes were rigged to explode at the 299th car?!

Someone told me that the wires and boxes are supposed to count the number of cars that drive down the road for upkeep purposes. But how easy would it be for someone to rig the little boxes?

Adventures in Baking

Baking powder and baking soda are not the same thing. Neither can they always be substituted for each other.

I discovered these important cooking facts this morning when I tried to make pancakes for breakfast. I zipped through the recipe, adding ingredients to my glass bowl and stirring them together. 2 cups of milk, 2 eggs, 2 cups of flour, baking something-or-other, salt, vanilla extract, etc.

The batter seemed a little more soupy than usual, so I added a little flour to compensate, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. That is, until I took a few bites of my pancakes.

At first everything seemed normal. The pancakes tasted pancake-y, but I noticed a strange almost metallic aftertaste. I tried to ignore it and kept shoveling down bites of syrupy goodness, but eventually it became impossible to ignore: my pancakes tasted slightly like tinfoil. I sipped my coffee to wash down the flavor, and tried to figure out what happened to make the pancakes such a disaster, and finally realized something important:

I had added 2 tablespoons of baking soda to the recipe, instead of baking powder.

Mmmmm. No wonder my breakfast had that slight Arm & Hammer Toothpaste flavor. Clearly, baking powder and baking soda should not be substituted for one another. As I sadly threw out the rest of my batter, unwilling to subject anyone else to this particular batch of pancakes, I thought that perhaps it is best to begin cooking after having a few sips of morning coffee, not before. And perhaps double checking the recipe before blithely throwing in ingredients would help too. Or at least thinking about the crucial differences between powder and soda.