Prussian model of schooling
Prussian school model or Prussian education system is a model of schooling that dates back to Martin Luther and Frederick the Great of Prussia (see: Education: Free and Compulsory). The system became very popular worldwide and survives to this day in various forms. In this book, the term is used in pejorative.
The central design flaw of the Prussian system is the coherence-interference problem, which stems from the fact that the same piece of knowledge can have a different effect on different students. One child may add to the body of coherent knowledge. Another child will suffer from knowledge interference. For this reason, Prussian model is a notorious violator of the Fundamental law of learning, which says that learning needs to be self-directed and pleasurable. See: Inherent problems of classroom schooling.
Today, the education system requires reform, and when the reform is not forthcoming, the Prussian model is associated with discipline, obedience, subservience, conformity, grading, rigid curriculum, mindless memorization, suppression of creativity, suppression of intelligence, and other negative aspects of modern schooling. For those reasons, the term is often used interchangeably with the factory model of schooling.
The opposite of the Prussian system are democratic schools, unschooling, free learning, Finnish model, Montessori schools, and more.
This glossary entry is used to explain "I would never send my kids to school" (2017-2024) by Piotr Wozniak
Figure: Exponential acceleration in free learning: The illusive superiority of direct instruction underlies the Prussian model of schooling. The immediately observable advantage in achieving set goals is wrongly translated to a strategy for achieving long-term goals, such as well-rounded education. Explosive accelerations are a norm in free learning, unschooling or in democratic schools. The main reason why this explosive educational property is marginalized is the lack of human control over the accomplished goals. The problem is most pronounced in societies with poor emphasis on freedom, and high emphasis on discipline, homogeneity, social order, and the like
For more see: