Schoolishness: the characteristic of being made for, by, and about school

1. not real, not from “the real world,” but for the self-contained world of closed-off institutions, with their own logic, grammar, rules
2. a form of being that emphasizes packaged “learning,” teaching, orderly progressions, uniformity, evaluation by others, arbitrary forms, predetermined time, artificial boundaries, postponing rewards and use. The reading is finite, the writing has specific rules, and the tests have tricks to sort out those who have mastered the technicques of figuring them out. There are correct answers, and someone knows them. The success is pre-established, the norms are bell-curve-like, and the standards are universal.
3. rhymes with foolishness

Blum, Susan D.. Schoolishness: Alienated Education and the Quest for Authentic, Joyful Learning (pp. 1-2). Cornell University Press.

Schoolishness is basically the Thorndike model.

Dr. Susan Blum, Schoolishness w/ Dr. Susan Blum | Human Restoration Project | Podcast

Further Reading

• Neoliberalism
  • Respectability Politics
  • W.E.I.R.D.
  • Meritocracy Myth
  • Lowering the Bar
  • Performative Neurodiversity (Neurodiversity Lite)
  • Policing
  • Predatory Inclusion
  • Burnout
  • STEM
  • Ableism
  • Eugenics
  • Harm Reduction Theater
  • Administrative Burden
  • Empire of Normality
• Conservatism
  • Resentment
  • Southern Strategy
  • Lost Cause
  • Segregationist Discourse
  • Meritocracy Myth
  • Moral Panic
  • Lowering the Bar
  • Minority Stress
  • Racial Weathering
  • Policing
  • Toxic Masculinity
  • Bodily Autonomy
  • Biological Essentialism
  • Stigma
  • Shame
  • Ableism
  • Eugenics
  • Administrative Burden
  • R-Word
  • Empire of Normality
  • Autism Grievance Parent
• Power
• Privilege
• Precarity
  • Extractive Abandonment
  • Artificial Scarcity
  • Collective Risk Shift
  • Burnout
  • ”Better get used to it.”
• Oligarchy
• Sadopopulism
• Rot Economy
  • It’s not DEI’s Fault; It’s the Rot Economy
  • Enshittification
  • Metric Fixation
• Fantasy Economy
  • STEM
  • Metric Fixation
• Metric Fixation
  • Efficiency
  • McNamara Fallacy
  • Enshittification
• Objectivity
  • When you measure include the measurer.
  • Scientism
  • Epistemic Injustice
  • Scientific Essentialism
  • Fundamental Attribution Error
  • Conquering Gaze From Nowhere
  • Scientism and Epistemic Injustice: On the Problems with “Science of Reading”
• Tech Ethics
  • Techno-solutionism
  • Techno-Legal Solutionism
  • Technoableism
  • Algorithm
  • Roaming Autodidact
  • Enshittification
  • Disability Dongle
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Luddite Sensibilities
  • Hear me out a bit before the future comes around.
• Ableism
  • Neuronormativity
  • Empire of Normality
  • Pathology Paradigm
  • Behaviorism
  • Eugenics
  • Deficit Ideology
  • Sameness-Based Fairness
  • ”Better get used to it.”
  • Inspiration Exploitation
  • School-Induced Anxiety
  • Toxic Positivity
  • Resilience
  • Burnout
  • The Road to Neuronormative Domination.
  • Education Technology and the New Behaviorism
  • We’ve Turned Classrooms Into a Hell for Neurodivergence
  • 14 Obstacles to Neurodiversity Affirming Practice
  • Double Empathy Problem
  • Double Empathy Extreme Problem
  • Triple Empathy Problem
  • Disability Double-bind
  • Performative Neurodiversity (Neurodiversity Lite)
  • Pathology Lite
  • Empire of Normality
• Harm Reduction Theater
  • Bikeshedding
  • Wellness
  • Mindset Marketing
  • Resilience
  • Performative Neurodiversity (Neurodiversity Lite)
  • Pathology Lite