"Our schools need to reinforce self-reliance, self-guidance, access to the outdoors, access to imagination, and a respect for authority based on reason and wisdom, not merely out of fear and reflexive obedience. But in order to do so, such values must be conditioned over time."

"Behaviorists and educators already employ a well-established and understood means to shape habitual patterns, we’ve simply handed these means to those who intend our children and culture to be dominated by the impulse to work, defer to authority, calculate, obey orders, and be good consumers."

"Worldwide, young people are being conditioned to internalize corporate and state values, not the values of learning about the land or ecology, healthy diets, the value of our animal instincts and senses, how to be connected to nature or how to think for ourselves responsibly."

“The smaller we come to feel ourselves compared to the mountain, the nearer we come to participating in its greatness.” ~ Arne Næss

The text in the heading is an edited (for length) exerpt from a longer post authored by Peter Moriarty

SE Hinton's, "The Outsiders" was required reading in my 7th grade English class! 😵‍💫
Of course, that was decades ago!

Lois Lowry's, "The Giver" is a most thought-provoking, and wonderful read. A movie followed this one too, if I'm not mistaken.