"BGUTI" Better Get Used To It theory of education

I read with interest today an article written by Alfie Kohn entitled, "Getting Hit on the Head Lessons", which is a reference to a silly Monty Python skit. (I figured that anyone who can appreciate British humor must be able to produce articles that are of interest to me... hehehe). The article is posted on a homeschooling website, and the subject matter has to do with all those things we make our children do, because they will have to get used to it once they are adults. I have always struggled with this illogical premise. Here's what Alfie Kohn wrote:

This leads us to the most important, though rarely articulated, assumption on which BGUTI rests - that, psychologically speaking, the best way to prepare kids for the bad things they're going to encounter later is to do bad things to them now. I'm reminded of the Monty Python sketch that features Getting Hit on the Head lessons. When the student recoils and cries out, the instructor says, “No, no, no. Hold your head like this, then go, ‘Waaah!’ Try it again” - and gives him another smack. Presumably this is extremely useful training . . . for getting hit on the head again.

But people don't really get better at coping with unhappiness because they were deliberately made unhappy when they were young. In fact, it is experience with success and unconditional acceptance that helps one to deal constructively with later deprivation. Imposing competition or standardized tests or homework on children just because other people will do the same to them when they're older is about as sensible as saying that, because there are lots of carcinogens in the environment, we should feed kids as many cancer-causing agents as possible while they're small to get them ready.

You can read the entire article here.