I’ll come up with a catchy title later
posted in Pop Culture, Reader Input, School |Any ideas?
Wow! My homeschooling post has generated a lot of chatter, new viewers, and an absolutely lovely take-off a la Mark Antony’s famous speech in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, written by Dana, which is an absolute must-read and much classier (and classical) than my rantlet.
Some very valid objections to homeschooling were voiced, as were some equally valid supportive points. I’m trying to pull the various commentary together into a coherent whole that I can respond to, but it may take a while to work my way through this.
First, we have the objections to homeschooling and a few good points about public schooling:
- Kate suggested that out-of-the-home-school gives one survival instincts that are priceless in the corporate world…which can be true, but to me can be seen as a sad commentary on both schooling and corporations. I know far too many nerds who only "survived" middle and high school, blossoming only once they were out of the strictly age-regimented, slightly Lord-Of-The-Flies world that the school system provided them.
- Lisa had a neighbor with 10 children who "homeschooled". I put the word in quotes because apparently this family’s idea of homeschooling was to just let the children fend for themselves. Unfortunately, yes, this can happen and does happen.
- Johnny points out that his eldest niece lost out on science and math teaching because of the prejudices of the science/math teacher in his sister’s homeschooling co-op. This makes me sad and mad and frustrated–because any niece of Johnny’s is likely to have been more than capable of understanding and liking the scientific viewpoint.
- Dosia was homeschooled until she took control of her own life and enrolled herself in the local public school system in her sophomore year. I salute: that took immense guts. I don’t think I could have gone against my own parents in so forceful a way at that age; I was a beige adolescent who liked to fade into the background as much as possible, and didn’t discover a real backbone or real courage until I had been living on my own for quite a while. Dosia’s take is that her parents had insecurities and biases of their own that they impressed upon their children, and not having any other outlet, the children absorbed that set and have been struggling ever since to restructure their lives.
Then we look at some viewpoints from homeschooling proponents:
- Adso of Melk rightly points out that the dynamics of teaching 30 kids versus teaching three are vastly different, something totally glossed over by the author of the article.
- Dawn, a teacher who homeschooled three of her children, mentions in passing NCLB. I despise NCLB with a passion, because I believe the way it is implemented almost forces school districts to "teach to the test". In the Best of All Possible Worlds, school systems would sneer at the very idea of "teaching to the test" and proclaim, loudly and proudly, that providing children with good educations will allow them to pass the tests with flying colors any time. Unfortunately, when federal funds are tied to test scores, pride and self-confidence take a flying leap out the nearest school administrator’s window.
- Erika says that her neighbor, a teacher considering homeschooling her kids, is also concerned about the way that NCLB "ties the hands" of teachers.
- Crimson Wife notes that the original article’s author has degrees in Early Childhood Education and Elementary Education. I admit my jaw dropped when I read that. For some reason (perhaps the poor writing, lousy structure, and the fifty kazillion spelling and grammar errors) I had just assumed that the author was a high school student, writing in response to an assignment. I confess: I didn’t even look to see. That’ll teach me.
The problem, of course, is that the process and end result of homeschooling is highly influenced by the abilities, motivations, and determination of the parents doing the schooling. On the one hand, public schooling does try to adhere to certain standards across the board, though how well the application of those standards works is spotty…on the other hand, over-standardization of homeschooling in an attempt to avoid egregious problems would end up making it a Mini-Me of the public school system. On the one hand, you have cases like those mentioned by Johnny, Lisa, and Dosia, where homeschooling has clearly failed, either outright or in part, to produce well-balanced and well-educated end results (adults)…on the other hand, you have cases like those cited by Dawn and me, where the parents were determined to provide the best education they could for their children, while ensuring that the socializing aspects of childhood and adolescence were equally attended to.
I haven’t investigated longitudinal results. If anyone can point me to studies done by universities or educational associations or well-respected thinktanks, I’d be interested to see them. The problem I have is that many opponents of homeschooling tend to see it as a religion-driven method of indoctrinating children into specific religious worldviews, and throw the baby out with the bathwater, as it were, by waving their hands at the extremes. The same happens on the other side, of course. Me–I’m a numbers person. I like studies. I like hard numbers. So sue me. If someone is going to argue that homeschooling is either Bad or Good, I want to see solid evidence to back up that argument. I’ve got anecdotes galore on both sides, but the plural of anecdote is not data. Give me data.
OmegaGranny has, at times, hinted to me that I might consider it, motivated, I think, by worries about the mediocrity of the public school system. I’ve thought of it. But I personally don’t think I’d homeschool; my dotter is strong-willed and I am short-tempered, and that combination can be deadly.
On a side note: Folks noted that I used the F-word. Ahem. Yes, I did. What can I say? Yo! Dudes! I grew up on the near-nort’ side of Chicago, near Cabrini Green! I worked in journalism! My peeps, they use those words! I could use "messed up their children", but that’s a dreadfully mild way to describe what some parents do to their kids. There are times when a good F-bomb is about the only way I can express my indignation succinctly and clearly.
