My sister-in-law has recently decided to her homeschool her children. Being the free market man I am (more on a gut level than an intellectual level, to be sure), I'm generally all for a mother taking hold of her children's education. There's something to be said for wanting to devote your personal lifetime not only to your child's moral education but to their cognitive education as well.
But...
Let's face it: those who embrace home-schooling often do it out of semi-ideological reasons. They don't trust those corrupted school districts. They view the home as a kind of "Fortress Zion" (which it should be), but transfer that model to how they see *everything* else around them. Their home is under siege, and a key weapon in defending it is a strange faux history that pays almost no attention to the complexities of the documentation. Books on the Constitution can't be trusted unless written by David McCullough. Thomas Jefferson's extensive involvement in slavery is bypassed: "he was merely a man of his time" while his words in the Declaration are fawned over as transcending time itself. Add to this that the curricula used, while claiming to be LDS-friendly, is more Calvinist through its dogged insistence in the absolute predestination of all things rah-rah-rah American (at least for white landholders). I do not believe my sister-in-law fits into this category. I pray that she does not.
Academics tend to simply curl their lips in sneering at these types. But I firmly believe that there is a way to build bridges between the homeschoolers and the academic historians. Any tips?
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Free Market/Home Schooling vs. State-run Education
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I understand your point, but I wasn't taught about Thomas Jefferson's or George Washington's slaves in elementary school. I remember the teacher mentioning that Christopher Columbus killed a lot of Native Americans, but that was it. In my opinion, parents can't do much worse than the schools themselves. I do think that if I were to homeschool my kids it would only be for elementary school...maybe junior high, but not high school.
I tend to agree. My public school education was considered to be pretty good by most standards (in the U.S. at least), but my knowledge of U.S. history, etc. is still probably not what it should or could be. I've considered home schooling and I like the idea sometimes. I think it will depend on where I live and a lot of other factors as well. I have a friend who is a high school history teacher right now, and she can't even get her juniors to figure out that the movie "The Patriot" was about the American Revolution, nor that the main character was indeed a "Patriot". She's had to really rethink her curriculum and grading standards so she doesn't fail them all and lose her job. It isn't so much the teachers or what is taught that I worry about. In some areas kids just don't want to learn, which ruins it for those who do. I think it would be difficult and very time involved to find the right balance in homeschooling, but if done correctly I think it could be even more beneficial than a public school education. You could do some sweet field trips :)
I would be wary about the concept of "a strange faux history," as what is currently taught in the average public school is far stranger.
Due to being much younger, I can give you a better pulse on the education system right now and why it is that children are hard to engage. My generation of students forward has had more corrupt practices to sort through than any preceeding it. Surrounding schools were not only agenda driven, but actively dumbing-down kids by teaching methods of cheating on standardized math tests, firing teachers who taught phonics, etc. The textbook industry has a stranglehold on education. Elementary teachers are now forbidden to introduce extra reading material, such as classics, outside mandated books to round out curriculum. The ed. grids are to be solidly adhered to, which means that teachers cannot be as creative as they wish to engage minds. The mandatory textbooks are not only badly written in structure but are terribly inaccurate. They are laughingly obvious to anyone who has either lived through depicted events or had even a modicum of reading or other educational experience. Timing of informational exposure is also being abused now, which does in fact do abusive damage to the young by setting up false/uncertain expectation of the world. An example of this being the new push of Holocaust instruction in Kindergarten. It doesn't take someone trained in clinical psych to know what that will do to a child, let alone a classroom. The result is children now are flooded with so many false beliefs and convoluted inaccuracies that their brains are doing the "proper" thing in dealing with illogical teachings: they have tuned out. A tuned out brain is one that is in survival mode and thereby cannot afford to subject itself to a "bombardment" of new info. The problem now is that the first wave of these misinformed and mentally-closed children, are now of age to be parents and new teachers. The spiral will continue of blind making others more blind.
On the other side of this reality you have home schooling. Options can better open up for extensive study, reading, talent-raising experience, and actual visitation of historic and scientific places of import... ONLY If a parent is a TRUE parent, and actually lovingly strives to make their child not only competent but aware and connection making. Then there is no need for worry. Learning truth is joy and freedom. The trick is having parents who engage and are engaged with their children, not just act as semi-tolerant task masters. There is much out there that can be used for discovery. Home schooling parents are often at a loss to know what is actually available to be used or how to incorporate it in appropriately. Fourth grade, I was home schooled by my mother, and I still consider it the most fulfilling and mentally enhancing period of my academic career, including college. At this point I should be learning new things. However, what is taught to me now barely scratches the surface of what wealth of information I was given way back then. That kind of gift is not an exception to the rule. It is very easy and terribly fun to provide. The marriage of historian and young student should be one. So to answer you after such a long monologue is: you gather material and teach. People nowadays typically don't know basic research practices, so that is what must be stressed first. Let them know it is okay to go beyond Wikipedia and the book someone at church recommended. Stress the value of source material and tangible newspapers. Then show the multitude of ways you can play with your child though education while being absolutely precise. Also press the importance of seeing, that vacations can be happy study trips that open a child's imagination and comprehensive ability. Etc. Etc. Just knowing there are tools to work with makes new intellectual results appear.
Margaret:
That's all well and good, provided the home schooler is not just loving but also *competent." If the parent inundates them with classical liberalism--rah-rah-rah Americana--without any kind of nuance or humility, then that parent is not preparing them to live a tolerant life.
Your mother clearly was sufficiently well-trained to do that. But not all are. I approve of home schooling if the parents *really* have the broad perspective (and not merely the disestablishment anger) available to make it as rich of an experience as your mother provided for you.
Ha, yes, posting about homeschooling will definitely bring out some discussion! My two cents is that it's perhaps not as often an ideological statement as you suppose or a rejection of the evil public school empire. Often it's just about better education. Most educational research is not conclusive, but one of the things we DO know has the most impact on young children learning is one-on-one attention. So in many situations, homeschooling can be a great boon to students' learning. I suspect that's a lot of the reason homeschoolers often score above public school kids---mostly because of the one-on-one attention.
We only homeschooled our daughters for a couple of years, and it wasn't because we thought the public schools were evil. Our first was just too smart for her class, and was not being taught at her level. We later moved school districts into a district where she could be better challenged, so she went back to school. So sometimes parents are just looking to make the best educational decision they can for their kids.
Good discussion!
Post a Comment