For the first time in my 23 years, I fully grasped WHY my parents…well, my mother decided to homeschool my brother and I.
Yes, you heard that right. I am a proud graduate of home-schooling. And I can carry on a conversation, I don’t wear jumpers or dresses, and I know more about movies than about dress making.
But that isn’t the point of this post. The point is that I saw the “real life” reason why my mom wanted to homeschool me.
True academic freedom.
Today in my class we watched a video of a 1980 (five years before I was born) Panel discussion on selection vs. censorship when choosing books for public schools.
Two sides were shown. One was comprised of mostly teachers, authors, and administrators who believe that parents had little voice in what should be assigned and/or allowed in the school’s library.
The other side was made of one mother, some teachers, and a student (the child of the mother present) who thought that the since “children belonged to the parents” then parents had the final voice in any decision involving assignments and books allowed in the library.
One person asked “do parents have the right to question what books their children are assigned?” The mother argued that the public schools weren’t there to teach values or morals or anything. Instead, public schools are established to teach the basics and then the parents are supposed to address the other stuff.
Great point, Ms. Mom. But you fail. You fail big time. It hit me while I heard her complaining about the public schools. I’m sorry, Ms. Mom, but once you put your child in a public school setting you have given up 8-9 hours of your child to another institution. You have no control, little voice, and absolutely no say in what is assigned. Sure you can try to fight certain things but what’s the point?
Instead of complaining about the reality, why don’t you take that responsibilty back. Because that is what a lot of parents do without even knowing it. They give up control when they enroll their children in public school.
That’s what is so cool about homeschooling. It gives that freedom back to parents. People do homeschooling for many reasons. Moral and religious top the list but after interviewing my mother, I have realized that those were not the reasons. Oh, yeah, they were some aspects but when it comes down to it my mother did not want to give academic and parental freedom to some one else for a majority of my life.
If a parent is so concerned about the material taught to their children, to the point where they are petitioning the school or fighting with the board, then they need to reevaluate their ideas on their role in their children’s education.
You can’t tell someone else to have your children for 8 hours a day and then demand that they teach them the way you want them to. That’s just stupid. If you feel that strongly, then you need to alter their educational setting.
All my life people have said that my parents homeschooled me because they were scared of public schools or they wanted to put me in a “bubble.” That is the farthest from the truth. I experienced things that other students still haven’t experienced. All my parents did was take back their control.
Hmm. Interesting point. However, I can think of many circumstances in which a parent would be perfectly validated in petitioning the school board about the books their children are reading. Yes, it is awesome that some parents (yours and mine) are fortunate enough to have the time, money, and skills to homeschool their children and take charge of their education. Is it a great option for some people? Of course. Is homeschooling a solution for everybody? Not at all. There are tons of parents in this country that don’t have the option to teach their own kids, and I think it’s actually great to see them standing up to the school system. To me, this means that they ARE taking a stand and paying attention to what their children are doing and reading in school. Now obviously the school board has the right to deny their requests if they are unreasonable, but if a parent has a legitimate concern that a child is assigned to read material that has inappropriate content or is teaching false or misleading information, I would only hope that they have the courage and the caring to argue for what they believe is right.
Having been a student in public school (elementary, middle, and high school) and also having been homeschooled for five years, I can say that some of the most rewarding parts of my public school experience were those where parents stepped in to help. Yes, the teachers taught us the required material every day, but the parents planned the parties, chaperoned the field trips, joined the PTA to get involved in school fundraising and event planning, volunteered in the library, and put their talents to work for nothing in return. In my case, when I was in third grade, I was in a higher math level than the rest of my class because I had been homeschooled the year before, but there wasn’t a teacher available to teach this. So they let my mom come in once a week and do extra math activities with me and a few other kids in my class. In high school when I was really involved in theatre, we wouldn’t have had sets built, costumes sewn, or tickets sold without the tireless efforts of all our parents.
Are you suggesting that just because they are not paying tuition, parents should not question the quality of their kids’ education? So much of the problem with public schools today is that parents AREN’T investing in their kids’ education. Just because they “send them off for 8 hours every day” doesn’t mean they have no involvement. Seeing things like a parent or even a student speaking at a school board meeting about an injustice they have seen is something that gives me great hope for the future of our educational system. And while school boards can be very difficult, it’s not impossible to accomplish anything. I’ve seen firsthand a situation that had its outcome changed because several students and parents got up and protested at a board meeting. (In fact, I was one of those students.)
I’m probably more optimistic than a lot of people because I lived in an excellent school district and was privileged to attend one of the top high schools in the nation. It’s true that parents are giving up some control when they enroll a child in public school, but homeschooling is not a viable option for a large part of the population. Some parents have to have full time jobs to support their family. Some parents don’t have the education level to adequately teach their kids. Some parents don’t have the money to purchase the curriculum and supplies they would need for such an endeavor. Some people don’t live in areas where there are large support groups of other homeschooling families. And some students, let’s face it, do not learn best in that environment. It is highly possible for parents to help control their children’s education without having to teach them on their own. The more involved the parents are in public education, the higher the quality of education will be for everyone concerned.
Sorry. This was really long.
I love you JB!
And that is why I love you, Allison. You really think about things.
If I had had more time I was going to go in that very thing that you brought up. The fact that some people don’t have the means or the desire to homeschool. I completely understand this and think that if they have valid concerns then they should be addressed by the school. Parents should definitely get involved and if they aren’t able or don’t want to homeschool then they should definitely be familiar with their teachers.
What I have a problem with is that the mother expected the school to not teach her children any values or morals, but I don’t know how she hadn’t realized by then that everything in life is teaching values and/or morals to individuals.
She was arguing in the general, not a specific problem. I think that individual problems should definitely be addressed but if a parent has a problem with the general idea of schools being the primary influencer of their child and/or assign theoretical assignments that go against their family’s value system, then the parent needs to reevaluate their choice of education.
I guess, what I meant to do was argue that parents who have a problem with the general concept of public education and their lack of total control in their child’s education should reconsider their opitions.
I really hope that makes sense and clears up what I meant to say.
Just to reiterate (sp?), I completely agree that if there is an incident or assignment that a parent does not approve of they should speak with the teacher. These parents work with the system. I’m arguing against parents who disagree with the theory of the system.
I love you to AL