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.
