Earlier this week I watched an episode of Wife Swap, a TV show where producers pair two families with extreme opposing styles of parenting and the wives switch places for two weeks. For the first half of the trip each wife must follow the family routine but for the second half the families have to follow their new mom/wife’s rules. On the particular episode I watched, a family who unschooled their children and an extremely structured and busy family switched wives. The family who unschooled, a term meaning they homeschooled their children without using any textbooks or a curriculum, gave a bad name to nearly every homeschooling family in America. The children only studied the subjects they were interested in studying. For example, the boys were not interested in math or writing and so their mother did not teach them any math or writing skills. It was discovered that the forth grade boy wrote at about a first or second grade level. The entire family was a mess and it gave me a headache to watch the disaster unfold.
It was the opinions expressed by the parents of the unschooled boys that made me start to think, partly because they mirrored the same opinions I’ve heard my whole life. “Public schools are places for brain washing.” “Public schools are destroying religion.” “Public schools break down children and no real learning takes places.” As children we were told that public schools should really be called government schools.
There is a simple answer to the madness of this. Americans are greedy, selfish and undeserving of the education they are receiving.
How often in countries such as India and Uganda do you hear parents complaining about the type of education their children are receiving? In these types of countries parents and students are grateful for the chance to go to school because having an education means they have a better shot at an easier life. In America, drop out rates are high because Americans do not want an education. They aren’t starving, working in fields or walking miles to haul a single bucket of water. Instead, they are sitting on their bottoms in front of the TV, playing Wii and checking their Facebook on their iPhone.
Having forgotten what it would be like to be denied an education, people find time to complain about the one they or their children are receiving. However, public schools are not the only choice.
The United States government provides a public school system, maintained by the taxpayers, for all children to be able to go to school but does not force every child to attend. Private schools and homeschooling are two other options parents can choose from. These homeschooling parents do not simply reject the public school system and teach in a way they see fit; they spend as much time as possible criticizing the system while staying as far away from it as possible.
The reasons some parents chose homeschooling frustrates me. They believe schools are destroying religion. Wake up call, the United States was not founded under God. It was founded under religious freedom. Religious freedom does not mean schools can still pray together, require the Bible as a textbook or study creationism. It means that individual students can dress as modestly as they choose, read their Bible during study hall and pray before they eat lunch. If a public school teaches one religion, they have to teach every religion. It’s not possible. As a parent, it’s your job to talk about religion with your child at home and at your place of worship.
Secondly, learning takes place in school, not brain washing. Presently, teachers are focusing on teaching concepts, critical thinking and facts. It is every teacher’s goal that their students can be able to listen to an idea, process it and question it. Is this possible to achieve in the first grade? Not likely. It's a progression and takes several years for the brain to mature enough for children to be able to really, truly think for themselves and not just repeat what they've heard in different words.
Even in math, teachers try to show why and where theorems and formulas came from. Academically, it’s not about brainwashing. When evolution is taught or any subject that might be conflicting or uncomfortable, it’s an opportunity for parents and students to have discussions at home. For parents to say they don’t want evolution to be taught, it’s similar for me saying I only want to learn about capitalism and the free market and that I have deemed it immoral to study anything pertaining to socialism and dictators. That’s absurd!
I’m yet to see any evidence of a Hitler’s Youth/government propaganda presence in any of the schools I’ve been to. The clubs at the middle school I went to included student council, OSSOM (Operation Student Safety on the Move), yearbook, AWSEM (Advocates for Women in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics) and art club. None of those sound to threatening. In high school Key Club, a service club that paints little kids faces and plants flowers, and National Honors Society, another service club that students with higher GPAs joined to look good for college, were the most popular. There were also Thespians, choir council, archery, human rights group and a few others that didn’t cause any disturbances. The Gay-Straight Alliance was the most controversial club, having all of its posters torn down repeatedly. All in all, I never saw any brainwashing or government propaganda taking place.
Public schools also provide ways for parents to voice their opinions and become involved in their child's learning. Constructive complaining is extremely useful and I fully encourage it! No policy is so good that it cannot be questioned. How it is approached can be the difference of whether or not the teachers and administrators care. I've seen so many parents storming and yelling, handling the situation like a seventh grader. In response, these parents are also treated as if they were a seventh grader.
I do not believe homeschooling is wrong in any way shape or form, as long as the children receive teaching in all subjects and are progressing normally. In many ways homeschooling allows students to progress faster because the subjects they are naturally good at can be completed faster and the ones that they struggle with can be worked through. Some parents use grades, others do not. What’s important is the learning that is taking place.
It’s the attitudes of many of these parents that annoy me so much. No school is perfect and teachers are learning new ways to help students learn differently, but that does not make them evil places of government indoctrination.
