Could Your Child's School Be Damaging Them?

As parents we like to think the safest place in the world for our children is at school. However, this may not be the case. In fact, the school may be damaging your children more than you know.

I am not a homeschooling parent (yet), but am beginning to see the many benefits of pulling kids away from school. The more I see what actually goes on at school and in the district as a whole, the more I want to get him as far away as possible. It's not just the "mommy must protect" gene kicking in either. Oh no, my intentions aren't to spoil him. I really do see a problem. The "experts" that are suppose to be protecting him are making things worse.

Here are a few things you as a parent need to look at closer to see if your school could be damaging your children.

1. Social Isolation
If your kid has been tagged a "bad kid", they could be isolating them. Granted the school has to think of the other kids, but when he sits in a class by himself all day (or with other disruptive children), they could be damaging his relationships at school. And people think homeschooling lacks in the social department!

2. Lack of Education
Does it seem like they are learning the same things over and over? Just this year my 1st grader and my preschooler both brought home papers from a unit about penguins they had both studied. Right there I began to question how much information they are relearning from year to year. Not even information that's useful as in the example above (really how many times do they need to learn about one particular animal?).

It's not completely the fault of the school, since they have no real way of knowing what they've learned and what they haven't learned. Especially when students move from school to school. But regardless, this could be damaging to a child's education.

3. Bullying
Probably the biggest problem in public schools, and what holds back a lot of bright kids. Schools don't always take this as seriously as they should. There are always those kids who are the "outcasts" and constantly pushed away by other kids. As a result they have low self esteem which creates bigger problems later in life.

Do you question this? You shouldn't, because I was one of them. I was the "fat kid" who still to this day can not speak in front of large crowds for fear of being laughed at or made fun of. I'm an adult and shouldn't think this way, but fear of public speaking is something I can't shake. I also have my bouts of "I'm worthless" which is something that can be traced back to bullying. Don't blame this one on my family - they are wonderful.

4. Limiting Imagination
What did you want to be when you grew up? A singer? An astronaut? An archaeologist? Bet those dreams were squashed pretty young, which a school is good at doing. Kids tend to come up with the wildest professions, but rarely is the school training them to be what they are dreaming of. In fact, all the school is really doing is training them for office jobs to become pencil pushers.

Not to say kids shouldn't be learning basic skills in life. They really should because dreams and goals can change (quite easily in fact, I remember wanting to be a dozen different things when I grew up). We want to lay down the foundation so they can be anything they want to be. However, dream jobs are often discouraged by saying "that's a nice idea, but you really need to learn this so you can grow up and get a real job". If everyone had a "real job", who would be running all those businesses? Who would we be sending up into space? How would we know about history if not for all those people digging up artifacts? Honestly, less "real jobs" is just what our world needs.

If your children have ever been told "that's silly" by a teacher or told "you need to go to school so you can get a real job", the school could be damaging your child's education. You might be surprised how far an imagination can take them in life.

Conclusion
These are just a few ways the public school may be destroying your child. While some thrive in the public school, others are fighting a battle they'll never win. Take a close look at some of the above and see if maybe they'd be better off at home.