Homeschooling Our Children and the Dumbing Down of Public Schools
Homeschooling is No Easy Step from the Societal Perspective
Even so, keeping your child at home when you're not living in an isolated spot is a difficult thing to do. Will you live up to the task? Will your child grow up to resent you for keeping him out of Public School? Will home schooling foster your child's self-learning and indipendece, or create negative results?
The most pressing question is probably the following: Are we home schooling our children for their benefit or ours, the parents?
I have made grandiose plans to home school my future children. Having been educated in Italy, I want my children to share in the magic of the birth of music, the masters of the Renaissance, the wonders of intense world history and geography, the ability to recognize an Impressionist painting or cite Greek Mythology at age 12. My children will write brilliant papers on the psychology of Bertolucci's films, and my husband will educate them in Group Theory, Quantum Physics and the Stock Market.
My children will be cultured Einsteins, impressing all and looking down at those silly Public School brats who think dissecting a frog will prepare them for Harvard. They will speak at least four languages and always be grammatically correct.
Of course, these are selfish plans. Once the child comes along, his or her personality will probably define our choices and help us see what he or her needs in life.
For some, keeping the child away from curse words and later sex and drugs is one of the main factors in the parent or caretaker's decision to homeschool . I do not bear such illusions, however, because I know that children will experiment with everything no matter what.
I am approaching homeschooling from the perspective of learning, which in my opinion is inadequate in American Public Schools. I have found that America has swapped advanced methods for actual substance.
Many European countries still have a primitive and constricting approach to schooling, but the students get an all-encompassing education, from the arts to the classics and everything in between.
What we need is a combination of advanced teaching methods and adequate schooling, something that many private schools probably offer at an exorbitant price.
As homeschooling becomes more and more popular, parents are less worried about social factors:
homeschooling children meet in afternoon sports or other activities and get together on weekends. Like children of traveling diplomats, they are a breed apart but not unique in their situation.
Still, many children need the bustling and loaded school environment, and I think of homeschooling with many conflicting outlooks, despite still being childless.
Published by Elisa Nova
Recently married and living in the NYC area, Elisa has been writing and translating for the past 10 years. She currently work as a legal proofreader, in-house and freelance. Elisa was born in Italy and is pe... View profile
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16 Comments
Post a CommentI have found in my own experience, that the parents of the teens my child attends school with, seem largely unwilling to teach their children accountability for anything. They hand them a car and a credit card, and many of the kids are using drugs and alcohol, engaging in destructive sexual behavior, drinking and driving, you name it. Public school is the last place you would want to depend on to help your child learn functional social behaviors. That is the most laughable argument I have heard from anti-homeschoolers - that public school is somehow necessary for children to learn how to function in the real world. What a joke! If I had to make a list of ALL the things my children (or myself, frankly) EVER learned at public school, "functional social behavior" wouldn't even make it onto that list!
apologies...that last post was originally much longer but I lost the rest (didn't realize there was a character limit, lol). My point, was that after homeschooling multiple children for several years, as well as parenting my oldest child as she makes her way through public schools (she chose only to homeschool for 7th grade), it's clear to me that kids in public schools are constantly exposed to drugs, sex, and immature language. Not to mention, violence. It's one thing for kids to hear a random swear word here or there, or to see people making out in a line at disneyland, than it is for them to be constantly exposed to these behaviors, as well as drugs, for several hours every school day. Their environment becomes their life.
Not every child will experiment...I for one attended public schools my entire life, and grew up in a home full of addicts and alcoholics, yet I have never once tried any drugs.
As a seasoned homeschooler of multiple children, I think I speak for most homeschooling parents when I say that our social concerns regarding public school do not really come down to worrying that our children will hear one swear word, or one reference to sex or drugs. Any of us who have had children attend U.S. public schools are well aware that the exposure to immature language, drugs, and sexual conduct children receive at public school is not rare and intermittent, but constant (I know this, because not only did I attend public schools every year of my education myself, but all of my children have attended public school - the oldest, a high school senior, has attended public school every year but one. our experience is not just limited to one school or district either, but rather throughout 3 states, 4 separate districts, and 8 different schools. I assure you that the same types of issues plagued them all. Additionally, violence and bullying have been a serious problem at all o
Let us have more confidence in our kids than to say that they will experiment with everything, no matter what. We need to teach our kids the why's and why not's of sex, drugs, etc., & pray that they will avoid those mistakes. To assume that they'll do those things anyway is giving up the war before the battle even begins.
I don;t think it is selfish to homeschool-- it is selfless, really. Most homeschoolers don;t look down upon those who choose to educate their children by other means--public or private. Homeschooling is a choice andmost homeschoolers value the freedom we have to make this choice to homeschool. Interesting article.
I homeschool and i intend to every other year.
As someone who has been homeschooled, then attended public school, then went to private school, and who now attends a public university I can say I didn't feel I learned much as a homeschooler. However, I don't feel like a learned a whole lot a public school or private school. It wasn't until I went to college that my eyes were opened to the beauty of learning and knowledge.
It is interesting to note that a study published in 2004 followed up with several hundreds of grown adults who had been homeschooled as children for 7 or more years (the bulk of their education and many times their total education being homeschool) to see how they ranked in civic participation, socially and educationally. Over 70% of the post-homeschoolers had some college level education while just 43% of the general population had some college level education. 85% were active in civic and community programs while only 32% of the general population were civically active. The research shows that homeschoolers some out of their childhood years with a greater desire for learning and BETTER SOCIALLY ADJUSTED than the general population on average.
Interesting, eh? Angela <>< (Homeschool graduate)
Very good commentary opinion piece. I really like where you said this: "Of course, these are selfish plans. Once the child comes along, his or her personality will probably define our choices and help us see what he or her needs in life." That right there shows you are going to be an excellent parent, because, while you ahve your own dreams and desires for your child, you are willing to set those aside and do what's best for your future unique individual child. My son has some problems in school and severe ADHD, and I need to be his mom, not his teacher, so home schooling, while we considered it, was just not an option for my boy - he needs to learn how to interact, something ADHD kids have issues with. There are some kids who EXCEL with homeschooling. Here in Texas, the district is required to include home schooled kids in the sports and music programs at the school if the parents request it.... I think this is a good thing. Again, excellent opinion commentary. Good job.
Wow, I leave for a day and I make main editor's picks! Thanks all :)