Posted in Homeschooling
The New Hillbillies
As a homeschooler, do you feel isolated, unable to communicate with others, or socially backward? Apparently, those who homeschool are exactly that according to the assumptions made in an article from the San Diego Union Tribune titled "Education without isolation." Yet again, we see the droning on about socialization from outsiders who really don't understand the concept of homeschooling. They assume we're hermits, that we cut ourselves off from the rest of society and become the new hillbillies, or worse, like Nell, talking about a "tay ina winn." However, it's easy to understand why they think that way when you take into account their preconceived notions and prejudices combined with their succeptibility to "expert-itis."
Prejudice
Their prejudices are rooted in the notion that because so much revolves around "life in school," keeping your kids home from school means keeping them away from other kids and the opportunity to socialize. First of all, there are plenty of opportunities to socialize in our own home. With three children of our own, we have three agendas and preferences. They must negotiate with each other not only according to those preferences, but also their comparative maturity, and they do so surprisingly well. As parents, we enforce standards of respect and honor, and we may offer suggestions, but we usually let our children work things out among themselves.
But why limit it to just the home? We have gotten many compliments from strangers when our children are out in public about how nice and well-mannered they are. When they are working with a group, whether it's a dance class or our homeschool support group, they learn how to negotiate with each other for what they think is important. Yet as prejudices, these are things never questioned by those that hold them. To them, homeschooled children are socially inept, backward little bumpkins who have a tendency to drool.
Pride
Expert-itis is all too common. As a reader, I am more and more suspicious of phrases leading off with "Experts say..." Who are they? Why are they an expert? What has given them the right to comment about something? I will trust a graduate of the Colorado School of Mines when they tell me a specific rock is composed of granite, quartz, and other minerals. Could I just as easily consult a reference book? Sure, but journalism is about people and actions. The problem comes when an expert is asked about something they have not mastered, such as flora or fauna for the examples above. That person's pride rises up and they may still give their "considered opinion" on something they know little about and in so doing reveal little more than their own prejudices. Shame on the expert who gives such an opinion, and shame on the journalist for not considering the source.
Homeschooling families ought not look too deeply into these prejudices. Very few hold any ill will toward homeschooling and getting shrill and upset about such prejudices only tends to make the prejudiced cling to them all the more tightly. As many others have found, it's difficult to change prejudices, especially when you have a cadre or an organization promoting them. We must expose prejudices by increasingly pushing towards the spotlight of American culture. The more normal, well-adjusted, decent, and honorable graduates of homeschooling that make their way into high-profile positions, the better. This shouldn't be too difficult, given the wild success of interns at Patrick Henry College. Legislators and lobbyists can't get enough of them. Other colleges are starting to seek out homeschooling students because of their abilities and stability to counteract the hedonistic, party-hardy mentality so prevalent in today's colleges. Who knows? In another 20 years, perhaps the very notion of a homeschooling hillbilly will seem hopelessly out-of-touch with reality.
For more reading on this subject:
As a homeschooler, do you feel isolated, unable to communicate with others, or socially backward? Apparently, those who homeschool are exactly that according to the assumptions made in an article from the San Diego Union Tribune titled "Education without isolation." Yet again, we see the droning on about socialization from outsiders who really don't understand the concept of homeschooling. They assume we're hermits, that we cut ourselves off from the rest of society and become the new hillbillies, or worse, like Nell, talking about a "tay ina winn." However, it's easy to understand why they think that way when you take into account their preconceived notions and prejudices combined with their succeptibility to "expert-itis."
Prejudice
Their prejudices are rooted in the notion that because so much revolves around "life in school," keeping your kids home from school means keeping them away from other kids and the opportunity to socialize. First of all, there are plenty of opportunities to socialize in our own home. With three children of our own, we have three agendas and preferences. They must negotiate with each other not only according to those preferences, but also their comparative maturity, and they do so surprisingly well. As parents, we enforce standards of respect and honor, and we may offer suggestions, but we usually let our children work things out among themselves.
But why limit it to just the home? We have gotten many compliments from strangers when our children are out in public about how nice and well-mannered they are. When they are working with a group, whether it's a dance class or our homeschool support group, they learn how to negotiate with each other for what they think is important. Yet as prejudices, these are things never questioned by those that hold them. To them, homeschooled children are socially inept, backward little bumpkins who have a tendency to drool.
Pride
Expert-itis is all too common. As a reader, I am more and more suspicious of phrases leading off with "Experts say..." Who are they? Why are they an expert? What has given them the right to comment about something? I will trust a graduate of the Colorado School of Mines when they tell me a specific rock is composed of granite, quartz, and other minerals. Could I just as easily consult a reference book? Sure, but journalism is about people and actions. The problem comes when an expert is asked about something they have not mastered, such as flora or fauna for the examples above. That person's pride rises up and they may still give their "considered opinion" on something they know little about and in so doing reveal little more than their own prejudices. Shame on the expert who gives such an opinion, and shame on the journalist for not considering the source.
Homeschooling families ought not look too deeply into these prejudices. Very few hold any ill will toward homeschooling and getting shrill and upset about such prejudices only tends to make the prejudiced cling to them all the more tightly. As many others have found, it's difficult to change prejudices, especially when you have a cadre or an organization promoting them. We must expose prejudices by increasingly pushing towards the spotlight of American culture. The more normal, well-adjusted, decent, and honorable graduates of homeschooling that make their way into high-profile positions, the better. This shouldn't be too difficult, given the wild success of interns at Patrick Henry College. Legislators and lobbyists can't get enough of them. Other colleges are starting to seek out homeschooling students because of their abilities and stability to counteract the hedonistic, party-hardy mentality so prevalent in today's colleges. Who knows? In another 20 years, perhaps the very notion of a homeschooling hillbilly will seem hopelessly out-of-touch with reality.
For more reading on this subject:
- Valerie Bonham Moon's response to the San Diego Union Tribune's article
- Manfred B. Zysk - Homeschooling and the Myth of Socialization (from 1999)
- Kimberly Swygert of Number 2 Pencil posts about The Benefits of Homeschooling and the new research on socialization
- My own response to the NEA's propagation of the prejudice
- The NEA's priorities (see point 4)
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