Posted in Homeschooling
Remember the joke told in young childhood? It went, "Why does the fireman wear red suspenders? ...To hold his pants up." The joke was that the answer was so obvious. So when I read the article about schools and holidays, I wonder, can it be any more obvious? The state should not be in the business of educating our children.
Somehow in America, we have accepted a lie that education and raising children are separate when in fact the former is an element of the latter. Education begins at home. First foods, first steps, first words all come from mom and dad. Somehow, our culture has accepted that at age 5 the child is sent away for their own good to a school that has no clue about his family, his talents, his beliefs, and his fears. He will be taught his ABC's, even if he's already learned them. He will learn his numbers, even if he knows them too. He will learn to tie his shoes, even if he has velcro. He will be taught songs about monkeys in trees, donkeys that trot, and raindrops that fall with nothing about the Creator that made them all.
He was holding onto the apron strings at some point. What made us decide to cut them? We bought into the lie that we were unable or unworthy to educate our children further. And so we abdicate to the state, letting them have our children from a very early age, whose benevolence is less than assured, to be raised by...who? Hindus? Buddhists? Muslims? Atheists? Totem-pole worshippers? Who? Who is raising our kids? Its certainly not the parents. They're at work, by choice or perceived necessity. They work at bringing home enough money to afford the fads their children follow, which they need to fit in at school. They work at bringing home enough money for their kids to pay for football, swim team, volleyball, gymnastics, and rowing -- if you're in Boston or Baltimore. They work at bringing home enough money for their kids to go to college where they learn from a professor that the collective good is all that matters and what's good for the collective is up for debate. There's a pattern here, and it's one I can't agree with.
When my son was born, I saw his unique design. I saw that he would one day be his own person, with his own talents, abilities, skills, thoughts, opinions, fears, aspirations, and even a dream or two. No parent wants their child to become a cog in a collective team, but subconsciously, they certainly hope for their little cog to fit in. That's really why the state is in the education business. They want to make sure your child fits well in the cogs of public and private industry. The system was designed for it, with performance reviews, evaluations, random searches, social pressures, large workforces reporting to supervisors who report to supervisors who report to supervisors...the list goes on. That they're doing work that's already been done is the only difference. Sometimes, that's no different than some people's jobs, but that's another story.
Do you really want your child to fit in, or do you want them to make a difference when they're out there? Do you want them to go along with groupthink, or do you want them to be independent and clear-minded? More importantly, do you want your child to know more about you than what you do and what your hobbies are? Can you really teach them what you believe and why you do in the hour you get at home each school night? How can you compete with the state's version of life? Where will they learn the things that really matter, at a school with hundreds of other people's kids or at home with you?
Somehow in America, we have accepted a lie that education and raising children are separate when in fact the former is an element of the latter. Education begins at home. First foods, first steps, first words all come from mom and dad. Somehow, our culture has accepted that at age 5 the child is sent away for their own good to a school that has no clue about his family, his talents, his beliefs, and his fears. He will be taught his ABC's, even if he's already learned them. He will learn his numbers, even if he knows them too. He will learn to tie his shoes, even if he has velcro. He will be taught songs about monkeys in trees, donkeys that trot, and raindrops that fall with nothing about the Creator that made them all.
He was holding onto the apron strings at some point. What made us decide to cut them? We bought into the lie that we were unable or unworthy to educate our children further. And so we abdicate to the state, letting them have our children from a very early age, whose benevolence is less than assured, to be raised by...who? Hindus? Buddhists? Muslims? Atheists? Totem-pole worshippers? Who? Who is raising our kids? Its certainly not the parents. They're at work, by choice or perceived necessity. They work at bringing home enough money to afford the fads their children follow, which they need to fit in at school. They work at bringing home enough money for their kids to pay for football, swim team, volleyball, gymnastics, and rowing -- if you're in Boston or Baltimore. They work at bringing home enough money for their kids to go to college where they learn from a professor that the collective good is all that matters and what's good for the collective is up for debate. There's a pattern here, and it's one I can't agree with.
When my son was born, I saw his unique design. I saw that he would one day be his own person, with his own talents, abilities, skills, thoughts, opinions, fears, aspirations, and even a dream or two. No parent wants their child to become a cog in a collective team, but subconsciously, they certainly hope for their little cog to fit in. That's really why the state is in the education business. They want to make sure your child fits well in the cogs of public and private industry. The system was designed for it, with performance reviews, evaluations, random searches, social pressures, large workforces reporting to supervisors who report to supervisors who report to supervisors...the list goes on. That they're doing work that's already been done is the only difference. Sometimes, that's no different than some people's jobs, but that's another story.
Do you really want your child to fit in, or do you want them to make a difference when they're out there? Do you want them to go along with groupthink, or do you want them to be independent and clear-minded? More importantly, do you want your child to know more about you than what you do and what your hobbies are? Can you really teach them what you believe and why you do in the hour you get at home each school night? How can you compete with the state's version of life? Where will they learn the things that really matter, at a school with hundreds of other people's kids or at home with you?
