Oct. 16, 2009 - Homeschool Stereotypes Still Persist
I imagine anyone who's been homeschooling longer than me has many stories about stereotypes they've run into. We've only just begun, in our family, and I'm starting to see how frustrating people can be when they insist on their false or downright ignorant ideas about what homeschooling means.
If I had any artistic talent, I'd put my thoughts into a cartoon. I have a great idea for one, but can't transfer it to paper, sadly.
The first panel would be a picture of a large and bustling city. Within this city would be several houses hermetically sealed off in "bubbles" and the bubbles would be connected to each other by similarly sealed walkways. Dour, hunched-over homeschoolers would scuttle between each other's houses, claiming to "socialize" without ever getting so much as a whiff of the "real world" outside. These poor kids would then be either trapped in the homeschool bubble for life, never getting further education but marrying within their inbred group and having a bunch of kids to homeschool, or get chucked out into the "real" world and be unable to cope and become dissipated drunkards and complete losers.
This is, amazingly, how some people still view homeschooling.
The second panel would be a lot harder to draw, because real homeschooling is so much more interesting. It would probably need to be comprised of multiple smaller panels, showing what real homeschoolers really do: participate in organized sports (with non-homeschoolers! imagine that!), attend church with non-homeschoolers, go to all manner of museums, zoos, and events (all rife with non-homeschoolers as well!), attend college courses (at a college!) during their junior and senior years of highschool, develop close friendships with non-homeschooling neighbors, participate in local choirs and orchestras, volunteer, get jobs, get internships, run their own business or help run a family business, pursue their passions, get scholarships, and go to college. These are all things that homeschoolers I know personally have done. All of these youngsters have been perfectly capable of relating to the "real world", in some cases even more capable than their peers in "real world" schools.
Another frequent criticism is that homeschoolers don't know how to deal with "diversity". Even ignoring all of the ways mentioned above that homeschoolers get "socialized", increasing numbers of minority families are joining the ranks of homeschoolers. Our family included. Ethnic diversity is not so much a function of whether one goes to institutional schools or homeschools, but where one lives. In Pittsburgh, we were surrounded by people of all colors no matter where we went. Where we live now, there simply is a huge majority of whites. My children wouldn't get any more diversity by going to local schools, because the population simply isn't that diverse. Diversity of lifestyle and income is the same way. Not all homeschoolers are lower-middle class. Not all of them do the denim-jumper thing. Every family has it's own style, even amongst homeschoolers.
I have only met one family in my entire life that fit the "profile" some people have of homeschoolers. They lived on a homestead, "unschooled" their children, and had done a very poor job of raising their children to be able to function in society. However, looking at the parents, it was pretty obvious that they would have failed equally if their kids were sent to school. Homeschooling didn't make them strange. They were already strange, and homeschooling happened to fit with their conspiracy theories and desired lifestyle. You can't tell me there aren't strange people who's children are in the public school system. There are, and I've met them too.
Comments
Oct. 16, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
Bravo!!!! Well said.
I pray with all my might that I will be able to homeschool my daughter.
Oct. 16, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by pbrfans1
I see your point, but I also see the other side too. Stereotypes are never true across the board. But there are aIways people who fit into those stereotypes that keep the stereotype alive. I went to school my whole life, but I'd like to home school my children...but if I decided to put them in school I would be criticized by people in our church, our town, etc. If you don't fit into that "bubble" you aren't invited to socialize or do activities with the home schoolers. I've even heard home school mom's question whether someone is justified in putting their child in school (if single parent or NEED to work out of the home), but otherwise it wasn't acceptable to them. The stereotypes go both ways, and really we all just need to accept each other and our different lifestyles and views. I think God calls us to do things that might be different from others. There are incredibly smart Godly people who are homeschooling and also those putting their children in school. Thanks for talking about this...it's important for both homeschoolers and schoolers! =)
Oct. 17, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by cappuccinosmom
That is true. Although, I wonder if sometimes we just need to find different friends. ;) We have never been in a church or community where homeschooling was the norm, so it's not an issue for us to have friendships with people who aren't exactly like us.
But there are communities where, whether it's homeschooling, or Christian school, or how you dress, or how big your family is, going against the norm can cause strife in relationships. That's a shame. :(
Oct. 20, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Rosy
While much of what you said is correct, there are,unfortunately, more families than one who fit the stereotype that you presented...:-) I have homeschooled for many years, and it is a little scary to me to see the home schooling movement being "taken over" in a way by people who are very stridently convinced that their way is the only right way and anyone who deviates is somehow either not a Christian or is a little less holy than they are. Home schooling is a means to an end, and the end is raising children who love and serve God. And, that end is accomplished in other ways as well. All of us would do well to remember that!
Oct. 25, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Martha
There are strange children in the public school system and the homeschooled families as well as private school system. They are there across the board! Some people do very well in public school, some people do not. I do not get along well with people who tell me what I should be doing for my children and what is fine for them. The same people who complain about all the things you do with your children are the same ones who claim you are isolated......you will never please them.
Sometimes school is best for a child....but often with the level of education in our society, if a child does not care about being educated, the school system is a giant social fest with no schooling actually being done, you show up for class and you may get a grade for simply showing up, they do not care about the grade really.
There are good schools, I had a friend recently who decided to homeschool her 7th and 8th graders and discovered that they were a grade ahead in pretty much every subject. They decided to homeschool because of content being taught, not because their children did bad in school or they were dissatisfied with the teachers.
There are others, who hope their children learn social skills, they are the brilliant ones whom when they come home from school, she homeschools them with extra schoolwork like latin and grammar at higher levels for fun, yet even in school, they struggle to make friends!
There is no good stereotype.....it is all wrong and maybe if we could stop judging each other, we could help one another.
