May. 30, 2009 - Once More From the Top...
I write this with a heavy heart. I am not attacking public schools, or any type of education. I am simply tired of defending my right to raise my own children. I feel like a broken record, but it seems that this needs to be said one more time. Recently I was discussing the virtues/vices of homeschool funding and the strings that go along with that. I stated, as I have many times, that while the money we receive in this province is nice, it would be better to return to the province where there is no funding – and no strings.
When I started homeschooling we lived in such a province. We chose our curriculum, taught our children, and no one felt it was their duty to make sure we were doing our job. When we moved to this province it was difficult to get used to the idea of having to report to the government, not only what my plan was for each child each year, but also whether or not they had met the goals I had set out for them. I have learned to speak their language and put what I’m doing into a form they can understand, but I continue to choose my own curriculum and teach the children as I know is best for them. It is a livable situation, and I do enjoy the funding that allows me to spend a bit more on their education than I could in the province that neither gave funding nor required reporting. However, I would gladly give the funding up to regain my independence in this area.
The argument I was met with, yet again, was this: “Sure, you’re doing a good job with your children, but not everyone does as much as you do. They have to be accountable to someone…” (Somehow people always think this argument will be better received if they don’t attack me personally.) But my answer remains the same: Why? Why is it anyone’s place but the parents’ to see that the children are receiving an “acceptable” education? And who decides what is “acceptable?”
The truth is that over all homeschooled children score in the 80th percentile on standardized tests. That means that while the national average is 50%, the national homeschool average is 80%. Yet the prevailing thought is still that somebody needs to check up on homeschoolers. And it never occurs to anyone to check up on the public schools, which are apparently not educating children as well as homeschoolers are. This seems rather backwards to me.
Keep in mind that many children are homeschooled because of special needs. These children are counted in the statistics quoted above. Children who would otherwise flounder and probably fail in a public system routinely shine in the one-on-one setting where they are taught by the one who has more interest in his success than any other: Mum.
Furthermore, who is responsible for these children? When did it become the job of the state to raise children? Why does Joe Public believe that they have the right to tell anyone how to educate their children? It was suggested to me that some families might not teach their children in a way that would ensure their ability to enter university. Really? Do all high school graduates go to university? The last time I checked, the schools were deciding which of their enrollees would be educated in the “university-bound” track, and which would be given a vocational education. If the schools are given the right to make this decision without interference from the general public (not to mention the children’s own parents!) why is it so hard to let parents make this decision for (and usually with) their children without outside interference? There is obviously a gross double standard at play.
The Bible exhorts parents, yes, PARENTS, to train up a child in the way he should go. There is no directive for governments or public school boards to do the same. The bottom line here is that parents are responsible for raising their children, and this includes their education. Many choose to delegate the education of their children to an outside body (a school), while many, like myself, choose to oversee that education themselves. But regardless who is doing the teaching, the PARENTS are still responsible before God as to how their children are educated (among other things). Yes, responsible before God. Not before the Ministry of Education, nor before the mother-in-law, nor before a host of well-meaning friends and relatives. We, as parents, can take this responsibility seriously or we can choose to simply take the easy route. I know some parents send their children to school and very carefully oversee what they learn, so please do not leave comments that choosing public school is not necessarily the easy route. I have often said that it would be far more difficult to keep track of what my children learn in that setting than in the one I have chosen. However, many do simply send their children to school because that is the way education has always been. (Regardless of the fact that public education is a relatively recent invention, and one that was devised not to ensure academic achievement, but to ensure a generation that was loyal to the state and the state’s political and philosophical ideas.) Whatever the choice, it is the parents’ right and responsibility. It is not for me or anyone else to say that their decision is wrong. Nor is it my right to question them or make them accountable to me or to some governing body as to what choices they make regarding their children’s education. Nor is it anyone’s right to question mine.
In many areas there is debate among homeschoolers about the virtues and pitfalls of funding. Be assured: Money ALWAYS comes with strings. We are fortunate in this province to have considerable freedom to use the curricula of our choice and to report by way of observation rather than government testing. Some are not so fortunate. Do not be fooled into thinking that more money equals a better education. A parent educating her children on a shoe-string can still do a better job than the well-funded public schools. The funding may be attractive, but it is not worth the interference. These are our children and we need to stand for our rights as parents to raise them as we see fit. Not everyone will like our choices, but neither do we like the choices others make. But it is their choice. It is our choice. No, we do not need the government to “make sure” that every homeschooled child receives an education that will gain him entrance into university. The fact is that homeschooled children already receive an education that is superior to any a classroom can give. Furthermore, we are educating our own children, not the children of others. We are not the ones who need to be checked up on!
Voltaire fathered the idea that “While I detest what you say, I will defend, to the death, your right to say it.” In education, I may detest the choice you make for your children, but I will defend, to the death, your right to make it. When we cease defending our right to educate our children as we see fit, we begin to lose the right to raise our children as we see fit. No teacher or school board member loves my children as much as I do. No one knows them better than I do. No one can choose a course of education for them that will be as appropriate for them as I will.
I will leave you with one final thought. A thought that should stir every parent to question and consider carefully the course of education they have chosen for their children, as well as those they have entrusted with this task.
"A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher." (Luke 6:40)
