I’m not a school teacher and it’s been many years since I’ve been a student, but one thing that I know about education since I went to school is that the current school system sucks. My kids are smart, but the things that they have learned that will stand them through life they learned outside of school.
That’s why home schooling has taken off like a hot Internet stock. Home schooling is the confluence of a number of currents including – but not limited to the decline of the public school system.
Home schooling was once the province of religious parent who wanted their children to avoid the secularization of their children. But something interesting happened. Parents became more educated, schools deteriorated and fewer moms worked. Let’s take the last first. It may seem strange that high levels of female unemployment would lead to more home schooling. But keep in mind that many two earner households are that by choice. And when the mom loses her job, knowing the quality of schools her children are attending, the question arises if she should look for another job or stay home to take care of her kids. And if she’s taking care of the kids, can she do a better job than the pubic school?
A hundred years ago when the average adult did not have a high school education, the local schoolmarm - with barely more than that - was considered the fount of educational knowledge. Besides, the women worked the fields or the farm. Today, the average mom has the educational level of the average school teacher. Schools have become politicized to the extent that many people feel that they are run for the benefit of the teachers and administrators rather than the students. Graduates are not able to read their diplomas and more people than ever believe that public education is geared toward brainwashing their children against the values that their parent hold.
Sippican Cottage addresses this issue.
Don't give me the academic credentials of the parents business. Every public school teacher has a baccalaureate or better. The academic achievement of public schoolchildren's parents that don't teach their children doesn't matter. I will laugh you out of here with "socialization" horsehockey. Not knowing from whom to buy diverted prescription drugs in third period and which "special needs" teacher puts out is not useful information, and does not make for a potent lifetime social lubricant.
Like a lot of things in life, things change. Academia had better learn that it’s on the Chopping Block.
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