To homeschool, or not to homeschool...

There is an interesting debate that is going on all around us whether we are aware of it or not. It is the debate about homeschooling kids and it can get a little heated at times. My first reaction to the idea of homeschooling is one of derision and scorn. “Great,” I think. “Religious nuts who want to shelter their kids from the real world.” There are a number of those in the homeschool movement, and if you watch the movie “Bible Camp”, you will get an idea of exactly what I am talking about. These people are fucking nuts and should not be allowed to HAVE children much less hole them up at home and “educate” them.

But then there are those parents who would like to be able to send their kids to public schools and yet don’t feel they can because of the fact that, in general, the public school system kinda sucks. With the overemphasis on testing and the almost complete lack of emphasis on thinking skills, the public school system runs kids through a prescribed curriculum – often written by state administrators and not by educators – which is basically designed around a single test. This means that the entire high school science experience is boiled down to about 40 questions which, in Illinois at least, rely on memorization rather than critical analysis. The schools are then judged based on their test scores, and if the scores don’t measure up the school gets put on probation, or after a few years of not measuring up, taken over by the state.

Private schools don’t seem to do any better. The latest comparisons between private and public schools showed little to no difference in performance between the two groups of students. In some areas the public schools performed marginally better, and in other areas the privates performed marginally better. It was basically a wash.

So with the issues facing both public and private institutions, parents are rightly going to have problems determining how to best educate their kids. But is homeschooling the answer? I contend that it is not. Lets consider me as an example homeschool teacher. I have a 3 degrees – a B.S. in biological research, a B.A. in secondary education, and a M.S. in biology. I love to read and will pick up a book on almost any subject if I am slightly intrigued by it, I have played sports in high school, college, and on adult teams, and in general, I consider myself to be a fairly well rounded, well educated guy. I don’t, however, think I would be a good person to be the sole source of education for my kids. I know they would learn a bunch about nature, conservation, bugs, and other science things (my 4 year old son already knows that he is a tetrapod, a hominid, and that bugs are really swell) but they would probably not get a great exposure to art of literature as I don’t really know anything about that. Sure, I could learn, but I am not passionate about it like some of my friends in the English and Art departments. Their music education would consist of things like “Metallica is meant to be cranked with the windows down, and when we get up to the stoplight, you have to extend your pinky and index finger to make the horns and bang your head fiercely along with the beat…Oh, and here is Beethoven’s 9th.” Art would be almost non-existent, not because I don’t value it but because I know next to nothing about it and in my experience it is not something that can be learned from a book.

So basically here I am, a certified high school teacher with 10 years of experience teaching freshman biology, Advanced Placement Biology, and introductory college biology and I don’t think I am qualified to educate my own kids on many of the subjects they might be interested in. Sure, if all they want to do is science, I can certainly fulfill that requirement, but if they are interested in something else I would rather that they learn from someone passionate about that area.

I have heard many reasons for why parents homeschool their kids, and each of them needs to be considered individually. Quality of education is not a compelling argument in my mind. An involved parent who cares about the education of their kids can participate in the process, contact teachers, discuss options with administrators, and in general, be an advocate for their children. Make sure the kids do their homework and ask questions when they don’t understand. Train them not to be passive in their education and kids can achieve remarkable things no matter how bad you think the school might be. Most importantly, parents and kids both need to realize that education isn’t something done to them but something that they have to do for themselves. Teachers are guides, not the cause of education.

Parents are right to be on the lookout for the best way to educate their kids, but they need to realize that it is a very rare instance where they can provide a better education than the trained professionals in the school systems. They are, of course, free to homeschool if they wish (unless it is illegal in their particular neck of the woods), but I have a better idea. Put your energy toward fixing the problems found in the educational system rather than simply opting out and you will not only be helping your own kid, but all future children who attend public schools.