Schools allow students a variety of choices. While the parents in this article may believe that they are allowing their students a variety of choices in their development that otherwise wouldn't be available. I would argue to the contrary. Allowing students to choose from a small set of experiences may actually shelter them from interests that they didn't know they have, In our school we have a variety of career focused electives that allows students to fall into something they didn't know they were initially interested in. Some of these classes include, a publication class where students create daily announcements, and learn technical skills that are used by real broadcasters. An engineering class that exposes students to the field of engineering through hands on creative work. Students typically love this class and a typical day in this class looks something like this..
To me this looks like all kids are engaged in their learning. None of them look to be suffering too much.
Schools expose students to dynamic personalities. This is a bit of an age old argument, that homeschooling limits kids socially. While I don't believe that this is an absolute truth. Typically the homeschooled kids that I have come across are lacking something socially. People are very different and have a wide variety of traits and skills. School exposes kids to this. Teachers are all very different and bring a variety of styles and expectations. I think that it is important for students to learn how to interact with this variety. In the real world we constantly learn what we can get away with, or how we can relate to our superiors. Home-schooling only exposes you to one type of these types of personalities.
I also know that at my school students are exposed to a large amount of diversity. The other day I was coaching football, and noticed that on my team we have Caucasian, Hispanic and African American players on our team. I also noticed that the cliques of players on our team had nothing to do with the race of our players, but rather who they are as people. I think this is something that home-schooling shelters kids from.
I am not saying that public schools are perfect, and I recognize that not all schools have the programs and initiatives that my school does. I think schools can focus a lot more on allowing students to be a part in picking their own path. I would also love to see the pressure placed on kids in standardized testing disappear because I think its counter productive. However, I think that the idea of home-schooling, or "un-schooling" as the author refers to it as, might only work for a very limited amount of students.
You make some great points in this post. I also believe that traditional school exposes children to a variety of experiences and personalities. I often wonder what happens if a homeschooled child has a drastically different personality or interests than a parent. Is the child frustrated, feeling isolated, or does the parent recognize the child's needs? And you are right, schools aren't perfect but still really valuable.
ReplyDeleteNice points, Bryan. As a public school teacher, I had a strong reaction to the article as well. I agree entirely with you about the hypocrisy of “unschooling”. The parents believed they were providing more opportunities, when in reality they were providing a disservice in sheltering the kids from everything the real world has to offer. I was just speaking with a colleague today about the perceptions of school through students’ eyes. We came to the conclusion that the younger or more immature students typically regarded school as a prison and an infringement on their individualism, yet as they got older, typically juniors and seniors, their mentality began to change. Suddenly students recognized the diversity and benefits of the school they attend.
ReplyDeleteTo comment about the pressures of standardized testing, I believe there has been a 180 in terms of high stakes testing. Very little of the testing we do in my district has any consequence or benefit for the student. The high stakes testing has become high stakes for teachers, and, in my experience, the students couldn’t care less about them. I don’t know if this is an improvement, a step backwards, or merely the evolution of our educational system.
I think any organized institution has its pros and cons. But I do strongly agree that the article on "un-schooling" took the issue a bit too far. The father of the un-schooled children who is also the author of that article sounded very biased and his writing made the concept seems rather too romanticized and not realistic enough. That said, public schools can do so much more to the young generation. I have a daughter at high school myself and I always think there isn't much going on in her school. The importance that the school places on sports is ridiculous! The kids are not exposed to anything more than their restrictive curriculum. But as you said Bryan, comparing schools to prison is farfetched and also baseless! Let's face it, education system as a whole is weak in the United States. Instead of complaining about that, educators and parents should think about ways to improve the system. It is a good thing that your school is moving forward.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the standards that a student are subjected to can often times be very restrictive towards a students natural abilities. I think a lot about my 11 year old cousin Grant. He his somewhat of a rock and roll savant. When he was only three years old he could name you every past and present member of the rolling stones, name the time signature on a Rush song, or play the drum fill in a Led Zeppelin song. He has one countless talents shows and plays in a band with adults twice his age. However, in the class he is a slightly subpar student. How do we get the most from his enormous brain potential when he is restricted to such tight standards?
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