This past month, upon reaching the 400th post
milestone, I did a collection of “best of” posts (part I, part II, part III), mainly related to the three
overlying spheres of the Spherical Model. That left out some specific topics.
So I followed up with the Defending Marriage collection. Today I'd like to add the
Education collection.
If you know me, you know I spent ten years homeschooling my
children. When I first started homeschooling, I felt so strongly about the
decision that I thought it would probably be right for everyone who could
possibly do it. I’ve modified somewhat over the years. Homeschooling is a
lifestyle choice, and it takes energy and organization. Mostly, though, it
requires a personality that gets excited about learning and helping others
learn. That was natural for me, which made homeschooling amazingly fulfilling
to my life—while it was also exhausting. I’m so glad we did it. But if someone
knows about themselves that they don’t have the personality for it, what they
really need to do is recognize their responsibility to see to the upbringing
and education of their own children and see to it they provide the best
opportunities they can manage. So I don’t as a rule proselytize toward
homeschooling, although I’m often a resource for people thinking about trying
it.
My friend Paige shared this homeschool field trip photo from 2008 |
However, after the election last fall, I came to recognize a
greater urgency about parents seeing to their children’s education. Some of
that comes from the intrusion of the federal government into every aspect of our
lives, and the needed resistance to Common Core or any other centrally planned
curriculum. Some of the change comes from the real frustration we face locally.
Here in one of the most conservative states, in a part of town where
conservatives dominate, where schools are considered (by someone else’s
standards, not mine) to be high performing—here, of all places, you would
expect the school board to reflect the parents and their values. But this
election completed the turnover so that seven out of seven board members are
moderate to liberal. They consider their constituencies to be the teacher
organizations and the businesses that benefit from school spending (builders,
curriculum providers, for example).
If in such a place we cannot guarantee that parents are the
ones to respond to, then I have no hope for the efficacy of the public school
system. Alternatives must take a greater role: private schools, charter
schools, homeschools, online schools. Maybe there are alternatives we haven’t
even discovered yet. But I do say, louder than I used to, that the federal
government has absolutely no business sticking its nose into the education of
my children and grandchildren. And state and local public schools have failed
to prove that public school has a better purpose or outcome than providing the
minimum skills for those whose parents can’t or won’t provide basics necessary
for functioning in society.
So, I’m collecting the posts I’ve written related mainly to
education. This includes a series of related posts this past March:
3-28-2011
What Works for Schools
4-7-2011
Commencement
5-7-2011
Public School Economics Lesson
5-10-2011
New Paradigm for Education
7-20-2011
What Make IQ So Racist?
10-2-2012
Local, Local, Local
11-12-2012
Paradigm Shift Underway
3-15-2013
Natural Feeding and Teaching
3-18-2013
Education vs. Indoctrination
3-20-2013
Skeptical of Accreditation
3-22-2013
Parental Right to Educate
3-25-2013
Oppression through Education
4-5-2013
More on CSCOPE
4-15-2013
Homestyle Education, Part I
4-17-2013
Homestyle Education, Part II
4-20-2013
Homestyle Education, Part III
4-22-2013
Homestyle Education, Part IV
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