Breaking the Mirror
October 1, 2008 by Guest
Has it ever occurred to you that the recipient of a college diploma is not necessarily well educated? A diploma looks the same whether the student maintained a 2.0 or a 4.0 grade point average. Certainly, the college transcripts look different, and there are a few employers who actually look at them. By and large, the benchmark for employment is the sheepskin. Have diploma, will hire. So it is understandable that the vast majority of parents in this country want the people teaching their children to have a college education. They want a little extra, too. The teaching candidate must pass a state-issued examination. Only then can they be called “teacher.” Only then, can they receive a license to teach. Only then can they be deemed by the government as qualified to teach children.
Even with all of this required education and testing, school systems nationwide have problems. In fact, some have severe problems – problems that homeschooling families wish to avoid. These problems are well documented in print and visual media, on-line, and over the air waves. No matter how many times we hear that US schools are dropping in the rankings of schools world-wide, we hear homeschooling critics insist that all children should attend public school.1 No matter how many stories we hear about middle school and high school students distributing nude photos of girls via cell phones and school laptop computers, we also hear public educators raise concerns that home schooled children are not properly socialized.2 It does not matter how many teachers make the list of sexual predators who have raped students,3 opponents of homeschooling seem more concerned about what happens within the walls of a home school than what happens within their own walls. Embedded in the desire to shine light into the houses where homeschoolers reside is the idea that there is some evil that must be exposed. In short, no matter how badly public schools perform, supporters continue to believe that those public schools are head and shoulders above any other choice.
While problems exist, the vast majority of our schools are safe. A student who attends class each day, works attentively, completes his homework, and studies hard can receive a decent education. The difference between students who fail and students who excel is often their parents. It is true more often than it is not that parents who are actively involved in their children’s lives – who instill the value of a good education and force their children to work hard at their studies – are the parents of successful students. Strong, effective parenting can mean the difference between students who do drugs and those who do not. An involved parent can make the difference between a student who distributes pornographic pictures of herself to her friends and a student who does not. There are no better examples of the effect of active parenting than in the homeschooling community. The results of study after study reveal that homeschooled children outperform their peers on academic tests at all levels. Homeschoolers typically give up a second income and many of the luxuries in life in order to provide a high quality education and sound instruction in morals, values, and often, faith. Homeschoolers choose to do this while paying taxes to the public school system and asking for nothing in return, except to be left alone to pursue this academic freedom.
A question remains in the great debate between those who would abolish home education and those who support academic freedom. Why would citizens who support public education deny the freedom of home education to their fellow citizens, when the home educators do not harm them in any manner? Sonny Scott, writing in a Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal article titled, “Home-schoolers Threaten Our Cultural Comfort,” offered one good reason why homeschooling is disliked.
Why do we hate (or at least distrust) these people so much?
Their very existence represents a rejection of our values, and an indictment of our lifestyles. Those families are willing to render unto Caesar the things that Caesar’s be, but they draw the line at their children. Those of us who have put our trust in the secular state (and effectively surrendered our children to it) recognize this act of defiance as a rejection of our values, and we reject them in return.
When confronted with a message that is uncomfortable to hear, it is human nature to want to shoot the messenger. When confronted with an uncomfortable image, many people turn away. Parents who see the failing state of public education yet place their children in that system anyway see a homeschooler’s rejection of public education as a judgment of their values. Parents who see instances of sexual abuse in their schools and still choose to send their children to those schools see a homeschooler’s rejection of that option as a judgment of their parenting. The public school teacher who hears home educators say, “No thank you, we can do it better at home,” hears a rejection of his or her professional competence. And what makes that rejection even more offensive to the teacher is that it comes from individuals whom they consider grossly unqualified—parents who are not tested, not certified, and not licensed by the state. The success of homeschooling is a mirror which reflects the state of public education to the greater community. If in fact homeschooling is the mirror that reveals the flaws of that system to the community, it is no wonder that so many people want to break the mirror. It is easier to ignore a problem than to turn an introspective eye and correct what needs to be corrected.
More than ever, homeschoolers need to stand firm in the defense of academic freedom. We need to fight to protect homeschooling as an option for all Americans. While doing so, we must meet our detractors with grace. We must listen to their arguments with love. Our communities are hurting. We must assure them that while we may not agree, we respect their right to educate their children as they choose. All that we ask is the same in return. We should be allowed the freedom to educate our children at home.
(Permission to reprint Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo, Miss.)
1 http://media.www.srumosaic.com/media/storage/paper658/news/2005/10/20/News/U.s-Drops.In.International.Education.Rankings-1026807.shtml
2 http://www.northjersey.com/news/crimeandcourts/Underage_nude_pics_probed_at_Pascack.html
3 http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53859
Richard Barrette is a homeschooling father of three children in Lansing, Kansas, and a recent Featured Homeschooler. He is the real person behind Arby’s Archives.
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Faith on Wed, 1st Oct 2008 5:03 am
I am in such agreement with your post. I’ve found that the more people I tell about our homeschool, the more defensive they become. I hear things like, “I could never do it” or “Well, at least you have a teaching degree,” or “What about socialization?” They are grasping at straws to defend their decision to send their child to public school by attacking my decision to keep mine at home. It’s almost like they take my words as a personal dig to their choice. It’s really something, and it took me almost 6 months to notice it and figure them out.
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Darnelle on Wed, 1st Oct 2008 2:17 pm
I read that article by Sonny Scott a few months ago. I even contacted him to tell him what an amazing article it was. Thank you for sharing it.
I was a public school and a private school teacher before I began homeschooling and I can say with confidence that your statement . . .
“The difference between students who fail and students who excel is often their parents”
is absolutely true. For the most part (and there are exceptions of course) if you find a student excelling in pub. schools, there is a parent with expectations at home.
Wonderful post!! Thanks for the wisdom.
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tdrowlee on Thu, 2nd Oct 2008 12:29 am
I liked this post. It is true, in many ways when we feel uncomfortable with a message(be it outright spoken, implied, or just imagined by us) it is much easier to “shoot the messenger” or “break the mirror”.
I had the conversation with a friend once, who accused me of thinking all PS parents were doing the wrong thing and should homeschool. Actually I don’t feel that way at all. What I feel is that each family needs to seek God’s path for their family, and then walk on it. Perhaps in my family it looks like a different path than yours, but if it is the one God calls us to, who has a right to judge us? For ex., my sister’s family is in the military and went active several years ago when both our spouses lost their jobs. For them it was right. For us, God said no. And to be patient. We had no employment for 6 long months and many family and friends were wondering what was going on with our brains. But there were NO offers. And we kept praying and felt peace. We had been earning at the poverty level and during his unemployment I ran a home daycare, while going through physical trials such as a miscarriage and another difficult pregnancy. But we were blessed because we walked the path God wanted. And we learned not to judge others’ choices that seemed to make no sense to us. All I ask my friends when a subject we differ on comes up is if they’ve prayed about thier choice. If so, who am I to judge? If not, it is a great opportunity to talk about the blessings of prayer and counseling with our Heavenly Father.
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MandyMom.com on Thu, 2nd Oct 2008 9:15 pm
I love this post! LOVE IT!
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