by Jennifer Miller
Education is a particular passion of mine. I’m the third generation of professional educators in my family, so perhaps it runs in my blood.
I have four kids, aged 9-15.
We’ve homeschooled them from birth.
We also travel a bit.
Over the past ten years I’ve worked as an educational consultant and curriculum designer within the alternative education community. I’ve met a lot of interesting families and had a lot of conversations about the hows and whys of education and what’s wrong with “the system.”
Everyone loves to bash the system, have you noticed that? The flaws are so numerous, the failures so gross, the misuses of money, power, knowledge, you name it, are rampant. It’s conclusive: the educational system in America is broken. Or is it?
Read a little John Taylor Gatto (The Underground History of American Education) and you’ll quickly discover that, from the beginning, our particular American brand of education was less about high end intellectual knowledge acquisition and more about the social machinations made necessary by the Industrial Revolution. In short, we needed to produce reasonably literate citizens who held cohesive views that would support the powers that be in their quest for a functioning democracy and promote the kind of industrial growth that would propel America into the Super State that it has become. It never was about every kid realizing their maximum potential.
As a teacher, who’d banged her head against the wall of educational policy and public school system politics and wondered WHY we could make the obvious changes that were in the best interests of the students, this realization was like a breath of fresh air.
The system isn’t broken. It’s doing exactly what it was designed to do: creating a homogenous American population who is educated enough to get the job done and easily marketed. Sound harsh? Perhaps, but do some more research and see if it doesn’t bear out. More money, more technology, more teachers, better teachers, better administrators, earlier intervention, more testing, more content, less recess, more or less whatever isn’t the solution. There is no need to fix it. It ain’t broken!
The schools are doing the best they can with what they have. Individual teachers are doing more than the best they can in most cases. You take a class full of 28 seven year olds, one third of them below average, one third above average and a random handful of differently abled little ones tossed into the mix and spend 8 months trying to bring them up to speed and then tell me it’s the teacher’s fault.
There are problems galore, to be sure. But guess what? We’re not going to fix them. Not in this generation, probably not in the next. A quick look over our shoulders at the past three generations will make that abundantly clear. So what’s a parent to do?
The real questions to consider are these:
- Who is responsible for your child’s education?
- What is your educational philosophy?
Who is responsible for your child’s education?
The school? The teacher? The state? The federal government? The lobby groups who pay for curriculum development?
No. None of the above.
You are. You. The parent.
It’s not the school’s job to educate your kid. It’s yours.
Instead of continuing to chew on the flaws and go round and round about what’s “wrong,” responsible parents are wising up to the fact that it is THEIR job to make sure their individual kids get a decent education.
What is your educational philosophy?
This, my friends, is where the rubber meets the road. The answers can be life changing. If you are seeking a homogenous American experience for your child, with an average education for an average societal role, then the public system is probably going to do okay for your kid. If your educational philosophy includes something more, intellectually, artistically, socially, globally, or your child is exceptional in some way, then perhaps you should rethink your educational plans.
A well-developed educational philosophy is the “why” behind a particular method.
And by the way, there’s no “one size fits all” approach.
I homeschool, because I have a well-defined definition of what it means to be “educated” and that does not line up with the Public School curriculum or social machine. I worldschool because I believe that the world is the best classroom and it borders on the criminal to pin kids inside four walls for twelve straight years and then declare them ready for “the real world.” I roadschool because travel, in my opinion, for my children, is the very best way to define “the real world” and because the lessons they learn from others are irreplaceable in any other context. But that’s me. Those are my kids. It’s not that I think Public Schools are the worst thing going, it’s just that I know we can do better. If circumstances changed I’d modify my approach. That’s the essence of not out-sourcing the job, doing the best you can for each child with what you have right now.
Taking responsibility for your child’s education means that you leave nothing to chance and you don’t default on any aspect of the job.
You might decide, for any number of very valid reasons, that you’re going to employ the Public System for a portion of your child’s education. There are some very good things happening in Public Schools, they just don’t get enough press. There are some amazing teachers out there working miracles with not enough money or time.
But don’t make the mistake of thinking that checking your kid into school, public, private or otherwise means they’re being educated.
I went to public, private, and catholic schools growing up. I was also taken out of school two years to travel and was homeschooled during that time. I’m the poster child for educational diversity.
When I was in school, my dad was reading aloud to us every night, we were colouring maps of the world after dinner, on weekends we were exploring the world and building houses, and working together to develop the real world skills that made our classroom experience matter.
When we were traveling my parents worked with our school and managed to talk them into letting us take our books with us on the road (there were no “homeschool curriculums” twenty five years ago in Canada). We wrote journals and communicated with our classes at home while we did some very outside the box learning.
Your child’s education is happening at every waking moment. Sometimes that might be in a classroom, but it’s not limited to that. If you’re clocking your kid in for “school time” in some form or another, and calling it “done,” you’re missing the big picture.
What’s the point?
Let’s quit arguing about what’s wrong with schools and man-up as parents. These are your kids.
They’ll succeed in school only if you grab hold of their educations with both hands and get your butt into that classroom to make sure it’s happening and augment on the weekend for all you’re worth. Model it. Make it happen.
They’ll succeed without school only if you do the same thing: create a learning environment, sell your soul to the twenty year project of their growth and development, find what they need today, plan for tomorrow, and cheerlead for all you’re worth.
We’re getting nothing done by bitching.
We’re getting nothing done by arguing about which type of school, or not is best for kids.
We’re getting nothing done by segregating off into our little subsets of weird: homeschool, roadschool, unschool, Waldorf school, Montessori school, fish school.
Segregation helps no one. Are there good things happening at your local school? Swallow your radical unschooler pride and participate. Can’t find what you want for your kids? Create it!
I, for one, am tired of the debates. I’ve heard them all, I’ve participated, ad nauseum. They’re not solving anything.
How are we going to turn education around for the next generation? By working together as a generation of free thinking parents who aren’t afraid to take our kids’ educations into our own hands and make it happen. We need to model the globally minded, intellectually inspired, arts influenced, world changing behavior we want to see in our kids and stop squabbling like crows over a corn cob.
Why? Because our kids are watching.
Listen to a group of homeschool kids sometime and you’ll hear them bashing public schools… something they know absolutely nothing about.
Listen to a group of public school kids and you’ll hear them doing the same in reverse: homeschooled kids are all weirdo religious freaks with bonnets with no social skills. Equally untrue.
Guess who’s responsible for those attitudes: we are. The parents.
An environment of criticism and judgment breeds more of the same, every time.
An environment of liberal thought (in the true sense, not politically) and problem solving will engender communication and understanding, two hallmarks of the truly educated.
What’s the point?
Let’s stop arguing and nitpicking the various forms of educations and agree that there are as many ways to get the job done as there are kids out there. Education is not one size fits all. Instead, let’s take the two, or four, or eight kids that we have and create an epic educational experience for each one. Don’t skiv it off on someone else, YOU do it. You make it happen, and don’t be a snob about it either. Use what’s best for your kid, be flexible, be open and be resourceful. Their whole lives are in your hands.
This post is part of a series about Redefining Education. You can find the other posts here:
Why the School System isn’t Educating Your Child (And What To Do About It)
4 Steps to Improve Education in the USA
You Can’t Reform an Education System Based on Oppression
Educating Kids Through Teacher/Student Partnerships
Let’s quit arguing about what’s wrong with schools and man-up as parents
Imagine something better than school
Is our education system built on miracle teachers?
How to improve our schools from an unschooler’s perspective
Thinking out loud, outside the box
Learning is the new paradigm of Education
Schools & Jails: What’s the difference?
Education for Today’s Global Economy
Wisdom: Knowledge that has been tempered by experience
How to use parental mentoring as a solution for educational reform
Jenn Miller is a teacher who’s worked in public, private and homeschool communities in various capacities for nearly twenty years. Her passions include travel, writing, and education. Gypsy mama to four fabulous adventurer children, Jenn and her family are in their fifth year of an open-ended world tour combining education and adventure, you can follow along at http://www.edventureproject.com Jenn is also Nancy’s partner in crime at http://www.youcandreambigdreams.com
Great job Jenn. I have always felt it strange that people complain about the schools yet keep their kids there. I think it might go along with why people don’t travel. So stuck in their own ways and being willing to step outside their comfort zone to take control and change their own lives!
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Jenn Miller Reply:
April 11th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
@Mary, Thanks Mary… As a teacher it bugged me when parents blamed ME for all of the evils in their kids world and as a parent I think it bugs me even more… If something isn’t working… fix it for your kid!
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I’ve enjoyed reading this series of posts, but this one moved me to comment. Jenn, you said exactly what I’ve been thinking after these posts! We can argue ’til the end of time about what started this mess and who’s big idea it was (plus what was that big idea anyway) and what the right thing to do is…but then we ALL lose. Kids, parents, society.
I had a brief career as a public school HS teacher, and like Nancy mentioned in her post, the students with parental involvement stood out like bright lights. They weren’t all academic superstars, but there was something more…solid about them as people. As a homeschooler, I’ve seen that as well (although the opposite is sometimes what I notice!). What I’d love to see is not a system down approach to “fixing” education, but the parent(s) of each child creating the right education for that child, using whatever they need to do that, and letting that ripple out and up.
On that note, off to be with MY kids!
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Jenn Miller Reply:
April 11th, 2012 at 2:04 pm
@Tracy, Thanks so much for your comment Tracy. I’m glad what I wrote resonated with you. Raising kids is a full time job and I’m a big believer in doing it ourselves and not outsourcing what’s really important.
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I couldn’t agree more, Jenn! It is not institutions or systems that educate our children – its people that educate people. Just watched a great documentary called “Waiting for Superman” that gave some great insights about education!
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Jenn Miller Reply:
April 11th, 2012 at 2:05 pm
@Joanne Wright, Joanne, I’ve heard of that documentary and it’s on my list to watch (after we launch and things calm down!) You’re not the first person who’s recommended it. You’re a great mama, a great teacher and an inspiration to everyone who knows you when it comes to excellence in education and family!
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Fabulous article! I couldn’t agree more. Although I wasn’t an official homeshooler, by technical terms, I certainly DID teach my own children what they needed to know in addition to their public school education. Every parent is a homeschooler in a sense. Or should be. Isn’t that the whole point of parenting?
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Jenn Miller Reply:
April 11th, 2012 at 2:06 pm
@Robin Holland, Robin… yes, exactly. You might choose to use some “system” for part of your kid’s education, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t working full-on in addition to that. A real education won’t happen any other way.
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Wonderful and refreshing article that more parents must read! It’s great to see other families already doing what we have intuitively started putting in practice since the day our daughter was born. We need doers with that world-responsibility in mind.
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Jenn Miller Reply:
April 11th, 2012 at 2:07 pm
@Cheryl, Cheryl, thanks for your comment, I couldn’t agree more. We need doers. A good friend of mine gave me a sound bite the other day that I can’t stop thinking about: The Magic is in the DOING!!
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I really like this article and agree with 99% of it, but I don’t get the rip on unschoolers. What is “unschoolers pride”? We unschool, but I like to think we do pretty much what you have outlined – just curious what that phrase is about? I was cheering you on entirely, but then felt suddenly alienated by that comment.
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Jenn Miller Reply:
April 11th, 2012 at 4:37 pm
@Lesli Peterson, Lesli, sorry you felt alienated, that was not my intention… what I was referring to was not “unschooled pride” but the “radical unschooler” element that often (but not always) rails against anything “organized education” without slowing down the “rage against the machine” long enough to see if there is anything to appreciate or learn from. The opposite is also true, incidentally, there is “radical public school mentality” that assumes that any kind of “schooling” happening outside of four walls and the supervision of “experts” is somehow less valuable, less valid, less… whatever. I’m not trying to knock anybody here… what I AM suggesting is that in order for education to be a living, vital, joyful thing for all children all adults need to lay down their weapons, take responsibility for the kids in our sphere of influence and make the very best of what we have, no matter which side of the fence it falls on, in the best interest of the kids. Hope that helps you feel less threatened! A lot of what we do looks like unschooling too.
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What a great post! I have taken this stand with my own children, they are getting the education they want and need, not what someone else has decided they need and I’m happy with that. If at some point I put them in school it is because we as a family have decided that they NEED that education! When asked why I homeschool my kiddos my answer is almost always the same “because we have decided that it is what our children need”. If asked for more I will provide it because I am not hiding in the shadows, but I do not and will not engage an argument about why I’m doing it wrong or ruining my children.
I am a firm believer that if you do not like the current situation, then change it! Even if you can only change it for yourself, or your family, change it!
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Jenn Miller Reply:
April 11th, 2012 at 2:08 pm
@Jaynessa, Jaynessa, good for you! It’s so sad that education has become this battle line drawn. Really what we need is everyone working for the good of all the kids… starting with our very own. It really is about sussing out what’s best for this individual kid and making sure he or she gets it!
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I have nothing to add. Well said! I will keep on trying to better my own kids and others while remembering how good I have it. The only thing that “sucks” is when we all waste our time complaining and bickering instead of helping and doing.
Thanks Jenn!
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Jenn Miller Reply:
April 11th, 2012 at 4:41 pm
@Justin, Justin… amen. That is the only part that sucks… educating the kids, that’s the fun part… we should focus on that!
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Awesome manifesto…Huzzah!
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Standing ovation! I’ve only been homeschooling for 16 years, and it’s amazing how my philosophy and approach has changed throughout the years; mostly due to our family dynamics changing. There really is no “one right way” to go about it, you need to be flexible, know your kids and do the best you can for each kid, even if it doesn’t fit your original plan for them.
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Nancy Reply:
April 11th, 2012 at 11:52 pm
@Lois, For sure! It wasn’t all that long ago that I never, ever thought about homeschooling. Then suddenly I was roadschooling my two little darlings. Things change throughout the years and we need to be willing to change with them.
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Love it! This is fabulous.
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We have also home-schooled since birth, because I have always felt learning begins with life and ends with death. Why the world thinks children need to be a certain age to learn is beyond me. I have always felt that the public school system was lacking. Yes! I agree parents need to take more of an active role in educating their children, but unfortunately many parents can not afford to home-school or have the time to participate like they should. I am also road schooling my children. We love exploring different places and when were not I have made it a point to use a variety of learning programs, from making up my own unit studies to online learning programs like Time4Learning. I hope one day that our public educational system in place will get better.
Anyways, Thank you for sharing, I enjoyed it!
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Nancy Reply:
April 15th, 2012 at 7:17 pm
@Keri, ==many parents can not afford to home-school or have the time to participate like they should. ==
I agree that there are many parents who can’t homeschool – for time reasons, but also many parents are barely literate themselves. However, I think EVERY parent can make the time to spend time with their children. If it’s a priority you’ll make the time.
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I agree 1,000%!!
As a former public school teacher turned homeschool mom I am so glad I woke up and realized I could never invoke enough “change” in our schools to make me happy or to benefit my child.
This was a wonderful article. Thank you!
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Nancy Reply:
April 17th, 2012 at 8:51 pm
@Mary, I’m all for homeschooling and realize we all need to make the best choices for our kids. For many kids, however, the best choice IS the public schools.
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Interesting article – question, what do low income families, who are working multiple jobs do? How does one fit their children’s education into the long hours of the working poor?
I agree – middle/upper class Americans need to take things into their own hands, but how do we help communities that don’t have the resources or personal education to intervene on their children’s behalf?
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Nancy Reply:
April 18th, 2012 at 9:27 am
@Vena, Vena – I think the issue is that parents actively their kids the message that their education matters. I don’t think Jenn was saying all parents need to pull their kids from school and homeschool, but rather to be actively interested in what their kids are learning and encourage them to do their best.
I’ve been a teacher for 21 years and have had some very, very poor kids in my class. I’ve had kids in my class whose parents barely had a third grade education. A lot of times, those are the kids who do the best because their parents tell them, “Get an education – it’s your ticket to a better life than I have.”
It doesn’t matter how much money you have or don’t have, how much of an education you have, or how much time you have to dedicate to your child’s education. Every parent can give their child the message that education matters.
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