I'm pretty sure prisons don't let people bring lunch boxes to the cafeteria.
A few days ago, a stranger at a birthday party said, "The school system is a train wreck. I'm thinking that if I ever have kids, I can't put my kid into that kind of place."
"So, you'll home school?"
"Yeah, or unschool."
I respect his opinion. On some level, I even empathize with him. I often have more in common with un-schoolers and home-schoolers than with those who support the status quo system.
However, if it's really such a train wreck, I'm wondering why my son comes home excited about all that he learned. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a broken institution on many levels. Then again, I also think he'd be dealing with a broken man from a broken world if I stayed at home and taught him.
But if he's right and if it's truly a train wreck then I can't imagine the solution is to run away from the wreckage. If it's truly dangerous, I need to be in the system fighting to save lives.
Awesome lunch box aside, you make a good point. No need to wait for superman.
ReplyDeletewhenever I get into discussions about "train wrecks", I always require the person to offer a better solution. Usually, they can't. That's not the part that troubles me, though. What troubles me is people's first and natural responses to brokenness.
ReplyDeleteWe always have to be wary of becoming that band whose music isn't actually so good but has a very small following because we are so far outside the mainstream and system.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Quinn. The stranger in the post mentioned "unschool." It would be interesting to hear their explanation of that. I think it's amazing that public education has been around for hundreds of years but we still haven't perfected it. Crazy.
ReplyDeleteIt's should be like beer. Beer has been around for centuries. I'm sure the first beers were decent. Today's beers are amazing. You can literally sample hundreds of beers to find the one that fits you. Why hasn't education evolved that way? After all these years, there should be a many recognized styles of education and we should be able to get each and every student into the one that works for them.
Maybe the unschool is the way for some...
Dear Jason,
ReplyDeleteThanks! Love the Superman reference.
Dear Quinn,
Perhaps it's human nature to gawk at train wrecks. People sure had a field day with Amy Winehouse and on some level with Jack Kerouac. Why delight in tragedy?
Dear Royan,
Love the metaphor you use. Sometimes people embrace the fringe not for the quality, but because it is on the fringe.
Dear Knaus,
I love the beer metaphor. On some level, unschooling is a hefeweizen. It has its place. I love the idea of customizing, adding options, changing things up. Teachers could learn from unschoolers. Then again, unschoolers could learn from teachers, too. The bigger question is "why are we fighting tribalistic wars instead of sharing in a public commons?"
I wish I could tell it right or cite the correct source. My older brother (ironically he is my Paul the Philosopher)shared the story of two people mired in a ditch struggling. The difference between them was that one had fallen in and the other had waded in to help the first one out. Our intentions or goals are important. I particularly like your remark about a broken man from a broken society thinking he can do better than the system. In general, I think this is true.
ReplyDeleteWhile there probably are some teachers who are so broken that they don't belong around their own kids, let alone a classroom full of others' kids, I doubt that this is true of you.
ReplyDeleteThere is a great commons out there for homeschoolers to share in these days--everything from mailing lists and online forums, cooperative classes, art and performing groups, play groups, support groups, etc. We aren't always a part of the same commons as the public school kids (and different families gather in different places, depending on their personal philosophies), but homeschoolers are a generous and sharing bunch.
The homeschoolers who hate public schools the most are the ones who are desperately trying to fix their kids who have been broken down by years of being trapped in factory education, made to feel like failures for being different. I don't blame them if they never want to go near another train station again.
Education reform is like the TSA: It was supposed to make things better, but it just makes us hateful and suspicious. I pay my taxes and vote, but by the time I changed NCLB, state standards, and my own broken school district, my kids would be grown up! While I could soldier on for the sake of my grandkids, I'm not willing to sacrifice the kids I have here and now to do so.
I'm imperfect (I won't use the word "broken"). My community is imperfect. My kids are, too. We homeschool anyway. And it's working. It works better than "the system" precisely because it's not a system at all. It's education and life experience on a personal, human-to-human scale, rather than one-size-fits-all. If something isn't working, we don't need a Congress, state standards committee, school board, or teachers union to agree to let us make changes. We just learn from our mistakes and try again.
Dear Alan,
ReplyDeleteI like the metaphor. I have had times when I felt like both people in the pit.
Dear Anonymous,
We no doubt share many of the same beliefs. Our approaches are quite different, but I would be the last one to advocate that all students should be home-schooled, un-schooled or public-schooled. I watch my kids carefully to see how they respond to school. If home schooling becomes necessary, I'll go that route. I appreciate your thoughtful response.
Anonymous, you sound like all of the people in my hometown who vote against the school budget because ... "Why should I pay taxes if my kids aren't in school?" I understand that if you put effort into fixing the system--which your children aren't involved in, as you pointed out--it will take too long and they won't see the benefit.
ReplyDeleteThis argument is why most education reform fails. Because people aren't willing to make the long-term commitment and want easy fixes. No, your children might not benefit in terms of a long fight and you are going to do your best to make sure they get the best education possible. I'm going to do the same with my son. For you that means one thing; for me that means another.
However, I know enough to look beyond my own purposes and wants when it comes to striving for better schools. I see the value of an improved school system overall to a community and that community's culture as well as an overall benefit to society. More college-bound graduates, more employable and employment-bound graduates, more kids who are the first people to ever walk across a graduation stage ... that's something positive and that just doesn't require the contribution of teachers, the students, and their parents. It requires the cooperation of a community.
NCLB is a scam and a sham. It is a "solution" of the "quick fix" mentality that isn't a solution so much as it was created by critics of the system so they could be justified by looking at the system and saying that it was "broken." So they could just have numbers to back up blame on teachers, teachers unions, and "liberals."
And not for nothing, homeschooling is a system. So is private schooling. So is unschooling. They are all systems. And anything that you apply as a "replacement" for the current system will be a system. That is the nature of things when they get larger. I'm happy that you found something that works for you, but it's disingenuous to piss all over those who still believe that the system we're in still has merit and can be changed from within.
[/slight rant]
That should read "more kids who are the first people in their families to walk across a graduation stage ..."
ReplyDeleteMy bad.
Slight rant, Tom? Where was I pissing all over you with my comments? I didn't say that I shouldn't have to pay taxes because my kids aren't in the system. You put those words in my mouth, and you know almost nothing about me.
ReplyDeleteI did say that "I pay taxes and vote", by which I meant that I do only the bare minimum asked of citizens for the public schools, rather than giving myself and my kids over to a system that I do not agree with and don't realistically think I could change.
I agree with John that unschoolers, homeschoolers, teachers, and others in a community can learn from each other. But, first we have to be willing listen with open minds and respond respectfully.
FWIW: I am the granddaughter of one of those "first to walk across a graduation stage" kids. Education was great for my dad economically. Great for his culture? I'm not so sure. Education made my dad a part of a world that my grandparents didn't live in and couldn't understand. Even when it's outwardly successful, factory education (and the American definition of success that it teaches) can be deeply alienating.