A Quiet Revolution
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: News on 24 May 2009.
The picture you’re looking at is a homeschool. Or more correctly, it’s a co-op class. Parents share resources, maybe hire tutors, and teach a group of homeschoolers a few times per week utilizing an agreed curriculum.
Tulsa World has an interesting report on the growing phenomenon that is homeschool as it takes place at home or in a co-op situation. Titled Homeschool: A Quiet Revolution, it’s a reflection of the times as more and more parents assert their right to educate their own children away from state regulation.
One of the things that come out clearly is that homeschool is a revolution that isn’t content to stay quiet these days. It remains somewhat controversial, and staying independent does not come without a fight in some states in the US as this report tells it.
The other thing that caught my attention is the issue of homeschool failures. Here’s what state senator Jim Wilson says:
“I’ll stipulate that nine out of 10 people who say they’re home-schooling are really doing it, and they’re doing a great job of it. I’ll stipulate that all these kids are going to grow up to be National Merit scholars, OK? All of them. Fine.
“That still leaves thousands of children being abused, because that’s what I think it is when you’re not giving a child an education — it’s child abuse. And I’m not going to just stand by and watch it happen.” [More]
R-ight. So what do state officials have to say about those who turn out bad after being schooled the conventional way, eh? I’ll bet there are thousands of them out there too. The fact is, no system is faultless; in every human enterprise there will always be instances of nonperformance and breakdowns. As much as parents don’t wish for it, things happen that unfortunately “gives a bad name to homeschool,” as some are wont to say.
This is really a fascinating report, balanced, and informative, highlighting the shape of home education as it is practiced today – without skirting concerns that homeschoolers should not be afraid to face up. There are interviews with real homeschoolers and responses from across the fence that say they do not oppose homeschooling per se, but that it needs to be regulated simply because there are kids who do fall between the cracks, or ‘child abuse.’
Go ahead and read it, and see if there’s something in it for homeschoolers in Malaysia.
4 Comments so far...
MT Says:
26 May 2009 at 1:09 pm.
Senator Jim Wilson is simply not stating the truth. STATISTICALLY, studies over extended period of time over many thousands of randomly sampled students shows that homeschoolers on the AVERAGE score around the top 20% academically. Compared to homeschooled students, public school students are experiencing child abuse – if we are to use Senator Jim Wilson’s definition.
If a publicly elected public servant is going to wax eloquent on a topic that affects his constituents, he should at least do it with valid and accurate data.
DAVID BC TAN Says:
26 May 2009 at 10:44 pm.
For reasons best known to politicians, they do not take kindly to homeschoolers (and others) who refuse to acknowledge that government knows best. It might surprise you to know that an official in the malaysian ministry of education was reported saying that homeschooling a child here is a ‘privilege’ and not a right. Sometimes it’s not the data they’re refusing to see.
Ailin Says:
27 May 2009 at 12:09 am.
We have a Homeschool Co-op going on here in Kunming =) Thank God the local government is not regulating us!!
SC Says:
11 February 2011 at 6:15 pm.
David Tan says : Govt want to assert the conditioning that “government knows best”.
And they will win that argument if people continue to send their children to “homeschooling centers” with no pedagogical, academic and management standards. Sorry, but only a few people still don’t realize the appalling modus operandi of “homeschooling centers”.
To give government and some people the benefit of the doubt – there exists a remote possibility that for some people not sending their children to school the situation could be considered a case of parental neglect – but this can only be true when either one or both parents are significantly deficient in intellectual, emotional and moral capacities. It would be much easier to find a teacher who is significantly deficient in intellectual, emotional and moral capacities, when compared to a homeschooling parent, than it would be the other way round.
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