So why did you choose to homeschool?

Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Education on 29 Oct 2009.

“So why did you choose to homeschool? Your children are normal….”

It is often supposed that unless there was some dire need for keeping a child at home, depriving a child of conventional schooling is unreasonable, and possibly even damaging. Why? Because  no parent could ever be sufficiently equipped or knowledgeable enough to do the stuff that school teachers are paid to do. More importantly, there are suspicions that weirdos who keep their kids at home risk turning out social misfits (a) whose sheltered upbringing leave them easy prey in our nasty, cruel world, and (b) who don’t have a clue how to socialize like normal human beings or fit nicely into society.

I have now come to the conclusion that people trip over these inevitable questions of qualification and socialization because of an unresolved tension. What is this tension? Firstly, a lot of parents hope schooling will effect transfer of knowledge (sometimes called education) so their children can get good jobs, jobs that offer prestige (and lots of money preferably). So they want to be sure that the ones educating their children have the right stuff. Hence the dirty looks when parents say they want to teach their children themselves. What audacity!

Secondly, these same people also believe education is to make kids socially adept, get along with all sorts of people in our pluralistic society. The only way a person can get ahead is when they’re properly schooled to possess the right EQ and IQ, and play according to the rules ordained by social convention and the dictates of cultural forces, say a lot of well-intentioned friends. You know, you’ve got to buy into society’s worldview and values in order to get something out of it. This is where the tension surfaces, but I’ll get there in a moment.

Now, governments the world over stand unabashedly by what their citizens want. Therefore all the talk about “equipping students with employable skills” and “equipping students with critical skills as the workforce of tomorrow”. In Malaysia, the government of the day is careful to point out that education is also to “inculcate national consciousness by promoting common ideals, values, aspirations and loyalties to foster national unity.”

Here’s the rub, the tension I was referring to.

A lot of parents want their kids to be independent, critical thinkers; they hope that at the end of all that schooling, their children will possess “critical skills” – not only to find lucrative employment, but perhaps the courage of character to shape the world in a positive way even. Like Einstein, Steve Jobs, or Mohammad Yunus.

But independent critical thinkers are not known to accept “common ideals, values, aspirations and loyalties to foster national unity.” They fly against the wind, take chances, defy typecast. They’re likely slow learners, late bloomers, high school dropouts, and anti-establishment to boot.

Because of this seemingly divergent views about what schooling ought to accomplish, we debate over who qualifies to teach, what to teach, what language is best, and how to teach our children. We’re arguing over what Neil Postman calls ‘engineering matters’ which are but questions about the best way to deliver school services.

Homeschool, like conventional schools are really a means to an end; they’re meant to take our children somewhere. Whether one chooses to educate a child at home or have her regimented in a school, the question to ask is, what is education for? Of course one can have several objectives (even conflicting ones), but don’t let them get in the way of what the overriding goal of education ought to be. If such a question sounds too daunting, here’s another: what sort of person do you want your child to be? I know that’s not a question you can grade or is it an end that comes necessarily after some 12 years of learning. But it’s an essential starting point. As the Cheshire Cat told Alice at the fork in the road when she asked which way to take, “That depends a great deal on where you want to get to.”

Similarly, choosing homeschool or traditional schooling depends on what you want your child to grow up into. No cheating now. Don’t say, “It’s not my job to shape my child, education is supposed to be neutral – I just want to let her be her own person, find her own way.” The truth is, education is never neutral or agenda-free.

Then if you should choose to homeschool, you’ll be unfazed by detractors who question your sanity, or by circumstances that threaten to overwhelm. The road ahead may be inconvenient and demanding, even costly; but I promise it will be a rewarding one.

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