As I was reading a magazine in the orthodontist's office this afternoon while waiting for Kenny to finish his latest adjustment, I stumbled across something that seemed so timely that it was almost spooky. This ongoing conversation we have all had here on the blog the past week or so in response to my education posts revealed a lot of heated emotions, and a lack of understanding likely due in large part to my inability to articulate things well enough. Also, I truly believe that I could make the exact same statements about the craziness of public education if our kids were still in public school and I would get a lot of vigorous head nods from others rather than the thinking that I somehow feel homeschooling is something everyone should do. Not at all the truth, just a right decision for our situation and our family...definitely not the right decision for others.
However, my passionate feelings regarding wanting to get our kids off the merry-go-round that our society sees as the only path to gaining a solid education was met with derisionby a few, and the mistaken sense that we want to deny our kids a college education or "call the shots" for them. This single minded focus on SAT's and college prep is killing our kids, literally. It kills their spirit, it kills their intellectual curiosity, and sometimes, it takes away their very life. Think I am nuts? Well, you definitely might be right about that :-) but it seems tens of thousands of others are seeing the lunacy of all of it as well. What I found in the magazine was a short article about a film called "Race to Nowhere", in which this very same topic is addressed in depth. I may be crazy, but I discovered I am not alone. My thoughts about all of this, and wanting to make decisions that we feel are healthier for our kids, are not as odd as I was made to feel they were and I instantly felt a little validated upon reading the article (I think it was in something like Family Circle or one of those magazines). Mind you, whether we homeschooled or not I would try and steer our kids away from thinking they had to jump on the Stress Express that our high schools have become. The discussion about homeschooling really has nothing at all to do with the college band wagon and our approach as a society to education in general.
Quotes from the trailer that I found insightful were "Our students are pressured to perform, they're not necessarily pressured to learn, especially learn deeply and conceptually." and another "I'm afraid that our children are going to sue us for stealing their childhoods." The trailer alone backed up what I was trying to say so well, and I was surprised to discover that anyone else at all was tackling this complex issue. This film is not some sort of "out of left field" documentary, it has been very favorably reviewed by many big names and newspapers. Check out the trailer:
We all may agree to disagree, there are many of us that will likely never find ourselves on the same page about this subject, but this is really deep food for thought, and something every parent should at least consider as they look to the academic future of their child. Our job is not just to get our kids into good colleges, or have them score great paying jobs. Our job, as parents, is also to help them become healthy, whole individuals. It also means showing them that they can create the life they want to have, that there are many different paths to the same objective, and that they are never "boxed in" unless they allow that to happen. And yes, it means helping them learn to have the courage to do things differently, to refuse to "sell their soul" for a grade...or a paycheck. Because it flat out isn't worth it. They lose too much in the process.
I realize that for many, there IS no other way than the established norm, and to even consider any other alternative is fraught with way too much uncertainty. That's fine! Continue on, you may have one of those kids that thrive with that kind of pressure. We all know folks like that exist. But many, many do not thrive, many lose themselves along the way and it takes years, if not decades, to discover who they really are outside the system that created them.
At least the conversation has begun, and we can all enter in as we feel led. That's what America is all about, not falling lockstep behind others! Guess I'll never be very good at that myself :-)
However, my passionate feelings regarding wanting to get our kids off the merry-go-round that our society sees as the only path to gaining a solid education was met with derisionby a few, and the mistaken sense that we want to deny our kids a college education or "call the shots" for them. This single minded focus on SAT's and college prep is killing our kids, literally. It kills their spirit, it kills their intellectual curiosity, and sometimes, it takes away their very life. Think I am nuts? Well, you definitely might be right about that :-) but it seems tens of thousands of others are seeing the lunacy of all of it as well. What I found in the magazine was a short article about a film called "Race to Nowhere", in which this very same topic is addressed in depth. I may be crazy, but I discovered I am not alone. My thoughts about all of this, and wanting to make decisions that we feel are healthier for our kids, are not as odd as I was made to feel they were and I instantly felt a little validated upon reading the article (I think it was in something like Family Circle or one of those magazines). Mind you, whether we homeschooled or not I would try and steer our kids away from thinking they had to jump on the Stress Express that our high schools have become. The discussion about homeschooling really has nothing at all to do with the college band wagon and our approach as a society to education in general.
Quotes from the trailer that I found insightful were "Our students are pressured to perform, they're not necessarily pressured to learn, especially learn deeply and conceptually." and another "I'm afraid that our children are going to sue us for stealing their childhoods." The trailer alone backed up what I was trying to say so well, and I was surprised to discover that anyone else at all was tackling this complex issue. This film is not some sort of "out of left field" documentary, it has been very favorably reviewed by many big names and newspapers. Check out the trailer:
We all may agree to disagree, there are many of us that will likely never find ourselves on the same page about this subject, but this is really deep food for thought, and something every parent should at least consider as they look to the academic future of their child. Our job is not just to get our kids into good colleges, or have them score great paying jobs. Our job, as parents, is also to help them become healthy, whole individuals. It also means showing them that they can create the life they want to have, that there are many different paths to the same objective, and that they are never "boxed in" unless they allow that to happen. And yes, it means helping them learn to have the courage to do things differently, to refuse to "sell their soul" for a grade...or a paycheck. Because it flat out isn't worth it. They lose too much in the process.
I realize that for many, there IS no other way than the established norm, and to even consider any other alternative is fraught with way too much uncertainty. That's fine! Continue on, you may have one of those kids that thrive with that kind of pressure. We all know folks like that exist. But many, many do not thrive, many lose themselves along the way and it takes years, if not decades, to discover who they really are outside the system that created them.
At least the conversation has begun, and we can all enter in as we feel led. That's what America is all about, not falling lockstep behind others! Guess I'll never be very good at that myself :-)
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