I'm just going to throw this post out there about John Gatto's piece, Against School, because I have some fun painting and cooking stuff to show you, and I will never get to them if I spend all my time trying to express what I think about education in compressed yet scintillating form.
Here's the thing: the piece isn't so much about school and how bad it is, even on a day with the story about the little boy sentenced to forty five days in reform school for bringing in a cub scout cutlery set. He's 6. Forty. Five. Days.
No no no no no. That's not the point.
{Nor is it that I think you should homeschool. I think you should educate yourself about education and then apply what you've learned to your family, in school or out.}
The point of Gatto's essay (and note well that he is really talking about secondary school here) is that there is an immense system that claims that each child should be educated in a certain way, to a certain point in his life.
And we all want our children not only to be educated, but to be well rounded, fulfilled, expressive, and creative. And we want them to excel. And we want all that NOW.
I would encourage you to read at least this chapter online of his book, Underground History of American Education, because his recounting of his childhood is an important slice of American life, evocative of a time and place that should not be forgotten.
You might even buy or borrow from the library the whole thing. But at least read that section and ask yourself how you much texture your own children have in their lives. How much freedom?
Because, sometime this week I can guarantee that I will have a conversation with someone in which she will tell me that she is so frustrated with a particular child of hers…
…and she will tell me that although she and her husband have sent this child to the very best school with the nicest teachers and the most clever books — or, contrariwise, they have put together the most well crafted curriculum that a home school has ever known — that this child is just NOT GETTING IT.
She will ask me,
“What should I do if he just drags in math?”
“What about writing! I just can't get her to write!”
“He stares at the wall!”
“She won't sit still!”
You have to understand something.
School as we know it was made by people who specialize in putting things into boxes and selling them. (And home school is becoming more like school.)
And this is what Gatto is trying to say.
Oh, here and there you find an amazing teacher. He was one himself, and won awards doing a great job. Don't get me wrong. I love an amazing teacher.
And many children do fairly well — fairly– with what they have to deal with.
I would say that just like everything else, 80% of the children are going to be okay.
{And that accounts for the fact that the school, which is intent on producing a product, isn't simply scrapped, and why most curricula you buy will be more or less fine for most of your kids. And why you yourself probably did okay in school, although I bet if we really talked about it you would agree that you wasted a lot of time, or maybe didn't get to study what you wanted to, or maybe see that you learned a lot from people who had nothing to do with your school.}
I would say that this 80% is mostly comprised of kids who are using a lot of energy to get through a system that doesn't really suit them, but once they are done with it they can go on either to do what they really want to do or to acquiesce in the true purpose of the school which is to help them take their place in the culture of getting along.
But of the remaining 20% of the children, 10% — and I haven't done a study, but I'm just saying — will be frustrated to the point of a certain amount of self-destruction because they get it already and their time is being wasted, and 10% will be truly ground into the dust because they learn in a completely different way from the other 90% and anyway, don't want to learn what you want them to learn because they have something else they simply must do.
And why shouldn't your child be one of these less compliant ones?
The reason I tell parents — like you — to read Gatto isn't because I'm railing against public schools. I've been there and done that, and to me it's so obvious that the good people who run them are made to bow down to what amounts to a propaganda machine as well as an inefficient way to spend money that I can't believe we are still talking about it.
It doesn't matter. Pretty soon people are just going to do the darn cost-benefit analysis and realize they are on the wrong end of things.
I'm trying to get you to see, or to get in touch with the part of you that does see, that people grow up needing a rich experience of life on many levels without being hampered by an excessively strong educational system, and I think Gatto expresses that very well.
Children need the freedom that learning the Trivium brings (as Dorothy Sayers explains in her essay).
And they need the freedom to pursue their passion. Starting when they are really quite young, actually…
In essence, I like reading Gatto because he reminds me to be humble before this process that we quite underestimate; and having underestimated it, then expend vast amounts of money, energy, and other resources trying to otherwise repackage it so that we can feel in control. If we had the guts, we could save ourselves a lot of trouble.
Farmgirl Cyn says
I LOVE John Taylor Gatto, and his book "Dumbing Us Down" is one I have on hand to pass on to anyone who is remotely considering homeschooling. He has insight that few have. (except perhaps Raymond and DorothY Moore)love this post!
scmom (Barbara) says
Been there, done that, too. A school psychologist once told me (just a few short months before we left Catholic grade school for home) that 30 percent of kids get it — they are right on track. Thirty are lost, left behind, and 30 are bored — like you said, they get it. It's sad that we are satisfying only 30 percent of kids in school.
Tracy @Magnolia Cul- says
yep, yep, yep, agree, agree, agree. Looking back now, I'd say I was in the 10% of hurry up and get me out of here that turned to a bit of self destruction. Oh and the part about some homeschooling looking quite a lot like schooling instead of education…yep again. Thanks for this mini-series. I am re-evaluating our family education plan, once again.
Melanie B says
I was in the hurry up, I'm bored group. Spent a lot of time reading smuggled books under my desk. Fortunately I avoided most of the self-destructive element. My husband wasn't so lucky. He had to do a crash and burn before he eventually righted himself. Course he did turn out ok… eventually. But I hope we can do better by our kids. Less boredom, more real learning.