Anti-homeschooling Views - part 2

Continuing on from Anti-homeschooling Views part 1.

My next catergory is fear. (Many of these categories overlap).


1. Fear of the unknown

Better the devil you know than the devil you don't. I personally know many parents who are dissatisfied with public education, but are terrified of the alternative. They are comfortable with their set of problems and don't want to trade them in for another set.

It is how I feel every time we change medical plans. Regardless of how good are bad the last plan worked, I hate to change. I know how to play my current system. It is daunting to learn the ins and outs of a new program.



2. Fear of failure

Many people are not "comfortable" with failure. I learned quickly as a new homeschooler to let go and move on when a new (often expensive) curriculum didn't work. Not everything we have tried while homeschooling worked well. We've had some wonderful successes, but just as many failures. I think we went through three spelling programs before we found one that worked for my kids. I don't want to even talk about Latin. I think we will give up and try Japanese this year.

Fragile egos can't handle the ups and downs of homeschooling. Public education reinforces that kind of thinking. We can't have competition, social promotion regardless of ability, can't let the bright hard working kids excel because it might make the slower kids feel bad, and grade inflation are just a few examples of this.


3. Fear of responsibility

We live in a society that wants privileges without responsibilities. Education is now a right. Children are entitled to a high school diploma even if they didn't put in the effort and can't pass a simple exit exam. Parents want the title with out the actual responsibility for their children. Homeschoolers are steping up to the challenge of actually caring for their own children. Other parents are worried that if we can do it, they might be expected to do it also.


4. Fear of work

The most common response I get when I tell someone I homeschool is, "That's great, but I could never do that." My response is, "Yes, you could. What you are really saying is that it would take more effort than you are willing to make." They usually agree.

Some of this attitude may come from a mistaken perception that homeschooling is "school at home." If I tried to recreate the typical class room schedule at home, I would give up too.


5. Fear of being "different"

Many people just don't want to stand out in a crowd. I trace some of this back to public education. The goal of school is to make all children to look, act and test the same. They are to be interchangeable widgets on an assembly line. Because children are "socialized" by other children instead of adults, the pack mentality is reinforced. Don't get me wrong. There is something to be said for being able to get along in a group setting. However, group-think is a poor way to make decisions in life.


To be continued....

My next category is Politics.