With Obama touting longer school days and an extended school year as a way to cure our academic woes:
“We can no longer afford an academic calendar designed when America was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home plowing the land at the end of each day. That calendar may have once made sense, but today, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea. That is no way to prepare them for a 21st century economy.”
John Gatto’s article, 9 Assumptions of Schooling and Twenty-One Facts the Institution Would Rather Not Discuss is a good counter point. This whole article is worth your time, but here are some tidbits to whet your appetite.
In 1990 about 60% of American secondary school graduates enrolled in college, but only 22% did in Switzerland; in America almost l00% of our kids go to high school or private equivalents, but only a little over a fifth of the Swiss kids do. And yet the Swiss per capita income is the highest of any nation in the world.”
Did you know that in Sweden, a country legendary for its quality of life and a nation which beats American school performance in every academic category, a kid isn’t allowed to start school before the age of 7? The hard-headed Swedes don’t want to pay for the social pathologies attendant on ripping a child away from his home and mother and dumping him into a pen with strangers. Can you remember the last time you worried about a Swedish Volvo breaking down prematurely or a Swedish jet engine failing in the air? Did you know that the entire Swedish school sequence is only 9 years long, a net 25% time and tax savings over our own 12-year sequence?”
John Gatto taught in the public school system for nearly 30 years. During that time he received multiple teacher of the year awards. Since retiring in 1991 he has been an outspoken critic of our current government-controlled educational system. Think about the questions that you get asked as a homeschooler, has Gatto hit it?
Nine Assumptions of Schooling 1. Social cohesion is not possible through other means than government schooling; school is the main defense against social chaos. 2. Children cannot learn to tolerate each other unless first socialized by government agents. 3. The only safe mentors of children are certified experts with government-approved conditioning; children must be protected from the uncertified, including parents. 4. Compelling children to violate family, cultural and religious norms does not interfere with the development of their intellects or characters. 5. In order to dilute parental influence, children must be disabused of the notion that mother and father are sovereign in morality or intelligence. 6. Families should be encouraged to expend concern on the general education of everyone but discouraged from being unduly concerned with their own children’s education. 7. The State has predominant responsibility for training, morals and beliefs. Children who escape state scrutiny will become immoral. 8. Children from families with different beliefs, backgrounds and styles must be forced together even if those beliefs violently contradict one another. Robert Frost, the poet, was wrong when he maintained that “good fences make good neighbors.” 9. Coercion in the name of liberty is a valid use of state power.
John Gatto’s 9 Assumptions of Schooling and Twenty-One Facts the Institution Would Rather Not Discuss. What do you think?
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Hi, I'm Kimberly. 
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Hello! I just found you and I have to say I loved this post! I will be back to visit! :0)
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Wow! Great response… I have stewed over Obama’s comments also. He is missing the root and his solution is no solution at all! (I am a friend of Roan’s… glad to find your blog!)
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I’m struggling with whether I should homeschool or not. My husband was homeschooled, along with his siblings. I was in public school. None of us are either smarter or more stupid than another. We’re all very intelligent. I liked my public school for many reasons, hated it for others. There’s always pros and cons to each side. But I live in inner-city Kansas City (where my husband’s ministry is) and our school systems are BAD. Like we rank really low. Also, my kids would be a minority and while that shouldn’t be a factor it really makes me hesitate.
The only good schools around here are Christian-based or Catholic-based (we’re NOT Catholic) and are EXPENSIVE. There’s no way we could afford it. *SIGH* It’s so hard to just make a decision. You’re very inspiring and I hope to soon look through all your homeschooling posts.
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Kimberly Reply:
March 28th, 2009 at 9:20 am
Joy,
Our family’s primary reason for homeschooling is not academic. I hope to post more on this soon so keep checking back.
In the meantime I pray that God will give both you and your husband wisdom as you think about these decisions.
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Wow, what fascinating thoughts! I’ve been meaning to read Gatto for a while. This post inspires me to make that a high priority.
Just discovered your blog (while searching for info about Feedburner issues, oddly enough) and am glad to have found it. I look forward to reading more of your posts!
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In response to Joy…I just finished reading a book called Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham. I think it is an incredible read for any parent, and covers so much ground in regards to major decisions we make as parents every day (how to spend our time, influences to allow in your children’s lives, discipline/first time obedience, church involvement/structure, schooling, etc.) He makes very compelling Biblical arguments for not putting your children in secular schools. I would encourage you to at least read his chapters on teaching your children, as you go through this decision process. He is a homeschool father, but Christian schooling outside the home is mentioned positively, so it really is more of an argument against allowing your children to be taught from a secular worldview rather than just a promo for homeschooling. I will pray for you all, as I know the decision can be stressful. God used my discomfort w/ secular schools and a long period of tight finances to push us to homeschool. If I could’ve afforded to put mine in Christian school, I would’ve, but homeschooling turned out to be a wonderful blessing for our whole family. In fact, my husband took a job with a 50% pay raise in March of my oldest child’s kindergarten year, and so we could’ve opted for private school for first grade. In that short time though, homeschooling already “felt right”. We’re at the end of her fourth grade year now, and it just keeps getting better.
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Kimberly Reply:
March 31st, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Thanks Julie. We have enjoyed other things from Voddie Baucham but don’t have this book. Now I want to read it.
Blessings,
Kimberly
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As Voddie would put it, “we send our kids to Caesar and are surprised when they come back as Romans.” Just a thought.
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I love John Taylor Gatto. Personally I did graduate homeschool at 16 and immediately entered a full time ministry work. I hope my kids do the same. I also agree with waiting until age 7 to do serious academic work in our homeschool. By then it’s amazing what the kid has already learned.
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