Home Education And Lenient Parenting
I’ve been digging Homeschool the Revolution lately. I know, I’m a sucker for anyone with “revolution” in their blog name. Over the weekend I had a chance to read a post there on parenting and being an objective teacher. The whole post is really worth reading but here is a snippit that really stood out to me.
Remember the old adage about leading horses to water? Well, a teacher can stand in front of a classroom all day and teach and teach and teach, but if the child is not stimulated to learn, he won’t become educated. True education is stimulating the child’s interest in the subject and facilitating a deepening desire to know more. The best teachers know this and try to do it - often not as well as they would like, because it is nearly impossible to do it for twenty-four students at once.
The post was actually in response to a question about parents not able to be objective teachers and coddling their children.
Parents are going to be more likely to give their children more leeway than professionals. When John and Jane get jobs, unless it’s in the family business, bosses are not going to be mommy or daddy. They’re going to be objective professionals.
For me I think this boils down to the idea from Calvin: learning should not be fun. Neither should work it seems, and for many people it certainly isn’t. I suppose my answer is different because I see my kids’ futures differently, or at least I hope their futures will be. I am sure that I will give my children more leeway, a longer leash so to speak. Because I want them to be free to explore and create and understand. I hope that with this they will learn what truly drives them and work towards that. In other words if one is passionate about art I would hate to see him take a boring desk job and go to it every day because that’s what he thinks he has to do. But if he loves math and crunching numbers I want him to be given more leeway to build himself up so that when he becomes an adult he will have internal motivation to be the best he can. I don’t want my children living by a someone else’s schedule or running from one ringing bell to the next.
April 14th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Great post! Ya’ know, even on the worst of days, when I’m doing a job I love, I still have a passion for it. That’s when you know you have found your life love - your gifts.
And if we can’t trust parents to give their children all they need to succeed … well, that goes way beyond “education.” We should just put every kid in a public institution to be raised only by trained child psychologists, pediatricians and formally educated teachers. If the vast majority of parents can guide and teach their children the basics of life physically, socially, emotionally and spiritually (better than anyone else), why is there an assumption that such a connection and ability stops at writing and math?
April 14th, 2008 at 8:52 am
When I hear stuff like that, I always wonder what they mean by ‘coddling’. Is a child spending time in a nurturing environment ‘coddling’?
For most, the school experience was a drudgery, which translated into employment that is just as unpleasant and unsatisfying, and their attitude is that life is misery so kids need to be prepared to be miserable. I believe this because of one phrase with a few variations that I hear repeated quite often is “Well, I survived school/was bullied on the playground/had a scary teacher/failed geometry and I turned out OK”. Somehow this idea coming from someone who hates their job, their wife, and their dog doesn’t inspire confidence.
April 15th, 2008 at 6:24 am
Great article. I’ve met lots of homeschooling families in my day, and I have to say that sadly, there are about a third of them that will not be demanding of academics, and let their children do the least bit possible. Thing is, I know many teachers who tell me that a third of their students don’t care about academics and do the least bit possible. But there are the others in both camps that do care and work hard to ensure a solid future. The homeschoolers in this group are just lucky enough to do so in a variety of ways.
April 18th, 2008 at 9:54 am
That’s so true. I’ve heard many teachers complaining about parents who could care less about their children’s education. It certainly isn’t a home education only phenomenon.