Once upon a time long, long ago most people cooked and
ate at home. Then someone invented restaurants. Cooks
prepared food and people ate at the restaurant. Still "home
cooking" set the standard restaurants tried to achieve.
Home cooks didn't measure their success by how well
they measured up to restaurant standards. Those cooks didn't
claim to be engaged in home restauranting. Like it or not,
restaurant cooks must compete with home cooking. They
haven't been able to stigmatize "home cooking" as second rate or
evil. Neither have they managed to make home cooking illegal.
We are a long way from calling eating at home "home
restauranting." Restaurant eating isn't mandatory even for
children. Parents don't go to jail for their children not attending
restaurant.
Also, once upon a time, long, long ago home teaching
was the standard. Then both adults and children ventured out to
meet with teachers and learn outside the home. That learning
place came to be called a school.
Schools obviously had better public relation flacks than
did restaurants. Instead of being willing to supplement home
teaching and learning, schools sold the idea that learning outside
the school was impossible. Anyone who didn't feed their mind
at schools would mentally starve to death.
The word "school" that described a place, grew to be
synonymous with teaching and learning. "School" evolved into
a verb. What used to be teaching and learning became
schooling. Children were schooled.
Home teaching and learning were demeaned rather than
praised as the standard of excellence. In Michigan the Amish of
decades ago fought a long battle to save the right to teach their
children at home. They won. In doing so they kept open the
door for all parents who wanted to practice home teaching. How
many home teachers realize how much they owe those Amish?
By the time of the rebirth of home teaching, people were
so indoctrinated by the almighty school that they accepted the
idea that teaching and learning at home were schooling. The
home teachers accepted second fiddle to their detractors and
adversaries. This is the equivalent of Post Cereal calling eating
breakfast "Kelloging."
Educating children is a parental responsibility with which
schools may assist. Today it is commonly believed that
educating children is a government responsibility with which
parents may interfere.
The evidence strongly suggests that "home teaching," like
"home cooking," is the superior brand. At a minimum home
teaching isn't inferior. I'm sure that if you search long enough
and hard enough you will find some parents who do a terrible
job of teaching their children.
You need not search long to find government schools that
do horrible jobs of teaching students. Merely look about and
follow the news. If we should throw away a whole barrel
because of some bad apples, the government school barrel, not
the home teaching barrel, should be the first one dumped.
Imagine the reaction if restaurant cooks asserted that only
they know how to feed children. The professional cooks
demand that you drop your children off at the restaurant. The
cooks claim you should butt out because you couldn't even
understand the magic the professional cooks will work. Imagine
if MacDonalds was mandatory.
So-called professional educators have been making that
claim for as long as I can remember. The claim doesn't even
pass the smell test. For one thing, millions of parents are
smarter and better educated than the average professional
educator. Even most of the rest of parents aren't stupid.
Anyone who spends 13 or more years in supervised learning
and knows nothing about teaching and education shouldn't get a
diploma. My father taught school to earn money to go to
teachers college and get a teacher's certificate. I wonder how
much he learned in college about teaching.
Home educators should stand tall and proud. And, they
should call themselves what they are, educators, learning
coaches, even teachers, anything but "home schoolers."
* * * * *
* * * *
* * *
* *
*
Copyright 2012
Albert D. McCallum
18440 29-1/2 Mile Road
Springport, Michigan 49284
ate at home. Then someone invented restaurants. Cooks
prepared food and people ate at the restaurant. Still "home
cooking" set the standard restaurants tried to achieve.
Home cooks didn't measure their success by how well
they measured up to restaurant standards. Those cooks didn't
claim to be engaged in home restauranting. Like it or not,
restaurant cooks must compete with home cooking. They
haven't been able to stigmatize "home cooking" as second rate or
evil. Neither have they managed to make home cooking illegal.
We are a long way from calling eating at home "home
restauranting." Restaurant eating isn't mandatory even for
children. Parents don't go to jail for their children not attending
restaurant.
Also, once upon a time, long, long ago home teaching
was the standard. Then both adults and children ventured out to
meet with teachers and learn outside the home. That learning
place came to be called a school.
Schools obviously had better public relation flacks than
did restaurants. Instead of being willing to supplement home
teaching and learning, schools sold the idea that learning outside
the school was impossible. Anyone who didn't feed their mind
at schools would mentally starve to death.
The word "school" that described a place, grew to be
synonymous with teaching and learning. "School" evolved into
a verb. What used to be teaching and learning became
schooling. Children were schooled.
Home teaching and learning were demeaned rather than
praised as the standard of excellence. In Michigan the Amish of
decades ago fought a long battle to save the right to teach their
children at home. They won. In doing so they kept open the
door for all parents who wanted to practice home teaching. How
many home teachers realize how much they owe those Amish?
By the time of the rebirth of home teaching, people were
so indoctrinated by the almighty school that they accepted the
idea that teaching and learning at home were schooling. The
home teachers accepted second fiddle to their detractors and
adversaries. This is the equivalent of Post Cereal calling eating
breakfast "Kelloging."
Educating children is a parental responsibility with which
schools may assist. Today it is commonly believed that
educating children is a government responsibility with which
parents may interfere.
The evidence strongly suggests that "home teaching," like
"home cooking," is the superior brand. At a minimum home
teaching isn't inferior. I'm sure that if you search long enough
and hard enough you will find some parents who do a terrible
job of teaching their children.
You need not search long to find government schools that
do horrible jobs of teaching students. Merely look about and
follow the news. If we should throw away a whole barrel
because of some bad apples, the government school barrel, not
the home teaching barrel, should be the first one dumped.
Imagine the reaction if restaurant cooks asserted that only
they know how to feed children. The professional cooks
demand that you drop your children off at the restaurant. The
cooks claim you should butt out because you couldn't even
understand the magic the professional cooks will work. Imagine
if MacDonalds was mandatory.
So-called professional educators have been making that
claim for as long as I can remember. The claim doesn't even
pass the smell test. For one thing, millions of parents are
smarter and better educated than the average professional
educator. Even most of the rest of parents aren't stupid.
Anyone who spends 13 or more years in supervised learning
and knows nothing about teaching and education shouldn't get a
diploma. My father taught school to earn money to go to
teachers college and get a teacher's certificate. I wonder how
much he learned in college about teaching.
Home educators should stand tall and proud. And, they
should call themselves what they are, educators, learning
coaches, even teachers, anything but "home schoolers."
* * * * *
* * * *
* * *
* *
*
Copyright 2012
Albert D. McCallum
18440 29-1/2 Mile Road
Springport, Michigan 49284
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