Thank you for laying this out. I appreciate your support for public school even as you unschool. Too often people see this as black and white, us vs them. I agree that change is needed, and you have provided talking points as well as food for thought. 💗
Thanks for reading! And yes it’s so much more complex than people often are willing to admit, and I think it doesn’t help to set ourselves apart from school-going families when fundamentally we all want what’s best for our children.
I think you've done a pretty good job laying out what's wrong with schools. And I don't think they justify support of our current school systems. A universal basic income would help solve some of the issues you've mentioned that keep school-free learning on the edges.
True and thanks for adding this. I’m a big supporter of UBI! I still do think that some of maybe most kids might need somewhere to go and that a publicly funded, non-coercive option would be something I could get behind.
Oops sent too soon. In the meantime, I personally don’t feel I can justify advocating for the end of schooling as we know it, altho as my piece reflects I’m obviously very torn about where that places we ethically speaking. Can I believe something is essentially infringing on children’s wholeness and still support it because we have nothing else that’s viable right now? Maybe. I may change my mind in future!
I completely agree with you. I do bash public schools a lot in my writing. My traumatic personal experiences get the better of me. However, I've been trying to say "the system" or "traditional schools," because, as you said, many private schools are equally or more problematic. I have come to very similar thoughts about what to do about this. One of my kids didn't want to homeschool because he wanted constant social interaction or "company" while he learned. This makes perfect sense. A self-directed learning center or microschool could offer the hot meals and other conveniences of public school without having the same coercive aspects. I would love to see funding for homeschool, learning centers, microschools, etc. I think if this began to happen, the movement toward SDE would grow a lot faster. A lot of the hesitation is the thought of homeschooling being impossible or lack of experience with how well SDE can work. As these programs were funded locally, people could go observe and finally understand why it's a far better way to educate. At the same time, other options/philosophies could still be offered as long as there was interest. Thank you for bringing up this important topic and covering it so thoroughly!
Thank you for so eloquently articulating the nuanced aspects of education that many of us contemplate. Over the years that we've been in and out of schools, unschooling and incorporating an SDE way of life, so much of what I used to hold as strong opinions in parenting and education in black and white terms have softened, AND there are certain fundamental values like respect for children as whole people, anti-oppression lens, decolonization and social justice that still remain clear as day. I hope we can continue advancing these conversations, working to create change/alternatives in different ways, rather than adhering to a singular approach to education or a narrow definition of success. So much to think about.
This a thorough and considered article. You outlined almost all of my talking points about the public education debate. It's really complex, there's no universally good answer. I know many teachers, in private schools and public schools and who taught within both subsystems. Whether or not they remained or were ever embedded in the public school side, they all support the continued existence and funding of public schools. And I support public schools even though I'm not super pleased at the necessity of sending my children to them—for very specific, personal reasons.
One of the biggest reasons I support public schools as a system worth saving and investing in is because they are a de facto form of childcare for the majority of people nowadays. Privatized childcare is bonkers expensive. But not only that, the reality is that many people—too many!—don't even have the security of paid time off from their jobs, so those are two reasons that this system helps people.
The problem with systems is that they can't usually provide flexible, personalized applications of services within their parameters. So no matter how good they are, some kids/families will be served with mediocrity and some will fail to be served.
The benefit of systems is that they have the potential to deliver services to most people in a streamlined and efficient manner, even with education. Like you said, there exist models for public education with demonstrably good outcomes. Unfortunately, public schools will continue to trend downward in efficacy and measurable results for as long as we continue to actively de-fund them, and most atrocious, if we continue to tie their funding to their local tax bases. This is the greatest factor to contribute to the inequity of school services. And it was done purposely in conjunction with redlining to keep poor people poor. If, as our country is fond of saying, education is one of the single most important factors that leads to a person getting out of poverty, then it tracks that keeping people poorly educated will keep them from building affluence.
Anyway, you know all of this, having written this excellent article. It just still gets me steamed when anti-public-school people point at poor student performances to justify additional de-funding.
I’m so with you on all of that. Thanks for reading and commenting. This is such a polarising debate and I think, as someone who homeschools, I want to be super clear about recognising homeschooling is simply not a large-scale viable solution and like you said, we still need free childcare and care for kids of all ages ages.
I agree that public schools play an important and necessary role even as they continue to have problems. I appreciate that you discussed the role of schools in erasing cultures. My husband lost his ability to speak Vietnamese fluently because of the implicit and explicit messages he got in public school that only English mattered. One of our reasons to homeschool is to foster our kids’ connection to their Vietnamese language and culture.
I hear you on this! We are also a bilingual family and school absolutely did not help in keeping my native language (Italian) alive, nor in supporting connection to my culture. I'm still working on that. I can imagine it would be even more challenging in the case of your husband and your kids.
Thank you for laying this out. I appreciate your support for public school even as you unschool. Too often people see this as black and white, us vs them. I agree that change is needed, and you have provided talking points as well as food for thought. 💗
Thanks for reading! And yes it’s so much more complex than people often are willing to admit, and I think it doesn’t help to set ourselves apart from school-going families when fundamentally we all want what’s best for our children.
💯 agree 💗
I think you've done a pretty good job laying out what's wrong with schools. And I don't think they justify support of our current school systems. A universal basic income would help solve some of the issues you've mentioned that keep school-free learning on the edges.
True and thanks for adding this. I’m a big supporter of UBI! I still do think that some of maybe most kids might need somewhere to go and that a publicly funded, non-coercive option would be something I could get behind.
Oops sent too soon. In the meantime, I personally don’t feel I can justify advocating for the end of schooling as we know it, altho as my piece reflects I’m obviously very torn about where that places we ethically speaking. Can I believe something is essentially infringing on children’s wholeness and still support it because we have nothing else that’s viable right now? Maybe. I may change my mind in future!
I completely agree with you. I do bash public schools a lot in my writing. My traumatic personal experiences get the better of me. However, I've been trying to say "the system" or "traditional schools," because, as you said, many private schools are equally or more problematic. I have come to very similar thoughts about what to do about this. One of my kids didn't want to homeschool because he wanted constant social interaction or "company" while he learned. This makes perfect sense. A self-directed learning center or microschool could offer the hot meals and other conveniences of public school without having the same coercive aspects. I would love to see funding for homeschool, learning centers, microschools, etc. I think if this began to happen, the movement toward SDE would grow a lot faster. A lot of the hesitation is the thought of homeschooling being impossible or lack of experience with how well SDE can work. As these programs were funded locally, people could go observe and finally understand why it's a far better way to educate. At the same time, other options/philosophies could still be offered as long as there was interest. Thank you for bringing up this important topic and covering it so thoroughly!
Yes I agree with your last few points. Local funding and local experience of these other models actually working out could make such a difference!
Thank you for so eloquently articulating the nuanced aspects of education that many of us contemplate. Over the years that we've been in and out of schools, unschooling and incorporating an SDE way of life, so much of what I used to hold as strong opinions in parenting and education in black and white terms have softened, AND there are certain fundamental values like respect for children as whole people, anti-oppression lens, decolonization and social justice that still remain clear as day. I hope we can continue advancing these conversations, working to create change/alternatives in different ways, rather than adhering to a singular approach to education or a narrow definition of success. So much to think about.
This a thorough and considered article. You outlined almost all of my talking points about the public education debate. It's really complex, there's no universally good answer. I know many teachers, in private schools and public schools and who taught within both subsystems. Whether or not they remained or were ever embedded in the public school side, they all support the continued existence and funding of public schools. And I support public schools even though I'm not super pleased at the necessity of sending my children to them—for very specific, personal reasons.
One of the biggest reasons I support public schools as a system worth saving and investing in is because they are a de facto form of childcare for the majority of people nowadays. Privatized childcare is bonkers expensive. But not only that, the reality is that many people—too many!—don't even have the security of paid time off from their jobs, so those are two reasons that this system helps people.
The problem with systems is that they can't usually provide flexible, personalized applications of services within their parameters. So no matter how good they are, some kids/families will be served with mediocrity and some will fail to be served.
The benefit of systems is that they have the potential to deliver services to most people in a streamlined and efficient manner, even with education. Like you said, there exist models for public education with demonstrably good outcomes. Unfortunately, public schools will continue to trend downward in efficacy and measurable results for as long as we continue to actively de-fund them, and most atrocious, if we continue to tie their funding to their local tax bases. This is the greatest factor to contribute to the inequity of school services. And it was done purposely in conjunction with redlining to keep poor people poor. If, as our country is fond of saying, education is one of the single most important factors that leads to a person getting out of poverty, then it tracks that keeping people poorly educated will keep them from building affluence.
Anyway, you know all of this, having written this excellent article. It just still gets me steamed when anti-public-school people point at poor student performances to justify additional de-funding.
I’m so with you on all of that. Thanks for reading and commenting. This is such a polarising debate and I think, as someone who homeschools, I want to be super clear about recognising homeschooling is simply not a large-scale viable solution and like you said, we still need free childcare and care for kids of all ages ages.
I agree that public schools play an important and necessary role even as they continue to have problems. I appreciate that you discussed the role of schools in erasing cultures. My husband lost his ability to speak Vietnamese fluently because of the implicit and explicit messages he got in public school that only English mattered. One of our reasons to homeschool is to foster our kids’ connection to their Vietnamese language and culture.
I hear you on this! We are also a bilingual family and school absolutely did not help in keeping my native language (Italian) alive, nor in supporting connection to my culture. I'm still working on that. I can imagine it would be even more challenging in the case of your husband and your kids.