Homeschoolers seem to be rushing to say that we're not any more arrogant than the next person, that it is better to say that homeschooling is a "choice that works best for our family" rather than somehow advocate that everyone do it (as if those opposites were the only possibilities). This is because everyone who knows nothing about homeschooling and even some who do assume that we're doing it because we think they're better than them, that our doing so is in some way a commentary on their not doing it.
I just don't think arrogance is the issue.
These well-meaning folks are mistakenly blending two separate concepts: 1) the conviction that what one is doing is objectively best and 2) the strutting, snotty attitude of nyah-nyah I am better than you. At the Life Without School blog, Tammy says this:
Another implication in saying that homeschoolers are arrogant, is that we think we can educate our kids better than trained, certified teachers, merely by making the choice not to have teachers be our children's full time educators. Although that may be true from a certain perspective, the choice to rarely comes from *just* that opinion. It's not a personal affront to teachers. The choice to educate at home is much bigger than whether we think we're better than teachers. Saying that homeschoolers are arrogant because we think we're better than school teachers is taking a very small issue and making it into a huge deal.
I disagree. For me, it's a huge deal, although of course not the only one, but it's the one that matters most. And it is an affront to teachers; I don't think saying it's not makes it not true. Sure, the wonderful lifestyle that results from this choice is a marvelous bonus. But...am I educating the kids at home because I think I'm better at it than trained, certified teachers? Of course I am. I actually know stuff about the world. I have thought deeply about the way we acquire knowledge. I observe the way my kids learn best, and I tailor how I educate each child to that child's abilities and interests.
In contrast, the "training" that teachers receive sucks. It doesn't consist of knowledge, but of postmodern pedagogical "techniques"--I know, I took some of those Ed School classes in college. And, the brightest porch lights on the block most definitely do not go into teaching, anymore. My very own parents (who, mind you, I am not claiming WERE particularly bright), who were math teachers trained in the late 50s and early 60s, COULDN'T DO MATH. My mother taught eighth-grade algebra. She couldn't do geometry. David is organizing a Summer Math Institute at RIT for high-school math teachers *because they can't do math,* and the official standards do not prepare them to get their students prepared to do math in college.
Am I smarter than the average teacher? Yep. Can I educate my kids much better than the average teacher? Yep. Is this education that my kids are receiving superior to what regular kids in school are getting? Of course. Do I go around strutting about it? Nope. (At least, goodness, I don't think so.) Because that's not the point. In life, the point is never "I can do this and you can't." That approach to life is a waste of time and will never serve one well overall.
But if people read into my decision to homeschool the "arrogance" of my certainty that I can do it better, and that, implicitly, my kids are having a better childhood than others, so be it. They'd better be...a parent's job, having made these little critters, is to give them the best experience, the best start in life possible...and if I saw someone else doing it better, it's my responsibility to analyze what about it is better to see if it's something that my kids should experience too.
That of course doesn't mean that homeschooling is in any way the best option for all, or even most, families. There are other considerations that play in...do I think some of my friends should give up their careers and the money that comes from it, and educate their children at home? No! Parents can ensure that kids get educated in other ways, and therein provide the highest net happiness for the entire family. And, of course, in the ideal free society, the education industry wouldn't have descended into the crappiness that constitutes the majority of today's public schools, and division-of-labor would mean that others, rather than I, would be best suited to educating Madison and Ella.
But for now, it's I. Good thing I love it, and that it works best for our family, and that they don't have to deal with crappy people at a young age, and that they're not saturated with the dumbed-down pop culture and shallow values that one encounters at school, and that they can come into contact with far more people than they could in school, and all the other reasons that people educate their children at home. All of these are nice. But really, my job is to give these kids the best education I can find so that they have a good start in life. I think that this just happens to be me.
And, I think I can be proud of doing a good job, of raising happy, healthy, engaged, educated girls. Not being proud of doing a good job would be, to some extent, denying reality...and depriving myself of the reward that comes from doing something well. It has nothing to do with you, or the next-door neighbor, or the unschoolers down the street, or the Christian homeschoolers around the corner.
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