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I have been asked why I, as a homeschooling parent, have signed the school and state separation proclamation.
To begin with, our choice to homeschool had little to do with the separation concept. It took real life experiences, not a philosophy, for us to leave the convenient, comfortable, and "normal" government run system. It is the lull of that normalcy, I believe, that is the ruin of the present day education system.
Today's parents are complacent in allowing others to direct the education of their children. Notice I am not advocating that everyone should homeschool their children, just pointing out that most people are not even aware of what their children are learning. Or worse yet, what they are capable of learning. We are many generations into the "public school experiment" and have lost sight of what it has replaced and whether we are better off or not. That's for historians and sociologists to argue over, I can only tell you what I see today.
I have attended many school board meetings over the past four years and have rarely seen a parent show specific concern over an academic matter. It's not that the parents in our district are uncaring parents, they just perceive that the education of their children is not their responsibility, its the school's. They are quick to come out if there's a safety, health, or social concern, but education is generally left to the "experts". Education has gone from being a individual's responsibility to being a product delivered by specialists. And the delivery of this product has become a government entitlement.
Whether the "product" is to be administered in schools or homes, by experts or anyone is not what I believe separation is all about. Its the government's role in being the education nanny that is the immediate concern of separationists. Its who's ultimately responsible for education, the individual or a faceless bureaucracy, that really matters. Everyone complains that "they ought to ---" but few will take on the task themselves. This is an unacceptable attitude when it comes to our children.
I believe that just as other government entitlements have succeeded in relieving individual responsibility in their respective fields, government compulsion has destroyed parental involvement in education. And the irony is that parental involvement is what the education establishment is crying out for. You can read about how the federal government hopes to encourage parental involvement while mainly succeeding in instituting a multitude of programs.
Just as important (if not more) is the personal responsibility that the student should exhibit. Where does the child learn to exercise responsibility in a system that is compulsory? Can they learn it from parents who already feel they have no say in their child's education? Does the current system build on the child's innate curiosity or strive to mold him into a passive education receptacle?
Getting the government out of education will get us on the road to stop looking at education as a product to be dispensed. Education reformer John Holt said it best when he stated "Teaching does not make learning --- organized education operates on the assumption that children learn only when and only what and only because we teach them. This is not true. It is very close to 100% false. Learners make learning." Its not so much how we teach them that matters, its the cultivating of learners that's crucial.
Only by getting the government out of the compulsory education business can education reach its full potential. When parents and students alike realize that no one is going to force feed them an education parental care and student responsibility can blossom.
This parental involvement can range from homeschooling, to forming neighborhood schools, to simply picking a school. Even if the involvement is primarily raising the funds or grants necessary to pay for the education, it puts a real value on learning. It will have parents thinking about their child's education. And that's more than what we have right now.
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