Why do we send our kids to school?
Because we went to school. And we were sent to school because our parents themselves had been to school. It’s what we’re familiar with, it’s what’s expected, it’s what kids do. Children have to go to school because if they don’t, they won’t learn what they need to learn in order to be successful adults.
Except that for the bulk of human history, it didn’t work that way.
Read Why Schools Are What They Are: A Brief History of Education if you’re interested in learning more.
And while I’m on the topic of education, check out Organically Inclined’s answer to the “Socialization Question”.
i look forward to homeschooling our son in a few years time when we had off for our circumnavigating adventure. in the meanwhile, our girls go to school and i work. Homeschooling is a bit like homebirthing, something people freak out about until they actually look at the institutionalisation involved and that is doesnt have to be that way.
I think this is what bothers me the most, that people do things without thinking, that their only reasoning is, “That’s what’s always been done.”
I just wish people would think sometimes, consider alternatives, imagine that the world might be run differently and to a better end.
I appreciate that your blog represents a really nice alternative.