Is Homeschooling Dangerous?

I want to thank Dale Callahan and his daughter Catrina for providing inspiration for today’s blog. The link I’m talking about is: http://www.dalecallahan.com/people-know-to-fight-but-do-they-know-what-for/.

Catrina’s thoughts, combined with an event a few months back where a homeschool family sought amnesty in US because Germany prevents it, spawned a few thoughts of my own.

The Yahoo article (link lost) mentioned that most of the European countries either didn’t allow homeschooling or severely limited it. In Germany, even “private” schools had to follow a nationally approved curriculum. The rationale is that this “ensured” that all children would receive “proper” education where parents may not provide the approved views. The danger is that the parents may provide an opposing view. The rationale continued saying that these countries provide free education to all people – many included college – so there was no need for homeschool.

A danger to whom?

The article was actually neutral in its report providing pro and con arguments for amnesty. It was just stating how Europe works and their beliefs on homeschool. The part that weighted on my heart was the comments posted below the article. Some people supported the freedom to homeschool, while others were against parents raising “radical” children who grow up to be serial killers, etc. Bypassing any effort to even address the fallacies inside these arguments, certainly some of the negative comments were posted by trolls looking to get an emotional rise out of the readers. In most of the negative comments ran a consistent undercurrent of – we must ensure that citizens get the “one truth” and not allow another “false truth” take its place by citizens sheltered from that “one truth”. Of course, if you are exposed to this “one truth” you would instantly see all others for the myths they are. This undercurrent was also present in the rationale behind the European’s policies on homeschooling.

Obviously, this “one truth” is not necessarily truth at all nor is the “false truths” really myths. The danger seems to be to the approved (by who is a good question) “one truth”. Presenting only the approved “one truth” is exactly what Catrina referred to as presenting only one side with marginal allowances for “debate”. Real Truth can stand on its own. It doesn’t need protecting from opposing views in an honest exchange.

Radical?

Am I off the deep end on these thoughts? Let’s examine how opposing views are treated today. Do we see active debate on these subjects or do we see staged events designed to prove one point of view or the other? Pick any side you like – they all seem to seek a homogeneous audience. In ancient times, we had 3 main TV channels (with a few extra UHF channels). Everyone watched these channels. Regardless of what bias or position presented on a channel, everyone discussed it the next day. Some supported the broadcast and others opposed the message. Ultimately, everyone benefited from the public debate.

In a society that values diversity, we segregate ourselves into media and social islands distrusting (and possibly fearing) opposing views.  At least we still have the views out there and are not quite reduced to only one being allowed.

Why is homeschooling dangerous?

We’re back to the original question. Yes, it can be dangerous. If as a homeschool parent, I teach and encourage an open debate of ideas, assist in the ability to reason and think through subjects, insist on a deeper understanding of things than simply at the surface, and help form a habit of honestly seeking truth in my students, then I will develop a dangerous citizen who will question concepts from both sides of the issue and will see through the veneer of words into the truth under them. Real Truth is discovered by honest seeking. It is earned by each individual. It can’t be simply transferred because it is not tested. An individual needs the tools to understand and the self realization that they can seek. It also helps to live in a society where we have the freedom to be able to honestly debate and all ideas can be openly presented. We need more dangerous citizens – whether homeschooled or not. If you are a parent – go make some and join Catrina, Dale, and myself swimming upstream.