When I think about school education, I can’t help but think Noam Chomsky was right when he said that “Education is a system of imposed ignorance.”
Over the last few posts, and many conversations about education with parents, teachers, and students, I have come to question the basic schooling system around the world. Rooted in the Industrial Revolution era, schools are designed to produce young people who can follow specific instructions, order themselves into the social and power hierarchies, and never question what is being taught - let alone question the methods.
The psychology
According to educational psychology, there are four broad categories of learning. Each of these affects performance in learning institutions, and in the case of more self-sufficient or disabled students school environments don’t suit their needs nor their individual learning styles.
Despite having been enrolled at school for my own education, I have always wondered what it would be like to take charge of my work, do it at my own pace, and still make time to develop other skills. And university gave me the perfect opportunity - or did it really? From the day I stepped into the lecture hall it was all about easing students into a higher, more complex workload of rote learning, essay writing, and referencing. There had to be something...more. More than being consistently rewarded for clever writing and perfect Harvard referencing compared to my other skills for which I had to find spare time to develop. This felt like a halfway house between school and the working world.
It was during this moment of doubt that I found the homeschooling concept interesting. It tempting to think about a self-, free, or online structured education which still leaves room for skills development and gives proper attention to mental and physical health affecting education - and visa versa.
Homeschooling, as evident in the name, is all about learning at home under or with the parents’ supervision. While tutors can be engaged to teach the students, it is possible for the parent(s) to oversee the homeschooler’s progress themselves - and this is often dependent on the state legislation. In South Africa, the Department of Education stipulates that records of progress in accordance to the school standards must be made and kept in order for the homeschooled student to gain entry into a school and/or university.
Why homeschool?
The preference to homeschool stems from concern about safety, social, religious, and cultural differences, lack of educational opportunities at school, and people who simply don’t enjoy the prospect of having to learn in complete accordance to a fanatic structure built on unquestioned authority. According to my observations of local homeschool students, it is in the final group that homeschooling takes place in a holistic environment, in which access is open to any and all relevant material, and parents do not become obsessive about how and why and what their children ought to be learning.
Materials and resources
Much like a traditional school, homeschooling requires access to teaching and learning resources. These come in a variety of forms:
Books
While the importance of reading often falters at school, homeschool students tend to have access to a public and/or personal library from which they are free to read about anything they find interesting.
The internet and MOOCs
This is where distance learning resources along with the relevant curricula can be bought or accessed for free. Homeschooled students have the advantage of sourcing information from outside of textbooks and school approved materials. In terms of curricula, there are a variety.
Students pursuing Cambridge International Education (CIE), International Baccalaureate (IB), Advanced Placement (AP) among others curricula can find all relevant reading materials and textbooks online. This online support system also allows students to enroll and write their exams at designated centres within their country.
University or school lessons for practical subjects (art, the sciences)
The local schools and/or universities can provide a space for homeschool students to conduct advanced science experiments, learn music and art, and participate in sports. In terms of resources schools tend to have only the basic materials for science practicals, so enrolling at the university or simply approaching a staff member of the department give these students better access to these resources. While most South African schools tend to enforce sports a part of the students’ learning and a show of school spirit, homeschool students are given the choice to do it for themselves.
In this holistic example where technology and education merge almost seamlessly, I think it would be a worthwhile option to consider changing (a) what is taught, and (b) how it is taught. Technology and online resources seem to be more present in school, however with a censored access to information it becomes difficult to engage better with the world outside traditional school.