Sunday, January 21, 2007
Intelligence in the Homeschool Classroom
Recently, I read a three-part essay by Charles Murray (which can be found here, here, and here) and blogged my comments to the article from the viewpoint of a former teacher and concerned citizen (my comments can be found here, here, and here). I enjoyed reading and writing about the topic, but afterwards wondered, "What does it all mean to the homeschooler?" So, here is my attempt to answer that question.
Murray starts with the unpleasant fact that not all children are intellectually equal and that we therefore should forego the fiction that they can all succeed in a college-prep high school environment and then go on to college. I think that it is possible for any parent to assume that their child is superior. However, I think that when a parent spends as much time with their child as a homeschool parent does, that the parent is in a much better position to judge the child's true intellect and his resultant educational needs. The parent can adapt the homeschool curriculum to conform to those needs--a teacher has very little lattitude in that way, even assuming she knows it needs to be done.
Homeschooler's Take-Away: Don't replicate the rigidity of institutional schools. Let your child's needs dictate the educational goal and the curriculum to be used to get there.
Murray then calls for a re-thinking of post-secondary education as a goal for all students. A four-year university education continues to have social cachet even as it becomes of less and less use as an entre to a career. I think homeschool parents could easily fall prey to the idea that they won't have succeeded unless the education they gave their children is validated by the children's success in college. I do, though, see many more signs in the homeschooling community than in society at large, of this re-evaluation of college as the goal. Whether it is political bias or lack of moral guidance or simple career decisions, the very people willing to seek out educational alternatives for their younger children seem much more willing to continue to seek educational alternatives as their children reach adulthood.
Homeschooler's Take -Away: Don't allow others to make you feel you've failed if your children don't go to college. Use your knowledge of your children's intellects, abilities, and desires to help you guide them along the path best-suited, whether that be apprenticeship, trade school, self-education, or university.
Murray then calls for a revival of classical education to instill an attitude of service in the intellectual elite who lead the nation's economy, culture, and institutions. Of course, homeschoolers are leading the way in the revival of classical education, subscribing to the classical curriculum as suggested in The Well-Trained Mind, Teaching the Trivium, Charlotte Mason's works, or Thomas Jefferson, among many others. Additionally, I would venture to guess that homeschoolers and those in private, religious schools are leading the nation in teaching an attitude of service. Will today's classically educated homeschoolers become tomorrow's business or social elites? I think that the classical education could benefit many children, but it will not transform an average intellect into a superior one (indeed, one of Murray's points was that there is nothing that can do this).
Homeschooler's Take-Away: Especially if you have an extremely bright child, make sure you teach him that his brightness is a gift, to be used in a socially responsible way. Use your religious beliefs, the Boy Scouts, etc., to instill an attitude of service to others.
Labels: Homeschooling
Read or Post a Comment
<< Home