On Being Stuck at Home: Schools Are “Outed”! (Part 5)
Categories: Schools Are “Outed”!, Léo’s Insights 2020-2021
Last week I discussed an article regarding teachers who were worried about “gaps that may grow for disadvantaged students stuck at home” during the COVID-19 school shut downs. Actually, I never got past the title which I found to be full of innuendos I felt needed to be exposed before getting into the heart of the article.
Before I begin today, let me explain that I do not believe everyone in the education industry is out to lunch, nor do I believe that I have all the answers. I can say, however, that I do question everything and that I do not subscribe to what most people would call the status quo of the education system.
In defence of the article, I want to acknowledge that there are situations where a school setting is better than a home education. Some of you may be surprised by my saying this, but there are students out there who are in need of help. However, they are not disadvantaged because they are “stuck at home” as much as by outside circumstances beyond their control.
New immigrants may not have a working knowledge of the English (French) language. The parents may not be sufficiently educated or interested in the education of their children. Families may be too poor or old fashioned to have or employ modern digital technology. There are even cases, as you may well know, where parents just don’t care about their children at all.
Schools are not all bad. They do provide opportunity for those who would otherwise be “disadvantaged” and to others who, while less “disadvantaged,” still benefit from attendance.
However, one must always keep in mind that attending school comes with the agreement that the government will determine what will be learned. Unfortunately, most parents never give this any thought.
Few understand that the school system is built upon the premise that children are accidentally “created” like empty computers in need of programming. It is also important to understand that government schools believe it is critically important that all the “computers” be consistently programmed to be the same.
It is only when seeing children through the eyes of this entrenched system that it is possible to understand the “worry” implied in the article, that some may have about “gaps.”
The article normalized the “brick-and-mortar classroom” to prevent “inequalities,” going as far as to claim that not attending a school building was to put “learning on pause”! It further mentioned that not attending school would leave students and families behind, without providing any basis upon which to measure what, exactly, is meant by “behind.” Behind what?
I must admit that whenever I hear the word inequalities, I conjure up images of masses marching to the orders of an egalitarian dictator.
In fact, it does not require much imagination to understand that incarcerating students in classrooms for a good part of their childhood allows for greater control and conformity or “equality.” This smacks of communism from which “learning” can never be put on “pause” and where any diversion from conformity is seen as a “gap” in need of “equalization” (fixing).
Parents who are not interested in having their children exposed to all that government education entails, have always had the option of doing the educating of their children themselves.
Being home is hardly being “stuck” as the article suggests, but rather having liberty to learn in keeping with the gifts, talents and interests of the child. It also provides opportunity to learn to manage the weaknesses that are inherent in every child and all within a faith framework.
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