COVID-19 Boosting Homeschooling? Schools Are “Outed”! (Part 10)

Categories: Schools Are “Outed”!, Léo’s Insights 2020-2021

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Let’s start with a summary. The COVID-19 pandemic caused governments around the world to shutter schools in an attempt to restrict or reduce viral contamination. This provided much insight into how people viewed learning, education and programming as well as the methods, purpose and place of schools and school teachers.

Much of this information has been covered so far in this year’s blogs.

I must admit that while much ado was paid to the forcing of every child of the province into a home “school” program, I personally did not respond with glee, as one would have expected of a veteran home education supporter and provider poised to see his “business” expand and prosper. Perhaps this may seem a bit perplexing to you, so let me explain.

But first, please pay attention to the main difference between home “schooling” where the school determines what, when and how things will be learned, and home education where parents are in control.

In spite of the common interchange of the terms, home schooling is not to be confused with home education, nor unschooling, which was never mentioned throughout the crisis.

Now, while the COVID-19 actions certainly challenged the status quo method of “schooling” and consequently inadvertently boosted schooling at home, I was sceptical of the outcomes. The two things that bothered me respecting this sudden rendering of ubiquitous home “schooling” were based on one simple observation.

School is still school, even if not being delivered in school. That is, changing a venue does not change the program. For instance, whether right or wrong, teaching that the moon is composed of green cheese can be accomplished either in the school or by extending the school into the home.

This represents my first concern respecting the province’s students being forced to home “school.” Aside from changing venues, it really only provided alternative methods of delivering school-based programming.

It did not change what was being taught, nor did it provide parents with true alternatives to “school.” In fact, most parents quickly adapted to having their child at home while applauding the continuation of the school program through teachers now using modern technology.

In other words, few parents really questioned how home “schooling” would be different from regular “schooling.”

More importantly, few took the opportunity to question who has “authority” in education. Home “schooling” all the province’s students, therefore, did not strengthen the home “education” community, but rather did more to normalize government programming by extending its tentacles further into the home.

The second, and likely greatest concern I had respecting the home schooling of all the province’s students, has been a concern of mine for a very long time, far beyond that of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This concern sees the boosting of home schooling more as in competition with or as a contamination of home education. It is largely brought about by my observations of the mercenary motivations of many of the province’s home education providers.

Understanding that funding is based on programming and that greater funding is provided for government programming than for individualized parent-directed programming, one should be able to see that there is a real financial benefit for providers to advance public programming.

Since most home “education” providers of the province were already doing everything they could to tap into the ignorance of parents regarding educational authority and options, rather than equipping them with the truth, there was already a covert movement poisoning traditional home education through the normalization of home schooling and public programming. The shut down of schools exacerbated and further justified this process.

Therefore, while the COVID-19 school shut down did much to boost home “schooling,” it did little to nothing for home “education” other than providing those willing to cash in on it an extra opportunity to further corrupt the practice of God-ordained and directed education.

In fact, it did more to validate the government claim to having authority in education than to enlighten parents about their rights and responsibilities.

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