Testing Home Education – Part 3: Back to the Basics (Part 22)
Categories: Léo’s Insights 2023-2024, Back to the Basics
We have now established the fact that doing the right thing comes at a cost, usually in the form of opposition or persecution. We also determined that the objective of naysayers is to mindlessly advance the status quo education system and that the best way to deal with this is to ask questions of those who would have you do something other than home educate.
Antagonism to home education comes from several different avenues of opposition. Traditionally, the government was seen as the biggest obstacle to parental freedom and in some respects this is still a problem. While governments in some jurisdictions can be antagonistic towards home education, this is certainly not the case in Alberta. Our government not only advances home education as an option, but provides funding to make it easier for those choosing it. Government is not a problem for us.
Another source of opposition is from schools and colleges of every genre. Aversion toward home education is largely based on ignorance and steadfast adherence to a school-based approach to education. There is little interest in what home education entails, nor is there much appetite to accommodate post-secondary students who come with a different experience than standard students, even though they are often better prepared for what the future has to offer.
We can consider the government and school opposition as coming from outside the home education community. This type of opposition is easy to identify and deal with. Persecution or opposition from within the community is more difficult as it is more sinister, and we are usually not as prepared to be attacked by those we presume to be on our side.
For instance, there are third party agencies who are either seeking reason for their continued existence or to be enriched by making the government the bogeyman. These organizations advance themselves as representatives of the home education community and encourage membership for a fee so they can ostensibly continue to influence the government on behalf of home educators. The problem is, if these people do influence government it is often to the detriment of home education as they lack experience and/or understanding. Survival of their agency is usually their main objective and gaslighting the home educating is usually their method. It is important to be aware of these agencies and what they are promoting in order to avoid being manipulated into supporting their cause over yours.
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