Public schools can't be beat
By Kelly Flynn

. . . /But They Can Be Whipped/
By Jenn Young

A Rebuttal

Note:  Kelly Flynn's comments were originally published in the Flint Journal, and are reprinted with permission of the Flint Journal.

 /Comments in brackets by Jenn Young/.
 
The public school system takes a lot of bashing at the hands of the media and politicians. Some of it's justified. Most of it's not. And having taught there for almost 20 years, I'm certainly aware of its strengths and weaknesses.

/And these are . . . what, exactly?  Don’t be shy, we’re all awaiting your well qualified response, you being completely free of prejudice, I’m sure.  What’s that about paychecks?  (No, to be fair, I can actually think of one benefit.  That is, access to a library without anyone else competing for the books.)/

But when it comes to a well-rounded education that prepares students for the world of work and for functioning in a global society, the public school system can't be beat.

 /. . .Far be it from me to opine that public school only prepares you for a life as a zoo exhibit.  A very |social| and |well-rounded| zoo, mind. /

 They take everyone. Blind, deaf, learning disabled, mentally impaired or non-English speaking, public schools take them all and provide the services they need.

 /Just for those special people who |honestly truly need|, with every fiber of their being, to be labeled.  Good student, bad student.  Cool person, nerd.  Athletic person, weakling.  For those of you with no personal sense of self, public school will do it all for you! /

 And in my experience, that's exactly what some parents don't like about the public school system.

 /You would, naturally, know all about homeschoolers.  More than we know about ourselves, so I won’t even bother to correct you. /

 Still, I believe that parents should have choices when it comes to educating their children.

 /Thank you for your magnanimousness. /

  Charter schools and parochial schools are great options.

 /Because parents should never, ever, ever be allowed to teach their own children. /

The educational choice that confounds me, though, is home schooling.

 /Just say no!  No to education!  No to liking to read!  No to freedom from peer pressure!  JUST SAY NO, PEOPLE! /

  Why would parents choose to isolate their children from a rich and varied learning environment?

 /Yes, I have always had a burning desire to spend class periods sharpening pencils.  (The variation, see, comes when I sharpen my |blue| pencil instead of my so-fifteen-minutes-ago |yellow| pencil.)/

 Why would parents choose to pull their children out of the real world and shelter them from the very society that they will ultimately have to live and work in?

 /Thus far, this column has been believable.  Right now, however, I’m quite certain it’s a parody.  Therefore I am going to cover my eyes and ignore it.  (No, really, I’m morbidly curious.  I must read on!) /

 It's perplexing.

 /As is your column, I hasten to assure you. /

 In extenuating circumstances home schooling is the only viable alternative, such as in the case of a long-term illness.

 /But unless your child might cause inconvenience to the school system, give us your kids!  And your tax money!   BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA! /

  I'm not talking about those situations.

 /Of course not. /

  But many times in my career I observed parents choosing to home school to keep their child away from a certain "element"—

 /Poor teaching, for example?/

 —in the public school system that they deemed to be unsavory, to isolate their kids in what seemed to me to be an unhealthy way.

 /We mere mortals avert our eyes from your magnificent all-knowing greatness. /

 School is more than just academics, and parents do kids a disservice when they try to protect their kids from the real world. Wouldn't it be more logical to teach them to function effectively in it?

 /Ah, yes, the real world, in which we raise our hands to go to the bathroom.  The real world, readily recognizable by its distinctive separation of different age groups.  The real world, in which we always have a principal/teacher/king-figure to sort out our problems (we often get detention in the real world.  We also often atone for our crimes by extra homework pages, darn it). /

 To me, the most compelling reason for sending a child to a public school is because the public school environment reflects the real world: competition, teamwork, cooperation and simply interacting with a wide variety of people are part of the experience, as they are in society.

 / We’ve all seen the extraordinary examples of cooperation in public school.  Thus, the school shootings . . . So let me see:  you think children should be institutionalized in an artificially contrived and controlled environment SO THAT they can one day “interact” in “real” society—but homeschooling parents who actually immerse their children IN real society from the beginning and as part of their educational process are castigated by you?   Times like this somehow call the expression “logical contradiction” to mind./

 The social setting in a school is ripe with learning experiences. People from all walks of life go to public schools: rich, poor, smart, dumb, bullies, sissies, all cultures and ethnicities.

 /Listen up students!  We will now learn how to:  get your lunch money stolen, how to act dumb because if you are smart you are hassled, how to feel inferior to your peers because you aren’t a jock or a cheerleader, how to be a conformist who can’t choose a wardrobe with any taste, how to smoke dope in the bathroom without getting caught, and how to copy your neighbors’ work without getting caught… Of course, learning how to actually |get along| with people is optional.  The principal/teacher/king-figure will solve all your problems, Comrade.  Also Big Brother is Watching You./

  And guess what? When kids grow up they are going to have to work with people from all walks of life: rich, poor, smart, dumb, bullies, sissies, and all cultures and ethnicities.

 /And, referring to their advanced training in socialization bequeathed on them by public school, they will separate according to clothes, good looks, athletic ability, etc.  This will make them high-functioning adults in The Real World, as has been so well illustrated. /

 Even with the help of home schooling organizations, home-schooled children are often shortchanged.

 /Heaven forbid children actually learn how to interact with people!  By |actually getting out into The Real World,| no less!  Interacting with people who have more experience than their peers, by virtue of being (gasp!) OLDER THAN THE HOMESCHOOLERS IN QUESTION!  With people who have less interest in test scores than their dear teachers!  Shudder! /

  The worst public school has more to offer in the way of resources than most parents can offer at home, such as science labs, technology, foreign language, theater, large and varied curriculums, textbooks, a variety of multi-media lesson support, clubs and sports.

 /Because no family could possibly ever buy science equipment from a catalog.  Or go to the library.  Or join a homeschooling club.  Or go to their local rec center.  Or . . . yes, I can see just how deprived we poor homeschoolers are. /

 The teaching staff in a public school can be colorful, too. A variety of teaching and evaluation styles forces a student to grow as a learner.

 /This is assuming that the kids are awake.  Definition:  autodidact: (n) a type of person swift-disappearing from our society, thanks to our public schools.  (Jenn Young’s Dictionary, p. 17.)  Roger Lewin said, “Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve.” Anybody listening?/

 Teachers are even trained to teach to multiple intelligences. How many parents can say the same?

 /I’m just sitting in front of my computer with my mouth hanging open.  I can’t believe someone could ask such an asinine question.  Let’s get one thing straight: Public school is the antithesis of the multiple intelligences theory.  Children are not |only| told what subjects they have permission to study, they are told what about the subjects they can study, how to study them, and in what time period.  And they are flunked if they do not comply with these oh-so-reasonable restrictions.  Does this sound like flexibility in order to accommodate diverse and unique learning styles?!/

 Although I have a teaching certificate, I know that I couldn't come close to giving my children the education they could get in a public school. I couldn't possibly offer the depth and breadth of education that I know my colleagues offer every day.

 /(Deep, calming breaths)  Okay.  You couldn’t teach your kids.  So you use this argument to prove that I should send |my| future children to you and your ilk for education.  Does the phrase ‘fatal flaw’ hold any meaning for you? /

 Sure, I could go to the home-schooling store and buy a book on say, history, and I could read the chapters and assign the accompanying assignments. I could check the answers using the answer key. We could even take a trip to Greenfield Village. But could I offer the same depth of understanding as someone who chose to teach history because of a passion for it, someone who is an expert in the field?

 /Two words: Elementary school.  Has an elementary school teacher decided to take on a class because of a passion for history?  How about math?  Science?  Writing?  Then, using your own logic, elementary schools are failing today’s kids.  And don’t even try to tell me that the later years are more important, because they’re not, and you know it.  By the time they hit junior high, kids are concerned with: their peers.  Their peers.  And, on really rare occasions, they sometimes think about their peers.  This is due to the wonderful training for society that public school has dished out. Thanks, dear teacher, for contributing to the immaturity of our teens.  We sure do love ya. /

 Of course not. I would be a weak substitute, and I know it.

 /Exactly.  This is why I don’t go to public school.  As a homeschooler, I claim my right to learn by reading works written by and about those insignificant people, you know—Benjamin Franklin, Jonathon Swift, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Aquinas, Plutarch, Plato, and all those others, who are “so unqualified” to teach history.  After all, they only lived it.   Why should I accept a history lesson taught by a public school teacher who’s lived his life with a TV set in his front room, when I have access to first-hand accounts? /

 Parents who home-school their children have their reasons, of course.

 /Too right they do.  You’re one of them. /

  But the effects of what these students are missing remain to be seen.

 /Having been enlightened by your column, I can definitely see that my poor future children will miss great mass educational opportunities such as “sit down, shut up, and come in when the bell rings”.  Sigh.  They won’t learn to categorize their peers according to clothing.  They absolutely won’t have access to lab equipment, which I would have so much trouble ordering online.  And they will miss being taught by the “colorful” staff, with their varied “teaching and evaluation styles”, and being taught the wonderful generic lesson, which was prepared for however many tens of kids.

 /As the admittedly small compensation for missing such gems of life, we homeschoolers: get to know our family as something other than a set of lumps in front of the TV set.  We get to learn at our own pace, in our own way, as per the multiple intelligences theory you hold so dear.  We get to teach our children in accordance with our values and moral beliefs. And we get to greatly reduce the chance that our children will become involved with drugs or gangs or other equally appealing things.

 /This unbalance just breaks my heart.  Observe the traumatized smirk on my face. /

 All in all, a public education is the best deal around. It's a great training ground for the real world and, even better, it's free.

 /Well, it’s always been my motto that anything free is worth every cent you paid for it.  [This and other lessons brought to you by The Real World!]/

  ***

/Jenn Young, a teen homeschooling columnist, lives in front of her computer.  You can contact her at starchild@schoolofabraham.com/