Political Mama

Being involved in both the anti-adoption and pro-choice movements has taught me that, when it comes to  language, laziness isn’t acceptable.   The words we use to describe the people and things around us should be chosen carefully — not out of some politically-correct desire to avoid offending others, but for the purpose of clarity and understanding.

I’ve only recently begun (trying) to apply the same high standards I have for truthful language in adoption, abortion, and other issues in the education arena.   Here, I think it is most important to be distinct in separating education from schooling.

I don’t believe that children are sent to school to be educated — though many parents may be tricked into thinking this is the case.  Rather, they are sent to school so that they can be schooled; schooled in conformity, in memorization, in artificial social situations, and in preparation for life as a cog in the corporate wheel.  Education is of little interest to the school system.  In fact, if real education ever does take place within the confines of a school, it’s surely coincidental.

As a home educator, I take great pride in offering my children an experiential education.  My goals for them do not match up with the goals of our local school board.  While I sometimes wish they would “question authority but not [their] mother,” our home is not an obedience school.  Rather, it is a place where my children can be guided by their interests, learning in meaningful, rather than artificial ways.  We don’t block out hours of our day for learning, for work, and for play.  Instead, we seek out opportunities to find the educational value in all that we do.  My children are not being prepped for the so-called real world in which drudgery is accepted as a fact of life.  That’s not my world, nor is it a world I hope they join some day.  They’re getting a subversive education, for sure.

Sometimes, other parents are going to take offense at me saying that their children are schooled, rather than educated. Sometimes, I stumble over saying that I am educating my children at home or that they are home educated.  This is a new language journey for me, and mistakes happen.  And sure, it is easier to say we’re homeschooling — but do we really want anyone to think that what we do is anything like what’s done in a school?