Misadventures: American Public High Schools

This article is a sobering look at what kind of students the public high schools of America are turning out. Here is an excerpt:

"Writing skills were singled out by survey respondents as especially lacking, as 72 percent of incoming students were viewed as deficient in basic English writing skills, including grammar and spelling, especially when applied to written workplace communications such as memos and reports.
While 58 percent of responding employers said that critical thinking and problem-solving skills were very important, 70 percent rated recently-hired high school students deficient in these areas."


This is so sad. It sounds like a great piece of writing to wave in front of our public-schooling counterparts while repeating the mantra "I told you so, I told you so, I told you so". Granted I've homeschooled mainly because I don't have much faith in the institutionalized schooling options in the US, and this article fits nicely in my arsenal of weapons to use when confronted with homeschool nay-sayers. But I've decided that tooting the homeschool horn in the face of millions of children who are released into society basically illiterate is at best cocky...at worst it's prime evidence of a shocking lack of love for our neighbor.

Pulling my kids out of public school was so easy. I never again had to think about what was going on with the majority of young people inside the hallowed halls of our country's classrooms. It wasn't my business anymore. It was so easy to look down my nose at the horrible system, to rise above the masses as proof of the superiority of homeschooling.....until I had to put my kids back in the system. Funny how your perspective changes when you must embrace that which you have been so adamantly against.

I don't want to be known for what I'm against anymore. I want to be known for what I'm for. I'm for children getting a quality education no matter where they're schooled. I'm for teachers getting paid WAY more than they do currently. I'm for communities coming together to spread their talents and abilities so that no schools are left out. I want to see our schools succeed. Not just because my older kids attend public high school, but because I want to be a Good Samaritan, not a Pharisee.

Homeschoolers are going to need to grabble with depressing articles like the above because we are part of the community, regardless of how stringently we strive to protect our little offspring from the 'scary world'. I want my kids to go out and be agents of good, of kindness, of mercy in that world, not isolationists hiding behind their superior educations and supposedly fail-safe morality. Until this movement can embrace ALL the children of this generation with grace, mercy, compassion....until it stops pointing fingers, defending itself, and fighting for its 'rights'......we are no better than the aristocracy of by-gone England. The 'us against them' paradigm must be eradicated completely. If not, children will continue to suffer.

So although I've ranted and raved against the public schools only days ago (and I still shake my head and spit when I think about what my daughter went thru), I won't take my kids out of their school. Separating and isolating my family from the 'village' surrounding us will never bring a Goodly Kingdom of Love. Trying to find a 'good' school in the area isn't an option either...what of all those left at the 'bad' school? They just aren't my concern anymore?

There are many things to fear about the public schools, but the response should not be to simply abandon it, shake our finger at it, and forget the millions of other kids still working their way thru. What could happen if the homeschool families went to local school board meetings or PTA meetings and offered to tutor at-risk kids? What if they rallied politicians for better schools? What if they were active proponents of ALL children getting a quality education? Methinks we wouldn't need to defend ourselves anymore. Why can't we all work together? Why must it be 'them' at all. Why can't it be 'us'?