Public Education: At What Cost?
What did we learn in compulsory education? Was it worth the time and boredom?
I can’t help but protest when forced to pay attention to things that do not interest me — in other words, I never successfully worked for someone else without soon becoming terminally bored. In a similar way, I find formal education irritating — a waste of my time that could have been better spent on self-directed study.1
— Steve Solomon, The Intelligent Gardener
When I have talked to people about homeschooling or the failings of public education some responses go something like this: “I went to public school, I’m doing okay. My kids did too and they seem to be doing just fine.”
Public education, as John Taylor Gato and Frank Smith have written, was never intended to produce creative, independent thinkers. It was created by the industrialists and the super rich to create obedient employees, the kind of employees needed to work boring jobs with little intrinsic value. The wealthy elites didn’t need or want a bunch of motivated, inventive, intelligent people trying to start their own businesses. They wanted to eradicate the “pioneering spirit” that built America, not nurture it.
I don’t doubt that many of us, including myself, who were educated in a system pushed and financed by big money are doing “fine.” But would we be doing even better had we not? What if we’d been allowed to pursue our interests outside of rigid class schedules, ringing bells, tests, quizzes, rote memorization and constant, constant boredom?
In the third grade my teacher asked us to write a short story. I had never been asked to do that before. I wrote this simple story about a boy trapped in a cave with a lake. He figures out that in the lake there is a system of underwater caves that lead to other lakes and by swimming through those caves the boy finally makes it to a lake not in a cave. I loved writing that. The teacher complimented me on it. It’s the only thing I remember from third grade.
But guess what? I was never asked to write anything like that ever again. The next short story I wrote was in my late 20s. What kind of writer might I be now had I been encouraged to write more of what I loved when I was young? What if my teacher had said, “Glen, I see you really enjoyed writing that story. Tomorrow, I want you to write another one. Don’t worry about your other subjects, just focus on writing another story.” What if? I’ll never know.
It gives me pause to think about the thousands and thousands of hours I sat bored in classrooms, unchallenged intellectually and have always wondered in what ways that stunted my intellectual and creative development and in what ways it still affects me today. Sitting day after day, filling out worksheets and watching the clock must have negatively influenced my development and mental capabilities (More than you know, some of you are thinking!).
It did prepare me to “look for a job.” It never occurred to me that I might be able to start my own company or do something other than work for someone else. I taught high school for four years, worked part-time for others in South Lake Tahoe for a year, then got a job at an overnight delivery company in San Diego where I worked for 17 years before getting laid off. What did I do after losing my income? I went back to school for a year to learn web development and then I “looked for a job.”
Fortunately, for me, a man in his late 40s with no experience in web development, attempting to enter a young man’s industry, I had no luck securing gainful employment. So I was more or less forced into trying to start my own business. To my great surprise…it worked! I loved building websites, I loved working for myself, I loved no commute, I loved working at home, I loved doing my books and I loved working hard to make that business profitable. It was a great run, but something that would have never happened unless I had no other choice. Why?
The rebellious kids in school often faired better than those of us who automatically did what we were told. Without questioning or resisting we “good kids” quietly sat at our desks, answered questions in textbooks, dutifully did our math problems, memorized our spelling words and watched the clock—every day, every week, year after year. At least the kids getting in trouble had a little variety in their school experience. It’s as if they intuitively knew, without being able to articulate it, that compulsory schooling was harmful to a child full of energy and interests other than Algebra.
Parents want their children to do better than they did. Usually that means monetarily: a better job for more money, a nicer home and nicer cars. But what if parents started thinking more in terms of career or life fulfillment? What if parents help children find something they love with intrinsic value that will sustain them through the hard times? Maybe they don’t make more money than their parents, but maybe they love their work and their life and look forward to most days with excitement and anticipation.
I’ve tasted both worlds. For 17 years I worked a job solely for a paycheck. I pursued other things in my spare time, but the job was draining, the commute drudgery. The best day of my career was the day I and my colleagues got laid off. I’m not exaggerating. Most of us laughed, joked and took photos. We didn’t like working there, we did it because we had to, because we had families and bills to pay. We were happy the company forced us to leave. I went home that morning to play video games with my son.
Starting my web development business was tough, full of some very dark days, but once it got going—it was an incredible experience! No more alarm clock. I’d get up when I woke up and then I’d shower…or not. Then I’d start working on the project that I had often been planning in my head before I went to sleep the night before. My son would walk into my office, we would talk for a few minutes or I’d take a break and swim with him in the pool. Or sometimes I’d go to meet a friend for lunch. On other days my son and I walked to the movie theatre on a weekday to catch the first and cheaper show. In some ways it felt wrong. I had so much freedom that I was not used to.
Those of us who went through State and even private schools—yes, we’re doing okay. We made it. We survived.
But for our kids? We can do better. Let’s make sure we do.
Homeschool.
Notes
Solomon, Steve; Reinheimer, Erica, The Intelligent Gardener: Growing Nutrient-Dense Food, New Society Publishers, 2013, Kindle Version, p. 5.