Why I Wouldn't Sign My Child Up for School

Why I Wouldn’t Put My Child in the School System

If I had a child (I don’t) it would be no more likely to sign him up for school than I would be to send him to work in the coal mines. An exaggeration, yes… but seriously, it seems to be that the current system of schooling is about as modern as the steam engine, as forward thinking as smoking, and as ready for the 21st century as the teacher who has her students produce a Powerpoint presentation and calls it integration of technology.

Back when I entered kindergarten, in the year 1989, the world’s population was 5.2 billion people strong. Neither my classroom nor my home had a computer and the rage in technology was the Nintendo Entertainment System that had 2 kilobytes of RAM. Boys like me dreamed of being firefighters, farmers, and police officers. If I could learn to sit still for the next 17 years, conform to the system, and do what the teacher asked of me I was practically guaranteed a comfortable spot in North America’s middle class.

On Monday our world population will hit 7 billion and its projected to hit 8 billion by 2025. I’m writing this blog post on a computer with 4 million kilobytes of RAM in my home and each child in my classroom has access to the collective knowledge of over 2 billion internet users. If those children do merely what I say, sit still, and conform to the system they are practically guaranteed a not very comfortable spot in the soon to be non-existent middle class. It would be an utter failure on my part to let them do so.

Many teachers and parents find comfort and solace in the predictability of a curriculum that is arranged year by year. At ten years old children find the greatest factor of two numbers and multiply three digits by three digits, with and without decimals. They should read books at a grade level of 5.0-6.0 and study ecosystems in science. Who says so? What do they know about your child? Do they know his unique learning needs, his interests, and his talents? You know, those things that are not defined by a birth date?

We both know that your child has talents and weaknesses. He’s a talented story teller, but he can’t keep positive and negative numbers straight. He builds exceptionally, but he has difficulty with spelling. He’s a swimmer, but he can’t throw a baseball. For this he is forever relegated to a mixed review report card. The unit on positive and negative numbers passes… he still can’t manage to add -3 and +2 but the curriculum says he should have; the class must move on. In this way his weaknesses remain ever-growing weaknesses, exacerbated year by year as the curriculum spirals back and builds on what wasn't learned the year before. When he has the opportunity to work to his talents and goes above and beyond the standard he is told “that’s great… but we don’t cover that in Grade 5”. End of story.

I, like you, am tired of reading about the problems with education. I’m offering a partial solution: Find someone who will teach to your child’s strengths; someone who will ensure that time is spent on her weaknesses while letting her grow her talents. ‘Unschool’ your child: replace conformity with education.