The Process of Societal Conditioning

Mention education reform to a crowd and you get any number of responses. One might say schools are failing kids, another that the nation's youth has been dumbed down. Still more might equate education reform with standardized testing. But there is a growing group of parents (and would-be parents) who feel that American factory education has run its course and education reform simply means a new system. A paradigm shift.

For most people the factory education is the only thing they've ever known. It used to be, back when I was little, that children were born and then they stayed home with their mothers. Mothers used to stay home too. Some children, for various reasons, went to a pre-school. Often this was in relation to the church that the family attended. At the pre-school the children would learn to sing, and count, and recite the alphabet. They'd make macaroni necklaces and paint at the easel.

Later, after they had matured to the grand old age of 5, they were sent to kindergarten. There they did much the same thing as pre-school, except that they probably learned to read a little bit and worked on their motor skills by climbing the rope in the gym, and waving that parachute up and down, and playing Hokey Pokey.

At the end of the year they would be asked a series of important questions such as "Which hand is your left and which hand is your right?" or "What is the letter after W?" And they would say it - or not- and they would move on to first grade where they got down to the business of learning skills such as addition and subtraction or identifying the noun and verb in a sentence.

This educational paradigm had not always been the norm, but when I was a kid - 35 years ago - this was how it was done, and there were probably 3 generations prior to my childhood where this schedule of sending kids off to a government mandated education existed, worked, and was good.

In fact, I can honestly say that I got a pretty good education at the factory schools in Lake County, Ohio. My teachers were mean - or not, dedicated - or not, and complacent - or not. They were much like the teacher's of today. In fact, I don't for a minute think that teachers are very different now than they were then.

What is different is society. What is different are expectations. What is different is that factory education has become obsolete in a world raging with new ideas and technology because the government abhors innovation, self expression, individuality, and leadership. Today's factory schools care only about test scores and diversity training. All factory schools are run by institutions. Even private schools. And all institutions have an agenda which may or may not be in step with the agenda of the parent. It is the first agenda, the agenda of the factory, that dictates education in today's schools.

This is why we homeschool.

Homeschool may not be the new educational paradigm - BUT - the ideas that make homeschool so successful ARE. Homeschools tend to embrace the individual, creativity, or coloring outside the lines if you will. Homeschools are child centered - not society centered and not test score centered. Homeschools produce independent learners who follow their interests.

For some people this lack of "socialization" is the very reason why homeschool should be an abomination. Textbooks claim that one of the 5 purposes of government is to "socialize the next generation" and you'd be surprised at how many people actually think that is a good thing. The word "socialization" can be defined as: "a continuing process whereby an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to his or her social position." (From Dictionary.com)

Socialization is a physical process. Let's just get that straight right now. It isn't about ditching the shyness of babyhood nor having lots of friends (or enemies). It is a process by which your child is conditioned to accept his or her place in society.

Who gets to determine that place if it is the government's responsibility to "socialize" your child? The factory educational system of course. If you are very wealthy and have done a lot of research you may have your child in a school where the socialization process is one that you would agree with. But if you are not one of those elite - you have no say in what type of conditioning they use on your child in the factory school. It will be the textbooks that condition your children to accept and reject ideas and policies, not you or the family to which they belong.

Homeschoolers instinctively understand that the process of conditioning children to "societal norms" is one of the most crucial steps in raising children and by sending their child to the factory school, they give up that right.

The right to instill a belief system based on moral values is an emerging education reform issue for parents and the fight for this right pits local school boards against parents in areas all over the country. In fact, such a disagreement took place just a few weeks ago when President Obama sent out workbook pages to public school teachers asking them to have the children watch a speech and then complete the workbook pages. That in and of itself would not typically be a problem, however the questions asked in the worksheets were politically based and asked the children to think up ways in which they could help President Obama with his agenda.

Obama wisely asked teachers to ditch the curriculum after parents objected and went on to deliver an appropriate, and somewhat inspiring, speech to the nation's youth.

It is good that parents are taking notice to the process of conditioning being instilled on their school aged children because in a free country - it is not the government's job to instill values and norms. A free society respects the duty of the parent as primary teacher, caregiver, and role model.

So where does that leave the factory education model and education reform? Good question. In the following weeks I will lay out the argument that the factory model is as dead as the manufacturing factories of the Midwest in the 1960's and I will show you how to lead your children to learning without the government middleman running interference.

In the end it is of course - up to you. Is this government conditioning serving America's interest?

Or do you believe that the American factory school is falling farther and farther behind the rest of the world because of this outdated and obsolete thinking?

Next week's article - The Pros and Cons of a Factory Education.