LIBERTY: AN ADVANTAGE FOR HOME
SCHOOL
A SHORT HISTORY OF EDUCATION
Historically, the question of having "any" regulations on
home schooling, is not one of
accountability, rather, one of liberty. Award winning public school teacher,
John Taylor Gatto, in his book, The Underground History of American Education,
makes the historical case that the country was better off before compulsory
education. Education insider and teacher, Charlotte Isybert (1)
makes a similar case in The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America
(and there are many other scholarly books on the
subject).
A long history teaches us that children were far more educated when education
was the business of the people that loved them most
(i.e. their parents). During the
War for Independence, for example, the average age of college attendance was
13 years old. Upon entering such colleges as Princeton or Yale, a child of this
age would be required to speak and write Latin, English, Greek, and many knew Hebrew. The children were taught liberal arts
by way of the Trivium, that is, grammar, logic and
rhetoric (in Biblical terms: Knowledge,
Understanding and Wisdom). This is why we had so many leaders
that could write volumes and speak eloquently, as well as, argue their points
using proper logic (And it was no little known
or ambiguous understanding that the purpose of such a profound education was for
the glory of God and the preaching of the gospel, all of which these
Universities were founded).
Time limits me to tell you of the education of the great and genius souls that
founded this nation. Men such as Peyton Randolph, our first President
(yes, it's true, George Washington was the 15th
President, we had a functioning government from Sept. 1774 with duly elected
presidents. Washington was the 1st under the Constitution in 1789).
Peyton
Randolph
First President of the Continental Congress
Served September 5, 1774 to October 22, 1774 and May 20 to May 24, 1775
Click on an image to view full-sized
Randolph mastered the classics at age 13. At around 16, he secured an
appointment to study law in London, where he mastered a four year course in 18
months. He was appointed the Kings Attorney for Virginia, and at age 21, he
entered the House of Burgess. He taught law to such patriots as Patrick
Henry.
Another example, better known, is John Hancock. Who, was the 4th
President and presided during the writing of the Declaration of Independence.
At the age of 17, Hancock graduated Harvard College and became the wealthiest
man in New England.
And lest we think it was an easy feat to graduate the early American
universities....please note that the entry exam alone would require more than a
modern day college degree. For instance, it was common to require that the
students give their graduation speech in Latin. I would venture to say that few,
if any, of the public school teachers in America would be able to enter the
Harvard of John Hancock, let alone graduate. A recent Zogby (2) study,
dated Jan. 2003, found that modern college graduates are just slightly more
knowledgeable than High School Seniors just 50 years ago. The education gap
between today and the Greatest Generation is the difference between High School
and College. The gap between us and the 18th Century is staggering.
(On these terms, how can we restore the Republic
of our Fathers?)
Arthur
St. Clair
13th President of the United States
February 2, 1787 to October 29, 1787
Revolutionary War Major General
Arthur St. Clair, the 13th President, was also a
General in the War for Independence. He was known to be intelligent and
well educated. Historian George Grant notes that he wrote on average 20
letters a day (using that pesky quill, not a
computer lap top). Thoughtful, deep and important letters...sometimes two
at a time, in two different languages.
Fisher Ames, who wrote our First Amendment, entered Harvard at 12
years old. John Trumble, a protégé of John Adams, and Supreme
Court Justice, helped Noah Webster with his dictionary. At the age of
four, he had read through the Bible and, at the age of six won a Greek language
contest. At seven and a half, he passed the entrance exam to Yale. His family
made him wait until he was the ripe old age of 13 to enroll.
John Q. Adams, at age 14 received a U.S. Diplomatic appointment to the
court of Catherine the Great to Russia. Can you imagine sending a child overseas
as an Ambassador? Of course we can't. This was a time of genius, but it was an
ordinary genius. Today, we are living off their intellectual capital.
One of my personal
favorite examples of non-compulsory education is Booker T. Washington. He
too, was classically educated in grammar, logic and rhetoric and by 1914, his
institute had produced more self-made millionaires than Yale, Harvard and
Princeton combined. Something more important than the strong arm of government
drove Mr. Washington to educational excellence.
Most of the home educators I know are turning the tide back to create the
environment and culture that gave us such genius. And indeed, they are making
headway, as is exemplified by test scores, a higher interest in fine arts and
citizenship. Highly socialized, it can be said of home educators the same thing
that was said of President St. Clair, they are "of great uprightness
of purpose, as well as suavity of manners."
The fact that parents aren't stamped and approved by the government as educators
would appear to be an advantage, at least historically speaking. And
isn’t history what we should base our future upon?
Home education is indeed family education. Government
school points out the importance of parents being involved. Home educators are
involved to the point of great and personal sacrifice. The fruit of their labor
is to their benefit, their children and our country. An interview on C-Span's
Booknotes regarding education prompted an observation by a journalist that,
home schoolers may be preparing an army that will march over the landscape of
America as powerfully as Greek gods.
While I don't agree totally with the afore analogy, I do believe that it won't
be long, once we get a few generations educated, that the landscape of America
will begin to shift dramatically. Shift back to the days of Washington,
Adams, Franklin, Booker T. and St. Clair. The question we ask, is not
whether or not we should answer to any government
(for history settles the issue)...but
the question that most consumes my mind is, "what did these men read."
For it is precisely this question that will determine the outcome of our
children. Whether or not we let the government know we are home schooling is a
moot point. For it is liberty, under the restraints of the
moral laws of God that produce a well educated society.
Home educators work hard and long hours. Some of us own a
business and awake before dawn to set the day in motion. We literally lay our
lives down each day for the sake of our children.
We read hours upon hours, not because we have to, but
because we love learning in a way that we never loved it when we were in
school. We feel robbed when we find out there’s so much we weren’t taught. Every
book we read is in repentance from an ignorance we didn’t know we had. Not an
ignorance of ABC, 123, how to balance a checkbook or turn on a computer…but
ignorance of truth, goodness, and beauty. We missed the classics; we missed the
fine music, the great artwork, the higher math and most of all, the history.
Home educators attend seminars, listen to lectures, belong
to support groups….we are sanctified daily by having our children with us 24/7,
witnessing the good, the bad and the ugly in us
(and we don’t go around moaning about a day off from the children).
We have a covenant with God according to Deuteronomy 6.
Therefore, it is our responsibility to educate our children, not the government.
We go to bed each night asking for help to do this job and for repentance when
we feel we’ve fallen short. But our failures are not the run of the mill;
rather, they are things like wondering if we should have spent more time on
Latin today. Or, practiced violin longer or memorized more scripture, or read
one more chapter of G.A. Henty. And the reward, according to Duet. 6, is that
the Lord will give us cities we didn’t conquer and homes we didn’t build.
(Let us hold fast and believe these promises for
the sake of our Country).
The home educators’ standard is not that of any school
district, but it is that of our Fathers. For when we look to them, we fall far
shorter than having our children ready for Harvard at 13. But somehow we feel we
are at least reaching for something higher. Something loftier, something worthy
of the word “scholar.” We have a dream, and that dream is hindered by every
government interference, no matter how small. Remind your government officials
of our history. Ask them to please consider the children who can and will
benefit by home education before making laws that, historically, are unnecessary
to true education.
Barbara Castle
Classical Home Educator
1. Charlotte Iserbyt is the
consummate whistleblower! Iserbyt served as
Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement
(OERI), U.S. Department of Education, during the first Reagan
Administration, where she first blew the whistle on a major technology
initiative which would control curriculum in America's classrooms. Iserbyt
is a former school board director in Camden, Maine and was co-founder and
research analyst of Guardians of Education for Maine (GEM) from 1978 to 2000
. She has also served in the American Red Cross on Guam and Japan during the
Korean War, and in the United States Foreign Service in Belgium and in the
Republic of South Africa. Iserbyt is a
speaker and writer, best known for
her 1985 booklet Back to Basics Reform or OBE: Skinnerian International
Curriculum and her 1989 pamphlet Soviets in the Classroom: America's Latest
Education Fad which covered the details of the U.S.-Soviet and
Carnegie-Soviet Education Agreements which remain in effect to this day. She
is a freelance writer and has had articles published in Human Events, The
Washington Times, The Bangor Daily News, and included in the record of
Congressional hearings.
2. A new poll finds that American college seniors today are just slightly
more
knowledgeable than high-school graduates of half a century ago.
The Zogby study was commissioned by the National Association of Scholars
(NAS), one of the nation's foremost advocates of reform in higher education.
Read Zogby Report: Today's College Students and Yesteryear's High School
Grads[PDF]
