Factory Irony

Kids ask so many questions. Usually when I have not had a full cup of coffee or while I am reading the paper or doing chores. I so quickly forget that my kids ARE my primary job, until they start hammering me with their questions. And they aren't simple, easy ones, like "what's for dinner?"(look at the menu, please) or "have you seen my shoes?" (right where you left them, I would imagine). No, they're hard questions like "why does God let Satan tempt us?"(Um, let's wait for daddy to get home), or "how was Jesus born one day, but he also made the world long before that?" (let me have some coffee first, sweetie). And their timing is their own. They have a need for knowledge, and they ask for it immediately, rather than waiting for a good time. Because that's their job. My job is to stop what I am doing, if possible, and answer as best I can.

But sometimes they ask a question, and we talk, and a day later I am hit with an epiphany. Usually while blow drying my hair. There is something so relaxing and contemplative about putting white noise up to your ear. Somehow, it helps me process things.

The question in question, so to speak, was asked over the dinner table, after the dishes had been mostly cleaned off and pushed away. It ran along the lines of our schooling system and why we have it, and what would happen if it were suddenly gone. So that led to an explanation of the pre-industrialization era and education in those days, then into the industrialization era, and its effects on education. Which then led to explaining the original purpose of compulsory schooling laws.

To keep kids out of the factories, and in school, learning how to read and write.

I thought the conversation ended there, but it continued on in my head, while the hair dryer was blissfully blowing in my ear.

The irony of it made me gasp out loud and put the hair dryer down.

Schools quickly became factories themselves- seeking to mold our children into a desired likeness to each other and into useful citizens who could work where needed.

We took our kids out of a factory and put them into another one. Except instead of being the workers, they became the product.

I am greatly sobered and disturbed by this thought. It sobers me because I must endeavor to help my children become who and what God wants them to be, not what the State wants. I have to leave enough time in their lives, after the math and science and piano practice, for them to know and love God and to discover what His plans are for them. I am disturbed by this because our culture has, by and large, unquestioningly bought into this model for schooling. What started out as a seemingly good idea- protecting kids from the dangers of forced work- turned into forced schooling. And we ended up trading one problem for another.

It seems there is no turning back, no easy solution. But a starting place is a basic understanding of our current education system, and more importantly, its history. (I highly recommend John Taylor Gatto's  The Underground History of American Education for a comprehensive and lengthy, but fascinating history lesson, in which the "good" part of the idea becomes questionable). And from there, a questioning on the part of parents, and their kids.

Why do we do things the way we do them?
Is there a better way?
How can we change or at least challenge the status quo?
What is true education, especially for the Christian?

I can't make a sweeping suggestion to cure the ills of our education system. It's too big and complicated and too far-reaching for easy answers. My answer has been to simply not be a part of the problem, and educate my children myself (well, they are mostly self-educated) and to raise children that will question not just education, but all things in our society. My hope has been to contribute to a solution, one child at a time, by launching adults into the world that can think for themselves, teach themselves and make educated decisions. My starting point has been to send  my taxes to the State as a law abiding citizen, but to keep my kids at home, so that someday, they can make the State a better place to live in.





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