Counterpoint

I just finished reading Paulius' post from yesterday, where he asserted that "parents want schools to teach their kids only their values and points of view." The article has some good ideas, and it's clear that he put some thought into what he said. With this in mind though, I'd like to point out a couple of flaws in the logic that he set forth.

I guess I'll start off with the whole home schooling thing. There seems to be an undercurrent in Paul's post that assumes home schooling parents are right-wing, fundamentalist, religious nut jobs who don't want their children exposed to the evil teachings of evolution, contraception and so forth. I am more than prepared to accept that many children are home schooled on this premise. However, it's not reasonable to assume that the majority of children are taught at home for this reason. I'd like to submit that many parents choose to home school their children in order to spend extra time with them, or to provide an experience that's superior to what may be offered by substandard schools in a given area. A home schooled child is not automatically the offspring of a fundamentalist parent.

And adding to a point I touched on a moment ago, it's no longer reasonable to assume that public school is adequately producing the critical thinkers that Paulius seeks. If schools were doing this, we wouldn't have No Child Left Behind, which by the way, appears to have had the impact of teaching children to take tests, not creating critical thinkers. In other words, public schools are often teaching facts, not broadening horizons.

As for teaching our kids about other religions... well, that's good, but only to a point. We can teach our kids about Islam, but that doesn't mean that Muslims will teach their children about Christianity. And to add a practical note to this.... when would we squeeze this in? The kids are already too busy preparing for their No Child Left Behind test.

I will say that I firmly agree with Paulius' final point. Raising our children to think critically is a good thing. They should be able to see both sides of any issue and come to their own conclusion, based on their own thoughts and experiences, rather than inheriting opinions from others. But it's a fallacy to think that home-schooling automatically breeds narrow-mindedness. It's incorrect to expect that a public education will produce freethinkers, and it's simplistic to say that understanding eliminates conflict.