Is Your Child Being Educated or Indoctrinated?
There's a difference, only involved parents know what that difference is...
Education, not “Schooling” is the aim for our children, yet kids are being plugged into a system (public school) that is not creating an environment conducive to the optimal development of the child, but rather one which produces the most subservient and “reliant upon instruction from the system” individual.
Matt Beaudreau put it well:
There are those who want kids to rock science fair projects, memorize state capitals, smoke through worksheets, & ace the SAT.
There are also those who want kids to engage with society, learn to sell & communicate, build businesses, & love reading.
They aren’t the same group.
The latter is what you want; the former is where most children are at.
If you aren’t already following Matt on any social platforms, I suggest you do; the messaging is consistent and always from a place of genuine desire to help parents (people) see what’s going on at a level they may not currently be aware of. There are nefarious events unfolding before our eyes, and I think that we’re on the cusp of a major transition as a country and society. With that being understood, connecting with resources like Mr. Beaudreau before SHTF will be key to positioning yourself and your family and sparing those you love from preventable pain and re-work.
Follow people who turn your timeline into a resource that constantly offers applicable advice that has you improving in your “real life”; Matt has been one of those people for me, especially in the context of education.
You Built It, You Own It
As a mother or father, you brought your child into the world; they did not ask to be here. This decision, made by you, comes with responsibilities and consequences, one of which is that you are responsible for the education (not schooling) of your child. The United States Educational System has been broken for as long as I can remember. I graduated High School in 2006 after spending 5 years there, a story for a different article, and during that time, I found myself in hot water on many occasions for asking the question, “Why?”:
Why do we need to know this?
Why can’t we talk about X but focus on Y?
Why would I spend time learning something I won’t use?
Why don’t we update to current scenarios with modern tools?
Come to find out, “Why” is a bad word in school, highlighting the disaster that most public schools are.
With recent events playing out as they have (COVID, Lockdowns, Distance Learning, Quarantines, etc.), people have begun to take a look at how they are operating, and in this “Life Audit” many parents have found that schools are not the best environment for their children and they haven’t been for quite a while.
The parental involvement which has followed shows an awakening of families across the country, which is a great thing, but is it enough?
All together, America’s public schools have lost at least 1.2 million students since 2020, according to a recently published national survey. State enrollment figures show no sign of a rebound to the previous national levels any time soon. - NYT Article
I’d love nothing more than to see all of those who could home school do so if it fits the community and desires of the children and family. What I’d prefer over that would be for every parent to open their eyes to the reality that it’s on them to prioritize the education of their child’s mind as early as possible.
I want mothers and fathers to lean in on what’s happening at school, what subjects are being learned, values exchanged, and topics covered, and in doing so, offering at-home education through reading books together, experiments, visiting historical sites, and sharing how the bills work, investing, physical fitness, etc. these should all be covered in the home to where public school is supplemental to the life skills under the family’s roof.
This Is Parenting, Not a Burden
It seems as though there is still a lag between parents’ understanding of the reality of the situation and the acceptance of the responsibility to take charge.
Children are being blasted with political opinions, conflicting morals, and aggressive ideologies, and if they’ve not built a solid foundation in the home, they are going to be susceptible to confrontation, being ostracized, and finding themselves slapped with a label that may stick for the tenure of their public schooling career - no parent wants their child to suffer that fate.
This is why it is your job as the parent to find inspiration and motivation to get parallel with your child and work with them through either their public school experience or to take them out and chart a new course together.
Our children are meant to be more than gears forged to be plugged into a system that oppresses the next generation of grads and shoves them into the system only to repeat the cycle until total collapse and the freedom to think as an individual are a thing of the distant past.
It isn’t “the kids these days” needing to step up; it’s their parents.
- Zachary Small
If we do not parent our children and our grandchildren ourselves, then schoolteachers and public administrators will do it for us.