This is part of a four-part series of posts about schoolwork and learning in general. No, don't worry. This is not going to be a soapbox where I whine about doing work. In fact, I would like to discuss three of my favorite aspects of school this year. However, I am going to start with an introduction that may come off as a bit soap-boxy. Please bear with me; I promise it's relevant. :)
"Rules and schools are tools for fools-- I don't give two mules for rules." This extremely creative, original, and oh-so cleverly contrived poem is a quote from one of my favorite, endearingly obstinate book characters: Constance from the Mysterious Benedict Society series (an excellent read, by the way. Why is it that children's books tend to be so much better than books aimed at teenagers?).
I believe that by creating this poem, Constance is expressing doubt in a system that enforces mandatory learning of subjects and material that she feels will not be useful in the real world. She is not entirely correct in her particular case (I can't tell you why without spoiling a surprise in the plot), but she's not wrong, either. It's my opinion that the main problem with the education system in the United States is that it is way too uniformly molded: it is meant to work for every child, and thus leaves a great many children out. I have no problem whatsoever with inclusiveness as a concept, but there are significant problems in making this a reality. In enforcing a system so homogenous, individuality of learning strategies is lost, along with a lot of the whole point of education. Learning becomes something mandatory, enforced, and moderated by adults, rather than something to spark interest in life and a future career, which is what it should be.
I don't deny that it is important to be well-rounded. A really good computer programmer may find himself with no prospects if computer programming is the only thing he is able to do well and all his skills are unneeded for whatever reason during a particular time. However, at the same time, I don't really see why a youth with enormous talent in visual arts, graphic design, or music should have to take AP Calculus if they don't want to in order to have the required number of classes to get into college. It's not that AP Calculus isn't useful. It's just that a student who is definitely going to go into the arts probably won't use it a lot in the real world, and would make better use of their time in high school practicing more pertinent skills.
This is one of the reasons I enjoy homeschooling so much: my study schedule, though not as flexible as popular culture would have you believe, is nearly entirely self-directed. Yes, I still have to take classes I despise and don't personally see as relevant to my life. But I am held accountable for those things, and if they don't get done, I know I won't be able to study what I'm actually interested in later. Additionally, as a homeschooler, I am able to take classes I am truly interested at the times that I want to. For instance, AP U.S. History is a class normally only taken by 11th or 12th graders, and is not even an option for most freshmen in public school. However, in my freshman year, I was able to take it because I wanted to. (I ended up getting a 5 out of 5, by the way. Still happy about that :D).
Because of the flexibility of homeschooling, I was able to take three classes this year that I truly enjoy greatly and would almost certainly not been able to take were I in public school: AP art History, advanced music theory, and a literature discussion group. I'll devote a post in this series to each of them.
~Naddie Boyne
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