I'm loving your blog. It is a great resource for those considering leaving the public school system. I have forwarded it to several people.

how scary an idea is that: parents who would "harm" their children in order to appear "normal?" what if a whole society was filled with families like that?

i feel sick.

I agree whole heartedly, and have been privileged to observe my sister home-school her two daughters from pre-school through sixth grade (so far). Paul Goodman wrote a critique of western conventional education systems in 1962, titled "Compulsory Mis-education." It is compelling reading, even more relevant today.
As a former teacher, and current social worker, I was attracted to your title because I have espoused for a long while that much of the reason our educational system is doing so poorly, is that so many of the children in these classrooms have unstable homes and communities. Educational reform really must begin outside of schools, in part by establishing stable and safe homes and communities for all of our children. Only until then, can children's minds be available for educational pursuits, instead of merely day to day survival.

I really would like to leave a comment on how I enjoy your articles! It is a wonderful contribution to what is so necessary to be discussed.

I'm coming to believe that education-as-business may be the primary overlooked reason why schools will not change significantly. Entrenched bureaucracies always work to protect and expand their territory, and the economic importance of the education business ensures that all attempts to bring about real change will be shaken off, and even criminalized, if necessary.

I am a home school mother who mostly follows the un-school philosophy, but I still revert and feel pressure to have my kids "produce" some work (especially in the math department). It is really great to read your comments and others like it to help keep the pressure demons away.

Referring to the previously mentioned tome "Compulsory Mis-Education" it should be noted that US, indeed all education systems are first and foremost compulsory. This coercion sets the tone for the entire institution of education. It's no wonder children see schools as prison. This intimate connection between force and school generally sours a child's attitude toward learning and education. This is more a matter of self preservation than an objective perception of reality. Kids are plunged into a situation where they must practice self-defense from the onslaught of adult demands, parental demands, social demands that all appear in the form coercion and threats of coercion.

From this onslaught of coercion applied against the child, the child essentially has no defense. No adults will hear the child's pleas for help and/or shelter. Instead, the adults see the child as somehow weak and put it to the child to find some way to cope in whatever manner the child can find. Getting through school therefore becomes an exercise in survival. The education that takes place then is necessarily NOT in line with what the institution, parents and adults in general expect. Instead of well developed adults society becomes a mass of victims and victors who are all at some level tinged with a degree of post traumatic stress syndrome. It could well be contended that compulsory education is clearly a form of child abuse.

The ostensible purpose of education is to prepare and equip the child with the knowledge and skills to be a happy, productive and successful adult in whatever way those terms are defined by those who employ those terms. Certainly parents want to see their children to mature and be happy and prosperous. But why is government involved? It is government that is the source of coercion making education compulsory. families have members. Governments need citizens. Without citizens governments as we know them today cannot exist. It is therefore in the best interest of governments to not only have a hand in education but to direct and control that education to the extent that when that education is completed that the result will a citizen fully indoctrinated to support the government in whatever way that government demands. The citizen should be productive to provide the government with the tools of power (money via taxes), submissive always to the demands and processes of government, docile as to pose no threat to the government and supportive of government to point of giving up one's life if so demanded by government. A tall order indeed. One that takes years of training and indoctrination.

Education of children is a very good thing. It is the children who are both our legacy and future. It is children who represent the continuation of humanity. It is therefore absolutely imperative that they carry with them the skills and knowledge of what has gone before them. That education is required to accomplish this intergenerational feat is NOT in question. What is in question is the manner in which this education is provided.

It is abundantly clear that institutionalized, centrally controlled compulsory education is a massive failure. One that this country can no longer afford. Not in terms of monetary costs because it is clear that by the printing press there are as many dollars as is required. It is the human toll that is far too high. It is the limits on what humanity can achieve. Rather than reaching for the heights of what can be achieved we reach for ever lower standards and hail mediocrity as some sort of great thing. Children are abused mentally and chemically in order to achieve conformity which is regarded as the highest of social standards. What a waste of humanity.

The time is upon humanity where we must make a change. Not subtle or gradual changes in a failed system. Not even radical changes can save a failed system. It is simply time to bring the system to an end. But this end must necessarily extend far beyond merely the abolition of the education system. The whole of the world is predicated on this educational system. Governments, corporations, the entire hierarchical economic structure of the world is based upon the centralized institution of education. The adage "It takes a village..." does have merit but certainly not in the world which we have constructed. It's merit can only be found in a world in which the village is allowed and encouraged to exist and to prosper. This means families. More importantly this means individuals. Individuals who are free to act socially and economically in their own best interests. Not in the support of tribal chiefs or large centralized governments but in the interests of themselves, their families including their children and then the community with chiefs and kings and presidents and institutions being very far down on that list of items to support based on the blood, sweat and toils of the individuals.