'Tis The Season

Around here it's debate time.

I noticed it last week on the message boards of the local homeschool groups. The argument is on. It's still civil at this point, but that will end shortly. It always does.

This morning, I noticed that the debate has moved into the editorials page. There were plenty of letters to the editor extolling how right each person was.

As humans we seem to have this innate need to be more right than anyone one else. It's too bad, it makes us look pretty dumb in the end.

So, that said, here's what I think.

There are three kinds of school, all with the same basic goal...or at least that's what we all start out saying. The goal is the same. Try to remember that part as we go through the rest.

School types. The simplified versions.

There is the "traditional" school, where parents send their children to be taught by a teacher or group of teachers. Parents help with homework and are involved in both school activities and extracurricular activities, including lessons, tutoring and religious education. Parents choose this. Whether private or public, parents choose this.

There is home school, where parents keep their kids at home and teach them themselves, sometimes using additional outside classes, co-ops, private lessons or tutors, or otherwise an additional teacher/s besides themselves. Parents help with homework and are involved in both school activities and extracurricular activities, including lessons, tutoring and religious education. Parents choose this.

Third, there is virtual school. It is a unique combination of "traditional" and homeschool. The student uses the same curriculum as a student in a "traditional" school, has teachers who are not their parents, and are bound by the rules of that particular school. These lessons, taught by the teachers happen over the Internet or a satellite in the child's home. Often the teacher or school grades all of the work and tests even though the parent will be the person administering the tests. Parents help with homework and are involved in both school activities and extracurricular activities, including lessons, tutoring and religious education. Parents choose this.

OK, so in any one of the three, parents make the choice about which style of education their kids get. Parents make the choice about how involved in that particular education they are. Parents make the choice about whether that option will continue from year to year, based on whether or not they are pleased with the outcomes.

Parents choose the curriculum. Even in the case of a public school, parents choose. Granted the process may be more difficult and further removed than a homeschooler, but they ultimately choose. Parents vote for politicians and school boards. Parents are involved with the schools directly. Parents can move their kids to another school with a curriculum they like better.

Ultimately, in any of these three situations, parents pay for the education.

I know, there are plenty of details and arguments left out here. I know it isn't nearly this simple, but let's face it, life isn't that simple. Being a parent--your choice, by the way, isn't that simple, now is it?

And in the end, have we forgotten the goal in our quest to be more right?

I think perhaps we have.

The goal, my friends, is to educate a child. If you really think it through, no child is educated in a vacuum. All kids need to have a variety of experiences and teachers. Some kids need the rigid structure and some need space in their days. Some home school kids have way more structure and stricter teachers and standards than public school kids do. Some public schools do a much better job at general education than some homeschoolers. It's true. None of us are perfect, and none of us are doing a perfect job of educating kids.

But, our hearts need to be in the same place. Our focus needs to be the same. Educate the kids. Maybe we could try a little grace for our fellow parent. Recognize just how hard each choice is, how much each one of us really does want the very best for each one of our kids.

Living in America, we all ought to be able to make the right choice for each individual child. That's about the only point of the school debate that should be argued, you know? Let freedom ring.