What is an Education?
To get straight down to basics to decide how we wanted to educate our children Errol and I sat down and asked ourselves ‘what IS an education?’. And how are we going to get it for our kids?
There is this elusive title of ‘educated’ that we are all subconsciously pushing our children towards and sometimes I am not so sure everyone has actually decided what educated means for them and their children.
Is it finishing high school? Is it earning a bachelor degree? Or a Phd?
For me, I think Mahatma Ghandi summed it up well when he spoke on modern education:
“The real difficulty is that people have no idea of what education truly is. We assess the value of education in the same manner as we assess the value of land or of shares in the stock-exchange market. We want to provide only such education as would enable the student to earn more. We hardly give any thought to the improvement of the character of the educated. As long as such ideas persist there is no hope of our ever knowing the true value of education”
Errol and I have always agreed that we wanted to make conscious decisions for our children’s parenting, not be dictated by what anyone else is doing. When we’ve brought home these incredible tiny people we’ve talked a lot about the childhood & adolescence we want to give them and the steps we want to take to help them reach their full potential.
So, it was never assumed that we would send our children to school (even though Errol and I both met at university studying to be teachers!).
We have had active discussions where we have sat down and talked about the sort of adults we want to raise – about what elements of their characters we want to nurture and encourage and what kind of adults we hope they’ll be; about the education we will provide them. Raising a kid is kinda a big deal and we don’t want to go into it without thinking about where we’d like to end up!
For us – we found that we wanted to raise adults who are content, grateful, well rounded, creative, respectful, able to think critically, have healthy relationships, use wisdom, maintain curiosity, are entrepreneurial and have self confidence. These are our priorities, they are the ‘education’ we want to provide our children and everything else is just details. I truly believe that school is not the ideal place to teach our children these life values.
Statistics show that 58% of children schooled at home report that they are “very happy” with life, compared with 27% for the general U.S. population. 73% find life “exciting”, compared with 47.3%
When Errol and I talk about the things we learnt at school we never once think of the things we wrote out in exams, do you? Students are loaded with information year after year to pass exam after exam to be labelled as ‘educated’ at the end. I am always curious about how much of that information is actually useful to them? Or how much is even being retained? I am never surprised that the people I find the most talented, the most creative and true in their field were never formally trained in that area (um, hello, KIMBRA!).
It seems that so often the focus is on getting our children to mimic facts and information instead of nuturing their own curiosity and intelligence and ability to learn and create on their own. We want to sail them through kindergarten to college and have them popped out the other end ‘educated’. Certainly many college graduates are academically well prepared (and certainly some are not!) but often I think we miss children’s real education; what gives them substance and creativity and makes them unique – in sending them through this system. Academia is a beautiful pursuit but Errol and I firmly believe it is only a small facet of a one’s education.
“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.”
-Oscar Wilde (1856-1900)
Please read on to the next posts in our series Natural Learning, Why school isn’t the best place for my child, Socialisation, Convenience & freedom
Hi Georgia, When I think of school, There are two memories that stand out; The first is my enjoyment of competition, both in the academic and the sporting arena. I did pretty well academically but I especially loved sport and went on to compete at a fairly high level. Will your (gorgeous, adorable) children get the opportunity to participate in competitive sport, which for me bought a lot of joy, self-confidence and a sense of achievement?
The other thing that stands out are the friends I made and the social interaction (and this coming from someone who is fairly introverted) Having to learn to interact with people who had different backgrounds and came from different walks of life challenged my own viewpoints, philosophy and beliefs for the better.
I too will be interested in your continuing series as it is obvious that you make wonderful choices for your children..perhaps Ill be sold on this one in time!
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Georgia Reply:
November 14th, 2011 at 9:40 pm
Hi Clea, thanks for your comment! I will definitely reply in more depth after I’ve posted my full series but yes, my kids can be involved in competitive sport if they desire. Peach is already in football (soccer) and has done ballet (and will return next year). I myself am VERY competitive and enjoyed school for those same reasons! Will be interested to hear what you think of the rest of the posts! x x
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Bravo! Great post. I am also on the same path with my 4, 3 and 1 year old. We love learning every day together. It is so different today with opportunities to take all the good experiences from “school” and leave behind the one size fits all approach that just doesn’t work. For example, we are a part of a homeschool group that is putting on a Christmas play this year. There are also homeschool sports league, orchestra etc..BUT the most important thing we have learned is in order to homeschool..we must be HOME. lol That is where the magic happens and has made us such a close knit family. Excited to read the rest of your post! Your children are very so very blessed to have you as parents. Not trying to be mean but reality is that most parents spend more time thinking about a nursery theme than how to educate their children. It is just as important as other issues such as formula/nursing, bed sharing, how to train them up, etc and deserves at least a well thought out consideration of all the alternatives and facts.
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Georgia Reply:
November 17th, 2011 at 3:50 pm
Thank you Karen for your lovely comment. I absolutely agree with you that lots of parents spend a lot of time focusing on the NON important stuff and in between that all – the big picture gets lost. If all this series does is gives someone the chance to actually THINK about those things, then I am so happy!
That’s so great that you have a good homeschool group – how fun! I would love to find something like that when our kids are a bit bigger.
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I was home schooled and went to school. I much preferred home schooling and wish we could have taken it up full time as we were definitely very social as kids and teens.
At school I seemed to get into a lot of trouble and didn’t really ‘take’ to it. This lead me to believe I lacked intelligence and general smarts, therefore my confidence took a big hit. I was lucky that my intelligence took me to college when I was 15 – and away from school. I loved college; the people, my tutors, the course itself (child development) and just the all round self-esteem boost it gave me.
My Mum became a Seminary teacher (Seminary is our 4 year scripture study class for kids aged between 14-17) in my last year of study so I was able to roll out of bed and into class in the morning – there is not greater feeling for a teenager
. I always had a full schedule of church, academic and social things growing up so there was no real time to fritter away or any reason not to have friends and I have a feeling it will be the same for Roman and any other kids we have – plus he will be full time home schooled!
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Georgia Reply:
November 17th, 2011 at 4:01 pm
Nothing beats rolling out of bed into the classroom, hey? I enjoyed a lot of that myself! I often would roll out of bed right to my sewing machine and spend the day creating little outfits – what a delightful time!
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Hmm…I think I should start writing about my goals for the education of my children. It will probably go a long way toward explaining my perspective to my husband.
I love what you have written.
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Georgia Reply:
November 17th, 2011 at 3:51 pm
Thank you Lauren, I definitely think writing it out was so helpful for me. Not so much because I hadn’t thought about it – but to make it clear to everyone else why I feel the way I do. It was also great for Errol and I to work on these posts together and asses what WE wanted for OUR children.
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My childhood education is a weird story in terms of the stories many other people in my area have… I was in private and public schools off and on in my life, and home schooled for a good portion of my late elementary through middle school years, before returning to a public high school. This was in part due to the fact that my family is military and we moved a lot. Rather than my brother and me finding ourselves bouncing from school to school, my mom opted to home school us in the grades she felt she could teach. I really enjoyed that opportunity, especially since my parents were mindful to keep us in social groups (such as sports and theatre and dance troupes, art classes, etc). We even joined a home school group, where parents taught specialized classes once a week and all the kids signed up for what they were interested in (I loved newspaper class… but charm class was not my forte… not sure what I was thinking when I signed up for that!). In this way, we were exposed to different teaching styles and methods, group projects, and being in a classroom environment with other students. We had homework and such like kids in a traditional school, but it wasn’t an every day thing. More importantly, we were learning about what we were passionate about (or, in the case of charm class, thought we may be interested in and found out later we weren’t!), and my parents knew we were learning the lessons and morals they wanted to instill in us.
That being said, I am also glad I had the choice to attend a public high school. The school I attended (and later my brother, too) had a strong arts program, particularly theatre. We both joined the thespian troupe and participated in all the shows. We both became officers of our troupe and learned responsibility for a large group of people with a common cause. I wasn’t keen on the “learn to the assessment” mentality, but I was smart enough to study and spit back information, then later reject what I didn’t need. I struggled in math (and always will, my brain just doesn’t work that way) but I took the initiative and planned extra tutoring lessons with my teachers. I am not sure, had I always been in the public school system, that I would have bothered to put forth that extra effort. My mom taught me to be dedicated and determined, and to achieve any goal I set for myself… or in the exam situation, was set for me. Many of my contemporaries opted to “skate through” class and just make the grade. My brother and I never fell into that mentality.
I went to a four-year institution for a year, and decided I didn’t like my major or the college. I came home and attended the community college. I put a lot into the work I did and received my degree with a sense of accomplishment. I have since been able to start up my own business. I also work part time at the community college in the library, and am able to take classes as a perk of the job, so the learning journey doesn’t end for me.
When I think back on my educational life, I feel I really established my intellectual rhythm while being home schooled. I felt no pressure from my classmates to be someone I wasn’t. If I wanted to spend my days reading, nobody teased me about it. If I decided I was going to be a Disney artist and spent all my time drawing Mickey Mouse, I wasn’t singled out as any kind of stereotype… I was just me, following my current bliss. I hope to one day home school my own kids (which is tricky, my in-laws are all public school teachers!). I hope that they will feel the same love of learning that I do… a love I feel is not instilled in kids in the school systems here.
Best of luck! Can’t wait to read more!
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Georgia Reply:
November 17th, 2011 at 3:54 pm
Thank you so much for your lovely long comment Marizabeth! That’s wonderful that you had such an incredible arts program at your school. How wonderful would that have been? I definitely want to give our children opportunities like that as they grow. I really loved reading your experience in your education. I do think that often that love of learning is missed out on and that is what I really want to give my children – a longing to learn!
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Thanks for this post! It reinforces all the things I have felt about an “education”. Currently we are homeschooling 4 of our 5 children (the youngest is only 3 months
and I wouldnt have it any other way. I do often ask the oldre children about being happy or satisfied with this lifestyle. I want them to be happy with what we are doing as well. On occasion we do have a child who wants to go to school, but only for social reasons. That is when we start to find more outlets for that child. Thanks for the great quotes!
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Georgia Reply:
November 17th, 2011 at 4:02 pm
Thank you so much for your comment Sara! I like what you said about when your kids do want to go to school. I think that’s important to consider and the reason why. I agree that for me it was always social reasons I wanted to attend school. I definitely am working to make sure my children have lots of social outlets beyond the home.
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[...] This is the second post in a five party series. The first post is What is an Education?. [...]
Hello! I’ve just read your post about homeschooling! I can’t resist commenting, as I was homeschooled with my sister. We ran wild, the heavens and earth our “classroom”. We could pursue our scholarly studies strewn out on picnic blankets in fields, barefooted, in the half-moon cradle of a limb belonging to a maple tree, in the bellies of hollowed bushes … The freeness of homeschooling catered to our whims and tangents of intrigue, traveling, and we went on far more field trips than any kids in formal schools. We played sports, had dance lessons, piano lessons, theater, and yes, there were even things like proms, and we do have high school diplomas (the real thing). Growing up, we were socialized with kids and adults of all ages, not merely our peers, and we had friends who were homeschooled and who attended school, so it’s not that we were suppressed in a little “homeschool bubble”. I was also able to begin my schooling a year early and graduate a year early (at the age of 16, instead of 18), something I wouldn’t of been able to do, had I been in the school system.
Are you already familiar with homeschool co-ops? A good one can be a godsend.
Anyway, if I ever have kids, as much as homeschooling them sounds a bit daunting, it also sounds super exciting, as I know I can better foster their love for learning, instead of subjecting them to drills, to be trained for a test and achieve grade letters. (Staff in public schools here, will admit, in the system, “it’s never about the kids”. How sad!) And I think it’s wonderful you will homeschool yours and that you’ve thought through what’s an education and what kind of education you’d like for your children. If only all children had parents as lovely!
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Georgia Reply:
November 17th, 2011 at 4:04 pm
Hi Susanna, I love this comment so much.
“We ran wild, the heavens and earth our “classroom”. We could pursue our scholarly studies strewn out on picnic blankets in fields, barefooted, in the half-moon cradle of a limb belonging to a maple tree, in the bellies of hollowed bushes ” So beautiful. Thank you.
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