In her new book, 'Rethinking Schools,' Susan Wise
Bauer offers a host of practical suggestions and alternatives for parents
struggling with traditional education environments.
Over the past seven years of homeschooling, my husband and I have
been surprised that the biggest objection people have to our educational choice
for our children is not that they are educated at home, but that they are not
being educated exactly how they would be if they were in the neighborhood
public school. People aren’t interested in why we believe in a particular
philosophy of education or even whether our children are thriving. They just
want to know that the children are being tested every year, they are studying
the same things as their public-schooled peers, and they’ll be able to go to
college. Americans have largely come to accept education for what we today know
as school.
But parents
want a better education for their children than what schools are currently
providing. In 2017, only 47% of American parents said
they were completely or somewhat satisfied with K-12 education. While the
majority are dissatisfied with the state of education, parents aren’t sure what
changes need to be made and how to go about instituting that change.
Parents have
the great responsibility to oversee their children’s education, but too often
we think of it as the government’s job. Joseph Pearce recently wrote that we
have given the government the right to define education when we consider education a civil
right. Pearce is not arguing to go back to a time when the few
privileged receive a formal education; he believes all children need to be
educated. His grievance is when the government, not parents, are deciding how
to educate children.
Pearce says our discussion needs to switch from calling education
a “‘civil right’ that Big Brother imposes to a discussion of the ‘civil
responsibility’ of parents to raise their children without the ideological
intrusion of the government. It is not a question of ‘rights’ to be imposed by
the state but of the ‘freedom’ of parents to choose the sort of education that
they believe is best for their children. Schools should empower parents to
educate their children and should not empower big government to impose its own
ideological understanding of what constitutes a ‘civil right.’”
Recent
education policies and reform ideas have proven to be wanting. Diane Ravitch, a
former proponent of No Child Left Behind and later Common Core, said that the
reform she once supported gave us educational “promises [that] haven’t come
true.” To see the changes we want to see in America’s schools, we can’t rely on
politicians and new policies. Ravitch said, “If we really cared about improving
the education of all students, we would give teachers the autonomy to tailor
instruction to meet the needs of the children in front of them and to write
their own tests.”
Teachers do need to have the power to make decisions within their
classrooms, but more importantly, parents need to have the power to influence
their children’s education. The change that students imminently need will not
come first from the government or even from local educators but with the people
who know and love students the best: parents.
Questioning the Paradigm
Dr. Susan
Wise Bauer, a former college professor, an author, and a longtime education
leader, has written a new book, Rethinking Schools: How to Take
Charge of Your Child’s Education, to help parents shape and guide
their children’s education, regardless of where they go to school. While Bauer
thinks that conversations about school reform need to happen, she also believes
those changes will likely come too late for any children who are struggling in
schools right now. And that’s why her book is so important—it gives parents
ideas to help their child today.
Bauer has
been a pioneer in education since her childhood. Born in 1968, she graduated
from her parents’ homeschool before most people had even heard of homeschooling.
Her indispensable guide, The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide
to Classical Education at Home, co-authored with her mother and
first published in 1999, has made her a leader in the resurgence of classical
education. She also has written several popular history books, including the
middle-grade history series The Story of the World.
Now in her latest book, Bauer tells readers that “homeschooling is
not the only way to push back against the rigidity of the classroom. You can
also opt out of the expert plan by working with your child’s teachers,
suggesting alternative plans, taking on one or more subjects yourself—or
adopting one of the many other strategies in [her] book.”
Going deep inside of the heart of schools, Bauer tells readers to
reconsider our current paradigm by questioning accepted ideas like our learning
standards based on age and grade, current testing practices, and inflexible
curriculum. Bauer believes that even homeschoolers need to see where they buy
into a system that doesn’t work for every child. Too often we try to fix a
struggling child by “figuring out what’s wrong with the little psyche that’s
causing them to feel humiliation, fright, discouragement, boredom,
disengagement—rather than questioning the system.”
Bauer begins by saying that our way of educating has become a
powerful artificial system, or a “framework that organizes our existence.” Not
all artificial systems are bad, but “when an artificial system classifies and
segregates people (as opposed to cell phones, say, or sewage) some people will
inevitably fit into the system better than others.” Bauer isn’t being negative
towards our nation’s schools, but honest and realistic about the limitations of
our traditional school setting. This system “prioritizes a single way of
understanding over all others, and it pushes out other important things that
children under eighteen should be doing (like daydreaming, exercising, drawing,
working, and sleeping).”
We all know children who are incredibly smart but for various
reasons aren’t successful in school. They may need to move more, have lessons
presented in a manner not conducive to a class of 30 children, or are
overstimulated by the classroom setting. These children need their schooling to
look a little different than the traditional approach, but “the system, even
when excellent teachers are laboring within it, defies adaptation.”
She goes on to discuss specific myths about school and education.
Lest she shock readers with scandalous ideas, she has the résumé to support
what she’s talking about. Bauer earned her bachelor, two masters, and a
doctorate degree (and later guided her children) through a non-traditional
education path. So when she says your child doesn’t have to go to an accredited
school, study particular subjects every year, or have a high school diploma,
she means it.
Many children have “mismatches” that make it hard for them to fit
into the system. The book also explains how we do children a disservice by
expecting them to develop and learn at the same rate. Bauer provides helpful
diagnostic questions to consider when your child doesn’t fit into the
expectations for her age and also action plans for parents to implement. Some
of these mismatches are caused by disabilities, differences or disorders, but
not always. Bauer defines these categories and equips parents to help their
child navigate the school system with them. She discusses when a child should
skip a grade (hint: rarely ever) and why retention shouldn’t be viewed so
negatively.
Practical Ideas and
Alternatives
The book then shifts from diagnosing issues to working with them.
She starts this section by reminding readers that any great ideas you have for
your child’s education will be received better when you approach teachers and
administrators with grace. Parents “should always start with the premise that
the teacher, the administration, and the staff have your child’s best interests
in mind and want your child to flourish. Sure, it’s possible that this belief
will be dented over time […] but don’t start with suspicion and hostility.”
Bauer’s ideas for treating faculty and staff seem like they should
be an understood part of relating to people, but all schools have their share
of terrible parents. If you have a reputation for being a pleasant parent,
administrators are more likely to believe you when you do face an incompetent
or unhelpful teacher. Bauer walks readers through the necessary research for a
meeting with teachers and administrators with the strong reminder to act with
kindness and humility.
She devotes the rest of this section to practical and immediate
ideas to implement to change a child’s education. First, is a discussion about
the current behemoth of education: testing. So much of our system is now
controlled by testing even though the people it directly affects—teachers,
students, and parents—are largely opposed to it. Tests are actually negotiable,
and Bauer offers alternative options for you to consider if your children might
benefit from a different assessment.
This is information most school systems don’t want to give
parents, but Bauer’s treatment of it is very helpful, especially if you have
never researched different testing options. Another chapter is devoted to helping
parents make decisions about how much homework to allow their children to
complete each night and how to handle the consequences that may come from not
doing every assignment. Bauer also offers unique ideas for offering a
child-specific education like accelerating in just one subject.
Rethinking Schools closes
out with two sections to help parents consider various options to meet your
child’s developmental needs and when to think about opting out of traditional
schools. These ideas range from alternatives currently practiced (homeschooling
or gap years) to almost unheard of (giving a student extra time to complete
high school or single-focused schooling). Bauer even says she wishes she had
let one of her sons drop out of high school to pursue an apprenticeship. Most
families need an option that falls somewhere between traditional school and
homeschooling, but Bauer’s suggestions may inspire you to think outside of the
box for your child.
Public schools will serve a lot of children well, but it is
impossible for a system so big to be able to meet the needs of every child.
Even though American parents have the freedom to make many decisions about
their children’s education, we tend not to question how school is done. Bauer
provides a helpful framework for families to think through how to provide an
education that fits our children’s needs. We shouldn’t be afraid to exercise
our freedom to provide the best educational experience for our children, even
if it isn’t the most conventional path.
Jessica
Burke lives in North Carolina with her husband and their four children. A
former public school teacher, Jessica has spent the last decade with a vocation
of homemaker and classical home educator. The Burkes lived overseas for three
years and have been to almost 20 countries together, surviving some adventures
they will never speak of to the grandparents.
