Isn’t it Funny?

The most revealing questions are the ones never asked.

It’s interesting to me how, when I tell others that I’m homeschooling my children, they never need to ask why. I’ve gotten a wide range of objections, from the practical to the ridiculous, but people always seem to shy away from asking me why. I can only assume that it is because “why” is obvious: I want my children to have a good education.

I suppose this fundamental question might be neglected because people don’t want to hurt my feelings. Or maybe my brilliance (*snicker*) is so obvious that it never occurs to anyone that I may not be able to teach my kids their ABC’s. Really, though, is no one concerned that my children might be better off left to “the professionals”? If they are, no one has had the courage to come out and say it yet.

Despite the many specious objections often lobbed our way, for some reason the quality of my children’s education is never brought up. It’s almost as if education has become the last thing we think of when we consider our children’s upbringing, rather than the first. We think about money (I can’t afford private education.), and friendships (What about socialization?), and our own comfort (I’d go crazy if my kids were with me all day!). But we never think about education.

We, all of us, seem to take for granted that public schools don’t do a very good job of teaching anyone very much. If they could, it wouldn’t be a staple story on slow news days that U.S. children can’t compete academically with those of other nations.  It is a given at this point that the system we have doesn’t educate anyone very well.

Since no one ever asks me why I chose private education for my kids, I’ll be polite enough not to ask them why they haven’t. It is obviously a very uncomfortable subject.