Home-schooling vs other schools
BRANDON HAMMOND WRITES:
Home-schooling: A viable alternative to public and private schools?
Having home schooled my children for years my unequivocal, unapologetic response to this question is a resounding yes – for many reasons. Apart from offering self-paced individualized curricula, home schooling inculcated into my son and daughter the noble virtues of self-discipline, goalsetting, commitment, a sense of responsibility as well as effective time-management. They could cover, for example, a day’s work within three to four hours and invested the rest of it in either music, drama, dancing, sport or ICT. (They happen to be Namibia’s youngest ICDL ™ certified boy and girl at 14 and 12 respectively.) Yet the most significant benefit was the academic standard of the curricula they followed. The 36-week preschool programme, for example, comprised approximately 2 000 pages and imparted functional literacy and numeracy well before the start of Grade 1. (In this particular system, a child could not register for Grade 1 if he/she could not read.) Moreover, in Grade 8 Math they learned, among others, to calculate the square roots of imperfect squares (like the number 8) correct to three decimals mechanically (i.e., without using a calculator) – something that a PhD holder in Math told me was not possible.
Nonetheless, for all its benefits, home schooling is fraught with a cocktail of challenges, though none of them is insurmountable. A common argument levelled against it concerns the perceived lack of socialization home schoolers presumably experience. It is a forgone conclusion that regular and proper socialization is a vital cog in a child’s holistic development. It affords them opportunities to interact with others, which hones their communicative, linguistic and social skills. Yet, any arbitrary assumption that traditional schools automatically guarantee such platforms for socialization prompts several counter-arguments. In fact, unless a child is sufficiently holistically stimulated at home (during his/her formative years), he/she will enter any school severely handicapped and experience difficulty in adapting to a new environment. Moreover, these deficits may be compounded if not timely countered with high levels of personalized pastoral care at school, which in turn hinges precariously on the availability and/or affordability of appropriately qualified personnel. Admittedly, in a home school setup there are not always peers to interact with. In that event, parents should explore platforms outside the home where such interactions can happen. Unfortunately, these scenarios come with the territory and demand a lot of creativity and huge sacrifices on the part of the home-schooling parent.
Yet, another potential obstacle prospective and current home-schooling parents could face revolves around interpretations of certain sections of the Basic Education Act of 2020. Whilst the Act, which now governs pre-primary to upper secondary education, is accommodative to home schooling, the proviso that home education should be based on the national, legally approved academic curriculum may prove problematic in many respects. The mere fact that our very state president quite recently has criticized our education system is a case in point. Moreover, given the MoEAC’s consistently disappointing performance spanning several decades, one fails to reconcile oneself to the effrontery of some officials who arrogate to themselves the ability to divine the academic interests of any child. In a constitutional democracy (where the majority rules and the fundamental rights of individuals in the minority are protected), it is any logical-thinking parent’s prerogative to decide what curriculum content is best for his/her child. That remains an inalienable human right. Notwithstanding, parents still have a window of opportunity (and responsibility) to influence their children’s future positively during their formative years – at home.
In conclusion, the price for home schooling may seem exorbitantly high, but the rewards will always far exceed the cost.
Home-schooling: A viable alternative to public and private schools?
Having home schooled my children for years my unequivocal, unapologetic response to this question is a resounding yes – for many reasons. Apart from offering self-paced individualized curricula, home schooling inculcated into my son and daughter the noble virtues of self-discipline, goalsetting, commitment, a sense of responsibility as well as effective time-management. They could cover, for example, a day’s work within three to four hours and invested the rest of it in either music, drama, dancing, sport or ICT. (They happen to be Namibia’s youngest ICDL ™ certified boy and girl at 14 and 12 respectively.) Yet the most significant benefit was the academic standard of the curricula they followed. The 36-week preschool programme, for example, comprised approximately 2 000 pages and imparted functional literacy and numeracy well before the start of Grade 1. (In this particular system, a child could not register for Grade 1 if he/she could not read.) Moreover, in Grade 8 Math they learned, among others, to calculate the square roots of imperfect squares (like the number 8) correct to three decimals mechanically (i.e., without using a calculator) – something that a PhD holder in Math told me was not possible.
Nonetheless, for all its benefits, home schooling is fraught with a cocktail of challenges, though none of them is insurmountable. A common argument levelled against it concerns the perceived lack of socialization home schoolers presumably experience. It is a forgone conclusion that regular and proper socialization is a vital cog in a child’s holistic development. It affords them opportunities to interact with others, which hones their communicative, linguistic and social skills. Yet, any arbitrary assumption that traditional schools automatically guarantee such platforms for socialization prompts several counter-arguments. In fact, unless a child is sufficiently holistically stimulated at home (during his/her formative years), he/she will enter any school severely handicapped and experience difficulty in adapting to a new environment. Moreover, these deficits may be compounded if not timely countered with high levels of personalized pastoral care at school, which in turn hinges precariously on the availability and/or affordability of appropriately qualified personnel. Admittedly, in a home school setup there are not always peers to interact with. In that event, parents should explore platforms outside the home where such interactions can happen. Unfortunately, these scenarios come with the territory and demand a lot of creativity and huge sacrifices on the part of the home-schooling parent.
Yet, another potential obstacle prospective and current home-schooling parents could face revolves around interpretations of certain sections of the Basic Education Act of 2020. Whilst the Act, which now governs pre-primary to upper secondary education, is accommodative to home schooling, the proviso that home education should be based on the national, legally approved academic curriculum may prove problematic in many respects. The mere fact that our very state president quite recently has criticized our education system is a case in point. Moreover, given the MoEAC’s consistently disappointing performance spanning several decades, one fails to reconcile oneself to the effrontery of some officials who arrogate to themselves the ability to divine the academic interests of any child. In a constitutional democracy (where the majority rules and the fundamental rights of individuals in the minority are protected), it is any logical-thinking parent’s prerogative to decide what curriculum content is best for his/her child. That remains an inalienable human right. Notwithstanding, parents still have a window of opportunity (and responsibility) to influence their children’s future positively during their formative years – at home.
In conclusion, the price for home schooling may seem exorbitantly high, but the rewards will always far exceed the cost.
Kommentaar
Republikein
Geen kommentaar is op hierdie artikel gelaat nie