I love it when anti-homeschoolers make arguments such as, “I only know that I’m not an educator, and neither am I a dentist, and therefore would not drill holes in my kids’ teeth.”
(Actual quote from an anti-HS piece.)
And by love, I mean that I find it frustrating beyond measure for a multitude of reasons. So I guess I was being sarcastic.
At any rate, I was thinking about that quote for some reason.
Oh yeah. Because I was cutting my husband’s hair. And I’m not a cosmetologist, barber, or other hair-care professional.
Funny side story about that:
I was nervous about cutting his hair because it can no longer be done with clippers, since he has a weird bald spot on the side. He said, “You can do this. Just take it in sections. You are very logical. Just ask yourself, What would Spock do?”
I replied, “He would say, You should go to a professional. It’s not logical to have the ship’s science officer cut your hair.”
Logic aside, I do cut everyone’s hair, yet I am not a trained beautician. I also cook, yet I am not a trained chef. I repair clothes, yet I am not a trained seamstress. I even do our taxes, yet I am not a trained accountant.
I do a lot of things that I was not trained to professionally do.
Is educating a child the same as drilling teeth or performing surgery, disciplines in which one needs specialized training?
Or is it more like cooking, in that anyone can do it with a little easily acquired knowledge and some practice?
I think that education is like cooking.
Sure there are professional chefs, and they even might be better cooks than I am. But I doubt that, say, a trained sushi chef would be much good to my children.
They would much rather have good ol’ Mom, who knows what they like and how they like it.
I am certain that I could not prepare sushi as well as Mr. Sushi Chef, but what I can do is work with my children’s individual needs and preferences to make a meal that gives them a good balance of nutrition and enjoyment.
What good would it do to have a trained professional prepare something that will not even have the chance to benefit them because it does not suit their individual needs?
I look at education the same way.
I might not have been trained in the latest pedagogical fads, but I know my children’s strengths and weaknesses. I also know their passions. I can work with their individual styles to customize an educational plan that will allow them to excel.
Sure, there are professional educators, but they also have 20+ other students of varying needs and abilities.
That would be like sending the kids to eat at a restaurant that serves the same dish to every patron.
Just because it was prepared by a professional, doesn’t mean they want what everyone else is having.
6:55 pm on January 28th, 2008
I have to remind myself of this often. When told a lie for so long, sometimes it is hard not to believe it.
And I cut everyone’s hair in my family, too. Sometimes it looks less-than-professional, but usually it comes out just fine. My husband’s is really easy, because he doesn’t have much.