Spaghetti Kids
Wednesday, September 20th, 2006By Mimi Rothschild
Have you made your own noodles? After making the dough, one guides it through a mold, turning a mass of lumpy, distinct chunks of dough into uniform strips of spaghetti or some other noodle. I recently made a spaghetti dinner for my family and an analogy struck me.
When people homeschool, they usually factor educational needs, social needs, and spiritual needs. However, some folks overlook the benefits homeschooling brings in regards to personality and character development. Have you guessed where I’m going with this?
The way our public schools treat children is like the aforementioned spaghetti mold. It forces unmolded, unique children, each with something different and special to contribute to our society, through a series of molds. In the process, most of the personality and character is removed from each child. When students show any sign of independence, they are either medicated or disciplined. Interests are squelched as the pursuit of those interests is limited to a handful of mass-produced classes. The children come out of high school looking the same, sounding the same, thinking the same, and most unfortunately, behaving the same. In the end, we’re left with a bunch of wet noodles.
Homeschoolers, on the other hand, thrive in an environment that facilitates their development into unique individuals. Unique contributions are encouraged. Interests flourish as students don’t have to choose from a pre-selected group of classes. I have friends with children who are taking harp lessons, learning computer programming, and becoming experienced craftsmen, even selling wooden kitchenware and bowls!
I have often heard the parents of public school students voice concerns such as “How will they survive in the job market? Public school students will have an edge due to their common backgrounds.” Although this may be true in some cases, I have a different take on it. Public school prepares students to be middle management. In other words, public school grads are primed to thrive in jobs that require little of them other than punching in and out while maintaining the status quo. Homeschoolers, however, are being trained to be entrepreneur’s, CEO’s, and innovators of all kinds, pushing the boundaries of industry and technology. These are tomorrow’s professionals who will have no trouble “thinking outside the box” because they’ve been doing just that since Day One!