Friday, June 17, 2005
no child left behind
In the past, I have refused to write about polarizing or political issues. I really think life and parenthood and faith are difficult enough without people (i.e. myself) proclaiming that "this is the way it ought to be done". When I was a new mother, I quickly figured out that all the middle school social dynamics that seemed to disappear for a time came back with newfound strength and ugliness in the playground politics of competitive mothering. I can remember going home, feeling almost ashamed, because my infant did not have any teeth yet and everybody else's child had at least two or three. This sort of detail should not have been important, but I kid you not, these things got discussed in detail. Moms gleefully reported about how much weight their children gained each month, and claimed that their breasts must produce "cream not milk", and I would look at my skinny little kids and feel bad.
Education is one of the parenting topics that caused me the most stress and anxiety. I wanted to do the right thing. In my case, all the outspoken "good mothers" were home schooling. I attended a MOPS group and Bible study, and the focus of all the meetings was to convince us that the only Christian method of education was home schooling. I was given books by Mary Pride, the Pearls, and some book called Choices as Christmas gifts. I read them all, but I still had doubts.
While we struggled and prayed over our decisions, I remember thinking (and even complaining to my husband) that, within the church in our area, there were not any alternatives to the Christian home schooling or Christian education models. "Good Christian parents" who cared about the souls of their children kept them out of the evil public school system. Case closed. There were some kids in our church that attended public schools, but it was generally understood that they were the children of more worldly parents who lacked spiritual insight and depth.
Somehow, in the end, we decided to place our children in the public education system. Last year, we moved them from the nice, high-test-scoring, sheltered suburban school system and into an inner-city, poverty-stricken, low-performing elementary school. In the next week, I'll be writing about the things that lead us to make such a radical decision, the details of the decision we made, and the results of our children's year in an inner-city school. I do so hesitatingly, because I don't think I have stumbled on some great answer or that what we did is what everyone ought to do. I only know that I have learned a whole lot about public education, and about my own prejudices and assumptions and how they differed from reality.
Education is one of the parenting topics that caused me the most stress and anxiety. I wanted to do the right thing. In my case, all the outspoken "good mothers" were home schooling. I attended a MOPS group and Bible study, and the focus of all the meetings was to convince us that the only Christian method of education was home schooling. I was given books by Mary Pride, the Pearls, and some book called Choices as Christmas gifts. I read them all, but I still had doubts.
While we struggled and prayed over our decisions, I remember thinking (and even complaining to my husband) that, within the church in our area, there were not any alternatives to the Christian home schooling or Christian education models. "Good Christian parents" who cared about the souls of their children kept them out of the evil public school system. Case closed. There were some kids in our church that attended public schools, but it was generally understood that they were the children of more worldly parents who lacked spiritual insight and depth.
Somehow, in the end, we decided to place our children in the public education system. Last year, we moved them from the nice, high-test-scoring, sheltered suburban school system and into an inner-city, poverty-stricken, low-performing elementary school. In the next week, I'll be writing about the things that lead us to make such a radical decision, the details of the decision we made, and the results of our children's year in an inner-city school. I do so hesitatingly, because I don't think I have stumbled on some great answer or that what we did is what everyone ought to do. I only know that I have learned a whole lot about public education, and about my own prejudices and assumptions and how they differed from reality.
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