We don't need no thought control...

It is now bad parenting to home-school your children even in Canada. Yes, a school's principal threatened to call child protective services because a concerned mother decided to home-school her child. I had heard similar stories from our neighbours to the south but now see the contagion spreading.

I myself, have been asked in the past couple of years BY A TEACHER if I 'want to flunk my child or pass him through to the next grade?'. Can somebody please explain why this is up to me rather than the teacher who grades the papers and tallies the marks at the end of the year? What happened to 60% and over to pass, and everything else fails? That system did not leave the big decisions to someone who did not go to teachers college. Yes, I get that I should take an interest in my child's education, and should be aiding and encouraging my child to learn.

I actually go beyond that, I've been teaching my child abstract thought's such as: the most important, and most seldom answered question in this world begins with "WHY?". Memorization can only go so far, analytical and abstract thought are where it all begins to make sense, and once it makes sense you don't easily forget it.

This is not what is taught in school... It isn't even encouraged in school. I did not do extraordinarily well at school while I was a student, mostly out of boredom. I understood, and had to wait while others memorized... Of course I also understood what was required to get higher than 60%, and put in at least that much effort, and when I didn't I was given a failing mark without obtaining my parents consent to be flunked. Something my child seemed to have missed...

Now, because I routinely ask the important 'why' questions when I fail to understand something (like why is it my job as a parent to decide if my child fails in school, as opposed to a 'trained' professional?), and the answer was less understandable than the situation...

Apparently, we do not want to inflict a low self-esteem on a child by giving them a GRADE, or anything else that might make them appear stupider than the rest of the class. Because of course self-esteem is more important than knowledge in the present... So long as we are confident we can win the argument that the sky is green and the grass is blue even if we have no idea what we are talking about. This is how misinformation takes root and expands, this is where useful idiots are born and groomed, and how dare a parent think to take on the responsibility of a trained professional...

Oh, wait... Did that just present a circular logic problem? I think so...

When I am asked if my child should flunk the year, I was already given that responsibility, so why punish someone who fully accepted that responsibility with open arms?

-DIrtyKID©