I was able to attend a viewing of this film last week. I am not really sure if I feel fortunate to have been able to or not as I felt sick to my stomach as I was watching this movie. It was seriously disturbing to me.
I was with two other home ed moms - more on the unschooling side than me and with much younger children- and before the movie started we were given an article - http://www.chicagoparent.com/community/the-self-aware-parent/2011/march/let's-be-clear---what-do-we-really-want-for-our-children and as we read through it one of the mom's said to me "Are there people who really think this way? I guess I just don't encounter them." I assured here that there were.
The movie goes into detail about the stress that is put on children and the extremes that these children and parents are willing to go through in order to get into colleges, pass the tests and get good grades. Two of the director's own children were getting physically ill - headaches, stomach aches, insomnia - over the amount of homework and pressure that was put on them. She choose to take one of her daughter's - the one who had the most severe issues - out of the school that she was in and send her to another school. The girl stated that at first she was excited about a new school and thought that things were going to be better, but after the first week, she came to realize "it was still school". This to me was the point in the movie where I was just astonished and KEPT WAITING for someone to say they were home educating.
The closest case of home education was a mom who allowed her son to go to an alternative school that vaguely sounded like an umbrella school where the student had to meet with the teacher once a week, but other than that the parents just kept sending their kids to schools. The director did state that she was trying to advocate for "no homework" and they even mentioned that they got one of the schools to do "No Homework Nights", but that was it. I just don't understand it, how on earth could you continue to send your child anywhere that was making them SICK!
There were a few parents who had decided to not push the "college track" so strongly with there kids after they had had to send them to "stress centers" and dealt with numerous stress related disorders - anorexia, cutting, depression, etc - , but still not one of them thought why are we sending them back at all?
There was even a family that had a daughter who commited suicide over her math grades - I am not exaggerating, that was the reason the mom gave - and she still sends her son to school. She did say that she doesn't focus so much on his grades or his schoolwork and talks to him more about what is going on and how he is feeling, but she still sends him to school.
We were sitting amongst about 30 other people and for the most part - we are fairly certain - they were all teachers. We felt that way because there were many remarks throughout the movie that they thought were quite funny that we thought were disturbing and we kinda giggled and looked at each other at points that they just didn't seem to get.
As with Waiting for Superman, they stated a lot of facts and statistics - 93% of high school students have cheated at least once, when teachers give less or no homework the students grades improve, etc. - that are seemingly meant to awaken those who are unaware, but there is still NO solutions. They make a list of suggestions - http://www.endtherace.org/what-individuals-can-do-today - but these just seem like bandaids when you think of the damage that is being done to these kids.
If there is one question that all of the parents that participated in this film should be asked it is "WHY do you continue to SEND THEM BACK?"
2 comments:
"Why do they send them back?"
I think that the idea of home educating is not even thought of, let alone considered a viable option, for most people. (I am sure that varies geographically, as I hear that it is much more mainstream in the homeschooling friendly states.) Of all of the mom friends that I have, I am the only one who has ever mentioned the possibility of home education. "Our school system is one of the best, you are lucky to be raising your son here." "I will send her to the Waldorf school" (45 minutes away). "There is a Montessori school in Islip". You get the idea... but never once have I heard "I plan to home educate"... except when it comes out of my mouth.
So, why do they send them back? First, many people don't even think of 'not' sending them back. Second, "you have to send them to school"... aka the responce from 99% of the people you talk to about home education. Third, the process seems overwhelming (especially in areas where like-minded individuals are few and far between.)
Anyway... can't wait to see the movie. Thanks for the excellent review.
To me these are not reasons, maybe they were ten years ago, but now with the wide variety of resources and information available at the touch of a keyboard, click of a mouse or flip of a phone this is not an acceptable excuse.
I know that areas are different, but the majority of the cities and states that the families in the movie were from are HIGHLY populated with a myriad of alternatives and have very large home educating communities.
I also think I have less empathy for these types of excuses because when we made the decision to home educate we knew NO ONE who did. I connected with a few people on national lists, but we were nearly two months in before we met up with any local groups. I knew that no matter what social issues may arise her well being was the most important thing and "school" was what was causing the problems.
Thanks for the insight and hope you have a chance to see the film!
Gina -
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