Don’t Do It!

Podcast Transcript

Each year, about this time, I get a little twinge that lasts about a month or so - especially when I walk into a grocery store or Target or any other place that has those Back-to-School shopping aisles.

I know that some families are excited to be getting all their stuff together for the new year. And school works for them.

And I also overhear some moms loudly announcing,

“Only four more days...”

with their kids in earshot, envisioning their relaxing lunch dates and calmer afternoons before the kids get home. The kids don’t usually seem that happy about their moms’ glee at getting rid of them... but that’s probably...for another podcast, right?

This week, we’re talking about that Back-to-School season...and my urge to whisper to people that they don’t have to send the kids off to school.

I know... there’s resistance.
For a lot of people, they quickly rationalize that sending them to school is The Right Thing To Do.

All of the pro-school marketing comes flooding back into their heads.

Sometimes they counter with:

“But they’ll have fun at school.”

If this is something that popped into your head, have you forgotten the boredom? The frustration with canceled field trips (only 2-3 were scheduled each year)? The staring at the clock waiting for the bell to ring? Sure, you can probably remember some fun times. But were there really that many? As compared to when you were out of school in the afternoons or in the summer?

Or they think,

“They learn so much in school!”

That’s not even true compared to the thousands of hours they actually spend there, over a child’s lifetime. Studies show that children really only receive about 75 minutes of instruction time per day – that’s not even an hour and a half! With so much time shuffling to classrooms, waiting for class to settle down, bureaucracy and busywork, collecting and passing out paperwork, going to assemblies, lunch, recess, not to mention that the instruction is aimed at the center of the bell curve and is obsessed with test prep, it’s pretty clear that not a lot of learning is happening.

Others argue,

“They love being with their friends.”

They might – but not AT school. They have only three minutes to get from class to class, and a brief lunch period to hang out together IF they are lucky enough to have the same lunch periods with their friends. And, really, how many other kids did you hang out with after school? My school day was spent making plans for how we would eventually get together in off-school hours or weekends. But it wasn’t that fun hanging out with them during class time. Just because your desk is next to someone, doesn’t mean you have any shared interests - just shared birth years, or shared first-letter-of-their-last -name.

And what about the bullying so many kids have to endure? They end up creating all kinds of maladaptive coping mechanisms. They learn that no one will rescue them and they’re forced to be in these situations for most of their waking hours.

Maybe the worry is:

"But I couldn’t homeschool – I’m not a teacher!"

It’s not necessary! Most of the education they received in school to become teachers has to be shelved because of the way the system is set up. Even if teachers are good, most of their time is spent on crowd control and test prep and creating lesson plans for the entire class. It isn’t individualized the way you could with your own child. And that’s going to be even worse with the teacher shortage that’s happening now!

Still I want to tell them, “Don’t do it.”