“The purpose of school should be to prepare kids for the rest of their lives, but too often what kids need to be prepared for is surviving the school day itself” (p. 253) in Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts.
I’ve been thinking a lot about two subjects during the last few weeks: introversion and homeschooling.
I wrote about my growing awareness of how introversion has played a role in my life and in my parenting in a recent post for Role/Reboot, and I’ve been paying close attention to the media attention that Susan Cain and her book,, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a Word That Can’t Stop Talking have received in my favorite media outlets, such as The Atlantic and Slate.
Because I started a research project recently about homeschooling that was inspired by the feedback from previous posts I had written about my worries related to homeschooling, I’ve been asked online and in-person quite a bit about why I’m interested in homeschooling. Of course, I have lots of scholarly, intellectual and sociological reasons as an educational policy researcher for why I want to know more about this growing trend. And they’re all true.
But I realize now that this isn’t the whole reason. As I’ve heard the stories of hundreds of homeschooling families either on my survey or on their blogs or Facebook pages, I have been thinking a lot about my former classroom as a teacher and about my childhood experiences as a student, more than I have in several years, since I returned to graduate school.
In thinking about how temperamental differences influence how we learn and experience the world, I think I’m finally starting to understand the reasons for homeschooling at a deeper level, beyond items that you can check off on a survey. Not necessarily because homeschoolers are either more or less likely to be introverts. Rather, for me, the discussion about introverts highlights the serious dysfunction endemic to the American classroom and even in our broader American character, flaws that I witnessed and had serious concerns about as a teacher.
When I think about my own teaching, in contrast to the hundreds of hours that I spent tutoring a homeschooled child, the differences cannot be more stark. To me, by thinking about homeschooling, we can also point out problems that need to be addressed about the classroom experience for children: These issues go far beyond many of the current educational reform efforts.
1. Most classroom environments can be a destructive mix of loudness, boredom, overstimulation, and overcrowdedness. From their first steps onto the bus at the start of the day, children’s minds are bombarded with noise and stressors that have nothing to do with learning, and this sensory overload can literally affect the rate and quality of processing pathways in the brain.
2. Children often become hyperaware of judgment and assessment. Any teacher wishes she had a dollar for every time she has been asked, “Are we being graded on this?” Kids quickly internalize that most of what matters in school is how you’re graded. Even as a teacher, this focus in every school that every dimension of every project and assignment must be evaluated becomes encoded into your design of every unit of study.
When I started teaching this exceptional homeschooled girl at my dining room table in my home during graduate school, I worked with her for nearly a year before I realized that I did not need to design a “performance assessment checklist” or rubric for every task that we did. This form of continuous assessment was actually holding her back. And I wonder how many other kids whose thinking and processing remain “shallow” and do not live up to their potential because they are focused on short-term, often meaningless checklists, due dates, tests, and tasks.
The educational objectives too often are focused on “covering” content, rather than “discovery” of ideas and connections.
3. Classrooms emphasize constant talk, “collaborative learning,” and “group projects” over autonomy, reflection, silence, and deep thinking. When I was an English teacher, I tried to use the writing workshop approach as much as possible. Very simply, a class would involve a very quick whole-class lesson on a writing technique that directly applied to students’ current writing projects, quiet writing and research time, and a brief sharing time at the end. The majority of the class was designed to be spent with children largely on their own: writing, reading, having one-on-one writing conferences with me or a friend. Children can work intensely on projects that they care deeply and passionately about. But attempting an approach like this — and I was usually not successful because I became distracted by my need to “cover” a predetermined curriculum — is not the norm.
I was one of those kids that Susan Cain talks about who “blossomed” after the tyranny of high school and its schedules, routines, and noise. Why is it surprising that so many of us — and not only introverts — thrive once they are given the chance to be independent and passionate about their own interests? When schools are structured to reward the loudest, the cultivation of social hierarchies, and extrinsic rewards, why are we not surprised that American children are becoming less empathic, more narcissistic, and less capable of perseverance?
I still don’t think that homeschooling is the answer for all kids necessarily (at least, not yet). And I do think that the broader concerns that I talked about in my post about those “left behind” — when resources and people are funneled out of the public school system — are critical.
Nevertheless. how can we structure an educational system that rewards persistence, empathy, and complex thought?
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Excellent post. I’ve thought much of this also. As a high school English teacher, I was all about “covering the material” and my primary goal was critical thinking. I didn’t teach to tests, thankfully, b/c these were private schools where I had more freedom. But as a pretty serious introvert, my classes were geared toward introverts (which is unusual these days), and the quieter students flourished. I had lots of pressure from the admin. to integrate group work constantly.
Since homeschooling (this is my second round of doing it), I’ve backed off from much assessment. Why do I need to quiz and test my daughter? We dialogue during the day about what she’s reading. I know whether she’s mastered it. Thus, my goal has become mastering material, not “covering” it. And I don’t assess mastery with testing, thankfully. What a relief! In homeschooling, this kind of freedom is a boon. So much of what I did in the classroom was really just ways to control teens … control them all so that some of them could learn. I’m fascinated by your journey to discover what makes homeschooling tick. I did teach one homeschooling failure, a 11th grade boy who could only barely read. It was heart-breaking, but he was motivated to catch up, and he did. By and large, homeschoolers don’t fail their kids that way, I find. Generally speaking, the public system fails many, many more children than homeschooling ever does.
I taught in public schools and private schools, as well. But in both cases, there was — as you say — a lot of pressure to incorporate group work all the time. And, from my own experience, kids tend to learn much better from individualized, passion-driven projects, and research confirms this. I don’t know why there is so much emphasis on group activity in public schools today. Lots of reasons, I suppose. And, yes, much of my teaching was devoted to what was really just classroom management too! We have very similar experiences in this way!
As a homeschooler, I love this post.
I feel the same way. I think it puts into words what I have only felt about homeschooling. One on my children has sensory issues and a classroom with one teacher and twenty-six students , and this was kindergarten, was torture for her.
I think Ms. Smock, that you should look at Iowa’s homeschool assistance programs. They are run by the school districts, though districts are required to have them, and ours has been wonderful. There are over a hundred children enrolled with a full time teacher and a half time teacher. They do some classes, reading groups, hikes, field trips, the all important Halloween party, book groups, a PE class, a library, a knitting group, and the list goes on. Parents sign their children up for whatever they want but nothing is required. Ours feels like a very supportive community for parents and children.
Thank you, Julie! That’s a great suggestion. I wonder if any other states have those sorts of programs. I’ll also have to find out how new these programs are. Did you take my survey? It sounds like your family has many positive insights about having a successful homeschool experience.
http://ichsap.blogspot.com/
This blog is no longer used but gives an idea of some of the activities.
I did not see your survey, just found this site through a link to your worried about homeschooling article. I think one of the things that makes Iowa’s HSAP program work is that it is not required. Families who do not want to be involved have other options like standardized testing or a reviewed portfolio. Not all HSAPs are created equal though. I have a friend in another part of the state who has a much less active one that seems to focus more on testing/monitoring. The districts get one third the reimbursement for an HSAP student that they would get for a student enrolled full time in a school.
Oops, I meant to say that districts are NOT required to have them. They also have a lot of freedom in how the do them.
Julie, wow, those are such complicated issues: funding for districts, testing, monitoring. I haven’t researched these programs fully, but it seems like Iowa has a pretty innovative and unusual program. Thanks again for pointing it out! It’s definitely something to look into. If there were enough parents from Iowa or from these types of programs, it would be interesting to compare their overall experiences with other families. If you are in touch with homeschooling families who are involved in any kind of programs like that, feel free to share my survey link in any way that you’d like! https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/schoolofsmock
Thank you, Christine!
This is really interesting. I had a hard time in school. Mostly because I was bored and not interested in what they were teaching AND I couldn’t stop thinking about boys (in HS). I really started to learn when I got out of college and wanted to know things for myself because I was interested, not because somebody else wanted me to know it. This is one of the main reasons I homeschool. There are a bunch of other reasons, including that I love spending time with and teaching my kids – although a break would be nice too. 🙂 Great post!
Thanks! And I didn’t even get into the social aspect too. You made me think of a great recent article from New York magazine about what’s going on in teenagers’ brains (and the havoc that this has on their decision-making, planning, and social lives). The article is about the long-term damage that high school still brings to the rest of our lives, given the way that it’s structured. http://nymag.com/news/features/high-school-2013-1/
I just love reading your posts. Your blog is so unique, well-written and thought-provoking. A few thoughts: first of all, I *hated* group projects, and I just heard a sad story from a mom of a middle-schooler who got a poor grade thanks to the goofing-off of his group-mates. The teacher kind of shrugged it off when the student bravely addressed it with him, and dismissed it as “part of life.” Perhaps that is true. Perhaps that is good preparation for interacting with a team on an office project, but really? Your first point resonates with me. I am a highly sensitive person with a highly sensitive daughter, and in kindergarten, parents write a summary of their child and their needs for placement in the first grade classroom. I was grateful that the team of teachers, including my daughter’s K teacher, really took her sensitivity into account, and she was placed in a classroom that is very quiet, ordered, and NOT over-stimulating, with a teacher who had a reputation for maintaining calm and structure. Oh, before I forget, thanks again for the book recs! I am currently reading a really interesting exploration on female friendships called She Matters. Who is it by….? I think Susanna Sonnen-something?
That’s great that there were classrooms like that for your daughter. Her school and the staff sound wonderful! And I just looked up the book and read the NY Times review. It sounds terrific. I will check it out. We really should start some kind of book club 🙂
Nailed it! You have done a great job of verbalizing all of the reasons why I homeschool my kids! I am a former teacher. I was turned off by NCLB and I did not feel that school met my child’s educational needs. My older daughter had issues with anxiety that impeded her classroom learning. We tried for years to help her adapt before finally deciding basically all the things you just laid out were more important to us and to her education and that she was better off at home.
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Wow, you’ve raised some critical issues here that I wish more people would talk about. I don’t know that my son is an introvert, per se, but he is certainly sensitive, very slow to warm up, and doesn’t act like most other 3 year-olds in social settings. It seems that the only type of support for parents of this type is to help the child to “overcome” their “shyness.” Fortunately for him, I don’t view his temperament as a personality flaw to be fixed. I just have to help him find a way to navigate a culture that doesn’t seem to get it. Homeschooling is quite appealing 🙂
I think the culture is “getting it” more and more, luckily, for all of us introverts!
I don’t homeschool and frankly DREAD the thought of doing so. But this article sums up everything that we’re feeling unsettled by our oldest’s kindergarten experience. I never saw myself as somebody who would even consider homeschooling but we’re already feeling so disappointed in the public school experience. It’s so chaotic, loud, with unceasing stimulation. He comes home overwhelmed and exhausted. Is this really the best environment to foster learning for our children?
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