“For over a thousand generations, the Jedi knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the old Republic… before the dark times… before the empire.” Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars IV: A New Hope
Well, I don’t know if it’s been exactly a thousand generations, but from time immemorial, parents have taught their children at home, caring for them, teaching them, correcting them and encouraging them. Children learned the basic skills this way. It was not always bucolic, idyllic or easy, but it was normal and it worked well. The instructors weren’t certified, credentialed, professional learning specialists. They were parents and they loved their children enough to make sure that they received the education they needed to survive, thrive and be a useful part of society. Often they directed their children to make use of the collective wisdom of their clan, the knowledge of a friend or the ingenuity of a particularly talented person. What they never did is pretend that they couldn’t teach and direct the education of their own children, nor did they ignore directing the education of their children by assuming that it was someone else’s responsibility.
People from ages past were neither dumber nor more simplistic than people today. Chronological snobbery (the “they had less to know” argument) is simple foolishness. People thousands and thousands of years ago addressed, contemplated and solved essential, elemental issues. We still struggle with variations of them today: transportation; food production and distribution; communication; construction; and preventative health measures. The Ancients developed the wheel and made the connection between seed, soil, water and time to produce their own food. They selectively interbred animals to increase the likelihood of certain desirable traits. Not too shabby. The Minoans invented a system of writing to keep track of daily activities and to facilitate trade. The Egyptians envisioned, planned and constructed marvels of engineering that still stand today, strong and awe-inspiring as ever. The Greeks wrestled with water, pulling it skyward, with Archemedes’ screw. The Romans channeled it, via the aqueducts, into their magnificent cities and flushed waste from private and public places, effectively reducing the specter of disease.
For the basics, they were taught primarily by their family members, relatives and other individuals on an one-to-one basis. In essence, they homeschooled their kids until they were ready to specialize in an advanced field of study or were ready to join the larger labor market. Just like homeschoolers do today. Let’s be honest here. Most of what is taught in the K-12 classroom is pretty basic stuff: reading, writing, mathematical manipulation, basic scientific concepts… These are things we should all have learned by the time we start making babies.
Considering the craziness of California’s current state of homeschooling legislation, I recommend reading the following essay by Diane Flynn Keith: Be a Homeschool Pirate! Hoist the Jolly Roger!
