Preface: Some people are going to find this post offensive. Believe me when I say I considered not even writing it before reminding myself that the therapeutic value I gain from writing about things — silly things, dirty things, controversial things — was the whole reason I started this blog in the first place, and if I was going to start censoring myself now, I might as well take the damn thing down and forget about blogging entirely.   

Still, I want to clarify: I don’t mean for this to be offensive. The purpose of this post is not to target and ridicule and marginalize people who choose homeschooling for their children. Rather, the purpose is to explore my feelings about homeschooling. So as with most things on this blog, it’s all about me. What I say may come off as judgy. But my intent is not to make anyone feel bad. My intent is simply to be truthful about my own thoughts and ignorance, however judgy those thoughts and that ignorance might come off.

I’m both sorry and not sorry for that.

As a public school teacher, I would be lying if I said I’m indifferent about homeschooling. Truth is, I am slightly insulted by it. Maybe even a lot insulted by it.

That’s probably because I don’t get it. I mean, I get it in certain circumstances. I just don’t get it in every circumstance.

For example, I get why some parents of children with special needs choose to homeschool their kids. As a parent of a child with special needs myself, I understand there are limitations to the services some school districts can offer to students with disabilities or illnesses. I understand how a kid whose motor or cognitive limitations make attending school in a public setting more of a burden than a benefit might perform better with a home-bound education.  I understand how a child who has cancer or is immuno-compromised is more comfortable or even safer getting his education at home. And I understand how a child with social-emotional difficulties or a child who has been severely bullied benefits from an individualized, home-based education, for instance.

But what I don’t get is why people arbitrarily choose to homeschool their kids “just because,” especially when “just because” is really that they think they can do a better job than career educators.  This is the part I find insulting.

I am flabbergasted and offended by a parent’s notion that s/he can do a better job than someone who is highly educated and trained in a particular subject area.  I have 8 years’ education and training, 2 education-related degrees, and over a decade’s worth of experience in teaching secondary English under my belt, and believe me when I say, it’s not an easy job. Teaching is not simply opening the textbook and following the pre-made lesson plans.  In fact, to do so is to utterly fail at the endeavor.

It takes immense focus, regular self-reflection, constant research and professional development, hands-on experience, and a lifelong dedication to self-improvement to do the job well.  I work hard — incredibly, inexplicably hard — to do right by the students in my classroom, and on most days, my successes outweigh my failures. I do not believe I am replaceable in my classroom, nor are most of my brothers and sisters in education.

We each bring unique perspective and talent to the profession, both of which have been honed by years of formal training and on-the-job practice. We are artists in our own right. We are indispensable.

I truly believe in and am devoted to teaching and learning, and I am saddened that my colleagues and I are viewed as nonessential vehicles of social failure by politicians and public citizens who both buy into the media brouhaha and are largely responsible themselves for many of the problems inherent in the institution.

Why is education seen as an anyone-can-do-it task? Would people randomly choose to perform their own dental procedures at home without having studied or received field training in dentistry? What about surgery? Building construction? Are these acceptable things to do on one’s own with merely an instruction manual or YouTube tutorial as guidance?  Why is educating children such an exception?

I get that some people believe educating their children at home, where the teacher to student ratio is small, is better than educating them in a 30 person classroom, or that educating them at home, where there are fewer bureaucratic and time constraints, is more beneficial. And maybe it is. Maybe my heart is getting in the way of logic on this one. In fact, I’m certain both my heart and my ignorance to some aspects of homeschooling are getting in the way of my ability to appreciate it.

But I’ll tell you, there are some things that happen in a classroom that just can’t be replicated elsewhere.

I have seen students of different backgrounds and walks of life come to understandings about one another during class discussions that would never, ever have happened had they not been in that particular place at that particular time. I’ve witnessed students who thought they had nothing in common make new, lifelong friends over the course of a lesson or project. I’ve observed students supporting and helping one another, strengthening their own understanding of a concept or bit of classroom material in the process. I’ve seen light bulbs illuminate at the hands of a highly skilled, well educated teacher’s lessons and activities.  I’ve been unforgettably impacted by students in my classroom, and I’ve (I hope) touched some of their lives as well.

I’ve seen my own kindergartner’s skills and relationships with his peers and teachers blossom thanks to public education, and I couldn’t imagine attempting to accomplish on my own what his team of teachers, with their own specialized training and experience, have accomplished with him.

I am in the trenches of public education every day. I have first-hand knowledge of its positives as well as its negatives. I have seen excellent teachers and shitty teachers in action. I have seen what funding cuts and dismantling of unions and so-called school reform have done to the institution. I have experienced some of the best and some of the worst of what the school system has to offer.

I know just how specialized the education and training for teachers of all subject areas and at all levels is. I know exactly how hard I and most of my colleagues work to provide a quality education to our students. I know I am not qualified to teach certain grade levels and subjects because I know precisely the kind of knowledge and training teachers of those ages and disciplines require.  I realize that teaching is an art form, much like painting and sculpting and singing and writing, and that not everyone is cut out for the job in general, let alone cut out for performing the various, disparate parts that combine to make the whole.

It is both despite and because of these things that I believe in and trust public education — I am a product of it, I have studied it, I have dedicated my life to enriching and improving it, and I know what goes on behind the scenes of it.

And I guess it is because of my deep appreciation of, love for, and devotion to teaching that I am, right or wrong, slightly insulted by “just because” homeschooling and the implication, intentional or otherwise, that anyone can do it and do it better.

Every parent has to make decisions that are in the best interest of their particular children. Public education is not right for some kids. But for most, it is an enriching, albeit sometimes difficult, journey. And as someone working in the thick of it, I promise most of us have children’s best interests at heart and are making positive impressions daily, even if those impressions aren’t readily obvious or measurable by state-mandated testing.

And we are just as sickened by the things about public education that may have turned some off to it in the first place. Believe me when I say we are crusading for what’s right for our students, and we hope people won’t give up on us and the institution altogether. Because despite negative publicity, there are a lot of good things happening in our classrooms. And we’d love nothing more than for your children to be a part of it.