Why do people fear Home Educators so much?

[sebumfillaments]

Not a TAAT but inspired by the other thread, I was stunned by the level of vitriol aimed at home education. Is it all borne from fear and ignorance?

Home Ed isn't about replicating school. And education isn't (in our case) about gaining qualifications from an institution to increase their value in the workforce!

So why so much animosity?

Most home ed teens I know are taking exams tbh

My young relative has no particular passions.
But that's not an indictment of home ed - it's quite common as a young teen. School can open up avenues that neither child nor parent know about.

I don't know any HS children and have no opinion on the levels of qualifications etc that they may have as I do not know.

What I do know is I loved school and seeing my friends and all my teachers who were great. I learnt a lot and the skills and education I had still serve me well today. I wouldn't want to take any of that away from my children.

But to each their own.

What of their passion is to be a doctor or a lawyer (or, god forbid, a teacher)? They are going to struggle to even get off the ground without that 'fistful of certificates'. Or say their passion is painting exquisite watercolours that nobody buys. What will they live on?

As I said, there is a significant cohort of children who do not do well at school. For all sorts of reasons - it's too much for them, learning difficulties, neurodivergence, bullying, health etc etc. Those kids are far less likely to leave a mainstream school either equipped OR with qualifications and HE is a real alternative to that.

Everyone else I know who is home ed is parent to a very young child and/or is just delaying school start. I am more confident they will turn out OK (even the judgy ones).
But seeing my relative gives me the realisation there are likely others out there like that.

I don't consider a child to be well educated if they leave school with a fist full of certificates. I consider a good education to be that which equips them to be able to follow their passions

You may think your children following their passions is all that matters, I think getting them to a point where they can feed and clothe and house themselves on their own happens to matter too. A fistful of certificates can help a lot with that.

And either you have a bunch of certificates yourself and so you're asking for less for yuor children than you got, or you don't and you're not vaguely qualified to teach your children in the first place.

So her parents opted to use follow state curriculum, paid for professional educators and had her sit formal examinations

Not at all. But good effort at trying to discredit her. She wanted to be a Solicitor after doing experience in a relatives office at the age of 13. She then had a Tutor for maths and English which she sat at GCSE to get. Surely you can understand that home schooled children often will sit the basic core subjects required by employers?

She then decided to carry on with English and also do Law for A level. She had two two hour a lessons a week in between doing other subjects taught by her Mom that interested her, voluntary work and work experience in a Solicitors. They gave her an apprentice following her A-levels and she completed her ILEX and qualified on the job.

She has never attended school except for nightschool from the age of 21. Her brother never attended school either and he is an Engineer.

Like I said, it appears you don't understand as you seem to think Home Eds are against sitting exams etc. There is so much more to it. Honestly, research as much as you can. It's fascinating and you might be able to understand it a bit more, at the very least you might understand why people choose it.

My son's passions include coding and engineering. I know nothing about either. Put an environment where there are people who do know about these things he can ask, question, explore and learn way beyond any level I could show him.

My relative has two degrees, one from Oxbridge. Thinks they were a waste of time. But his child won't have the choice to waste that time.

I think you are perhaps mistaking people's pity and sadness for the child for 'fear'.

The likelihood is that those poor kids will miss out on the opportunity to be part of 'normal' society. Wheras if they went through the education system, learnt social skills and had choice and freedom - then should they at some future point decide to weave their own yoghurt they could. But it would one path rather than the only path available to them.

If you force them into a life where the chances are they will be precocious and socially inadequate then the opportunity to be whatever they want to be is lost. Much the same as forcing religion or politics on a child is unacceptable.

In summary though replace 'fear' with 'pity' an you'd be closer to the mark.

Not fear. Just concern that some children are slipping through the net and are stuck at home with lazy parents who don't want to get up. Who have the child going life skills (chores) and "education" for small period rest of time.
If my child was very unhappy and not learning in a school environment I would home ed. otherwise not giving them such a huge life experience like school is cruel. I've recently been thinking about DS doing an appenticeship but worry that he would miss out a huge life experience like living in halls. Each to their own but when I see groups of home ed. families on trips I often notice their general unruliness.

Why have you decided that people 'fear' home education? There could be a host of reasons why people have opinions about it that are not positive, so I'm baffled by your assumption that this must be rooted in fear.

So why make the dismissive quip about 'fistfuls of certificates'? If you are talking about kids who are not able to cope at school and wouldn't get qualifications that way, but may stand a chance of doing so in home education, then the goal of 'a fistful of certificates' is the same so no need to be snotty about it. If you're talking about kids who won't get the qualifications either at school OR in home education, either because they don't have the ability to gain formal qualifications for whatever reason or because the form of home ed they receive doesn't allow them the opportunity, then you have to admit the lack of formal qualifications will seriously disadvantage them in the jobs market; so presumably you have some other ideas of how people should make money to live in the absence of the derisory 'fistful of certificates'?

I am full of admiration for anyone who can successfully home educate. It wasn't for me though. DD benefited from school for many reasons:

Primary school
A much broader and rounded education with loads of extra curricular activities that I couldn't have provided
The social aspect - she is an only child

Secondary school
A much higher standard of education than I could ever have provided. I don't have the skills or education to get her through GCSEs and A levels
Resources and equipment, especially for sciences
The social aspect

I don't have the same authority over DD that a teacher does, and we both need time away from each other. We are very close, but if we spent all day every day with each other I think our relationship would suffer.

If the home educator is the main care giver when do they get the opportunity to do stuff like go to the hairdresser, doctor/dentist appointments etc?

Also, how are they able to objectively assess their children's academic capability and progress without any form of formal training?

Home schooling is almost always a bad idea. Pretty much every child I have met who has been home schooled ( I have had many pass through my doors) has been odd.

They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do.

Would you opt for home dentistry? Home knee surgery? Sort out your own boiler sans corgi?

Even if, you as a parent are intelligent and well-educated enough to teach your child ALL of the curriculum (Rarer than hen's teeth), the children miss out on the social schooling which can be as important for later success in life, both financially and psychologically.

Home schooling, for brief periods for a specific purpose, (avoidance of bullying etc) can be a good idea, but in general I think it is best avoided.

lelapaletute I'm not derisory about certificates per se. FWIW my own education was very traditional and when described in terms of qualifications, extremely successful. I just don't see it as the only goal, or as the only measure of success, nor is it a particularly good one.

I don't fear them, I admire them. There is no way I could do it. DD has often said she like to be home educated but I don't think it would be good for her or me, we would both become far too insular. For some families I'm sure it is the best education.

I don't think its fear or animosity.

I can only speak for myself but as I posted on the other thread, I think its a sense that parents are cutting their children off from the broadest possible set of socialisation opportunities, in some cases for fairly questionable motives. Many of us instinctively feel that despite the quality of the home ed, it is not necessarily in the best interests for children to be educated outside of a social environment.

There are always going to be exceptions and situations such as SEN and where children have severe social anxiety where it will actually be better. And if parents have particular abilities in an area where a child has developed a strong interest or talent. I don't doubt there are examples of children having been home educated and then going on to have very successful careers etc.

But I struggle to see how it benefits the majority of children to be educated in a way that ringfences them and alienates them from ordinary normal day to day interaction with their peers.

I think some home schoolers are doing a great job. A friend of mine pulled her child out of school for a wide range of reasons and is taking the responsibility of the child's education very seriously, they're always out and about, doing things, going places, lots of active learning. She's a bright woman herself and I'm sure she's doing a great job of giving her child the tools they need to get a good education.

But home educators are so evangelical about their choices that they just won't admit that there are some people who do it for all the wrong reasons. Not because they believe that it's the best choice for a particular child, but because they have extreme religious views, or can't be arsed conforming to the rules of school, or because they didn't have a good school experience and their child avoids going too. These sorts of people do exist, despite the protestations of the evangelical home educators.

My SIL "home educated" her child for two years between the ages of 14 and 16 because the child wasn't enjoying school and started to refuse to go. She started off well - trying to build on what the child already knew, using websites, getting relevant books and triyng to interest child in learning. Lasted about 6 months. Then child disengaged further, refused to do anything apart from Playstation. End result is that we now have a 22 year old with no qualifications, only a VERY basic level of education, no prospects, on the dole.

I don't fear it but I do fear the consequences for some children. I'm sure there are many many committed and enlightened home educators but unfortunately the only two families with whom I have had direct experience opted out of the school system once serious concerns were starting to be raised about safeguarding issues.

Presumably HE isn't an option when both parents work full time?

Qualifications are used as a 'measure of success' when job hunting, a very good one IMO.

For the record that was not a personal attack but it may have been ableist language, for which I apologise.

(no email from MNHQ informing me that I've been deleted or why, so ¯\(ツ)/¯)