AIBU for asking . . .

[Bettyboop3]

How many of you would have had children if schools didn't exist?

That has a lot of implications .... if kids don't go to school, does that mean a parent can't go to work ? Is paid childcare an option ?

I need to keep bread on the table, so if school wasn't an option, and i didn't have any way of having my kids looked after while I made a living, I couldn't have afforded to have them

If they'd never existed or if they all closed tomorrow?

If the former, society would be structured differently because one parent would HAVE to be at home during the day or wages would have to cover childcare. So a few fewer but probably not many. Home schooling would be the norm and therefore easier than Lockdown Home Learning.

Of they abolished schools tomorrow, there wouldn't be enough in place to support it, many people would have to work overnight and many indistries would be in chaos

But schools have existed since ancient Greece/Rome so that's a bit of a pointless question, isn't it?

Ok point taken. I mean if they hadn't existed long term then there would be alternate structure in place vs closing every school tomorrow

If schools closed tomorrow the economy would tank.

Probably more because if there were no schools there would presumably be no formal education. Lower education levels result in less awareness of birth control plus higher infant mortality and lower life expectancy.

When education levels were lower in this country it was routine for a woman to have ten or more children, because a few would die in childbirth or very young.

@SleepingStandingUp

Ok point taken. I mean if they hadn't existed long term then there would be alternate structure in place vs closing every school tomorrow

You mean like a group of parents getting together to provide education for the children so everyone else can go to work? And being paid to provide that education?

So you mean... like a school?

If we lived in a world where I could stay at home and my Dh could earn a good wage then I'd be more then happy to be at home with my kids

I love our school but even I don't want to go back. I would have children if schools didn't exist.

If schools had never existed we wouldn't know about them so it wouldn't be a factor in having children. The world would be different as someone would have to care for them (I suspect it'd end up being some kind of group childcare that ended up being like a school!)

Parttimemostofthetime sadly i feel you are in the minority. I am thinking more of the parents that don't really want to spend their time with their children and count the days until the school holidays are over. There are also plenty that seem to forget school is about education and not childcare.

Right, so it’s not a genuine question - where we can start interesting “what if” scenarios, as per @HarrietsChariot really interesting post.

It’s just you wanting a vague pop at people who’ve dared to let off steam that parenting the summer holidays can be hard?

Goady fucker 🙄

This is supposed to be a site for parents.

Well how would we get all the various sorts of engineers, doctors, nurses, healthcare professionals in other fields, vets, linguists, airline pilots… I could go on.

Or are you expecting we go back to the Stone Age?

If they didn’t exist we’d know no different and we’d all be uneducated idiots anyway so we’d all have lots of children because we wouldn’t know any different 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Kids still learn if they aren't at school! They would just learn more practical things. We might not be as reliant on materialistic trappings if we as kids weren't schooled in a formal setting, we'd be more mindful and conscientious, and care more about the environment

I love the school holidays and hate when they go back, but would i want to spend 24 hours a day with my kids, or anyone else for that matter? No, probably not. I am pretty sure if school wasn't a thing the human race would keep going though, so yabu, and silly.

Good point Beetlewing, i also feel very strongly that children should be treated more as individuals and nit everyone is academic or gets a great deal out of a school setting.

Ouch Cocomarine did i hit a nerve? 🤔

Whilst schools have existed since ancient Greece they have only been accessible to the majority of people for a couple of hundred years maximum. And post 11/12 education for less than 100 years. But all children have been educated since there have been children!

Children would learn from their parents the skills they needed to be functioning adults within the society they live in. Our society is structured that we need qualifications but the knowledge we need to gain those qualifications is not needed to be functioning adults. An alternative would be children would learn on the job from a young age - either from their parents or apprenticeship type situations or most likely a combination.

Society would be completely different and work would be different, a lot more home based and flexible hours and child care shared between the wider family and community. People would almost certainly live much closer to their employer and their colleagues. It may well allow for a far more equal society than currently.

We would also probably be a lot more relaxed about leaving children at home on their own.

A society without formal schools is completely possible - its how the vast majority of humans lived until the industrial revolution demanded a large workforce in a large building totally seperate from the home.

@BroccoliFloret. No, i assume that's against the rules. I mean access to proper home learning materials and better information about how to access it and what to teach my son. I'd know how it works from my own childhood and all my peers, as opposed to schools closing one day and the teacher setting 45 minutes of work per day on the computer.

Also societally, it would be more likely that every family would have a non working parent or families would live closer together to look after rach others kids more - so like a voluntary small home learning co-op.

@Bettyboop3

Parttimemostofthetime sadly i feel you are in the minority. I am thinking more of the parents that don't really want to spend their time with their children and count the days until the school holidays are over. There are also plenty that seem to forget school is about education and not childcare.

but that is also in a context where schools do exist.

As pp said, if there were no schools, then society would be structured differently.

Look at the Amish, the boys follow the dads round all day learning how to run the farm.

But the whole of modern society, from work to housing, is formed around the idea that

1. we work outside of the home
2. work and children are mutually exclusive
3. our kids are in school for their formative years.

if there were no schools, everything would be different.
But I would be willing to bet that the main care givers, the ones who would be at home and not working outside the home, would be women

And I am also sure that since humans existed childcare has been shared. Grannies in the village, while parents in the fields etc

@Bettyboop3

Good point Beetlewing, i also feel very strongly that children should be treated more as individuals and nit everyone is academic or gets a great deal out of a school setting.

Ouch Cocomarine did i hit a nerve? 🤔

Not one related to my own child, no 🤷🏻‍♀️ I only have one, and have plenty of money to entertain her, and as I’m divorced don’t have her every day in the summer. She’s easy both in temperament and lack of additional needs, I wish I had more time with her. I also loved home school during Covid.

But restore finding summer easy - and too short - myself, I can empathise with other parents who don’t have it so easy. Try it.

@Bettyboop3

Parttimemostofthetime sadly i feel you are in the minority. I am thinking more of the parents that don't really want to spend their time with their children and count the days until the school holidays are over. There are also plenty that seem to forget school is about education and not childcare.

Oh you mean the parents paying out more in childcare than they bring in, or who's kids have additional needs and struggle with the lack of routine, who can't afford to go away or do much and so the kids are spending nearly every day in the house, who have health issues themselves?

I mean if you're having a cheap pop at people looking forward to schools going back, what about all the parents who send their kids to boarding school? Where's the bitchy post about them?

I am thinking more of the parents that don't really want to spend their time with their children and count the days until the school holidays are over.

I'm one of these- but it's because it's a bloody nightmare. We don't have enough annual leave to cover the holidays. We don't have any family to help. The children hate holiday clubs. My husband and I are exhausted as we're working all hours so we can also care for our children and it'll be lovely when back at school and we can just get on with work and the weekends are just ours to spend with the family.

@Cocomarine

Right, so it’s not a genuine question - where we can start interesting “what if” scenarios, as per *@HarrietsChariot* really interesting post.

It’s just you wanting a vague pop at people who’ve dared to let off steam that parenting the summer holidays can be hard?

Goady fucker 🙄

This is supposed to be a site for parents.

Yep.

Yeah my 2 have begged me for the last 18 months to board, I have caved to the extent of allowing them one night a week flexi-boarding. They can't wait and I am secretly super excited to see them spreading their wings and having some more independence, while still having fun together (they will be in the same bunk bed).

Lockdown was tough on all of us and we realised how much they needed to run around at school with other kids. School isn't just about education, it's also socialisation.

Come at me, OP!