The Risks of Homeschooling

Harvard Magazine ^ | May/June 2020 | Erin O'Donnell

[Elsie]

Preface

 

   Writing an introduction to McGuffey savors of the presumption of an introduction to the Bible. Those of us who owe to the genius of this man our first conscious taste for good Hterature and the deeper debt of unconsciously absorbed ideals and moral and ethical standards need no further introduction than the name "McGuffey." But newer generations may not appreciate the debt America owes to this modest, self-effacing teacher who bore the torch of education to light the wilderness.

 

   McGuffey came at a time when a messiah of education was most needed. The wilderness beyond the Ohio was filling rapidly with settlers from the old colonies. The first really American state was forming. Before that time the Eastern states were largely dominated by the customs and cultures imported from Europe. Old prejudices were strengthening rather than disappearing. In the rush of settlement Puritan, Huguenot, Catholic, Quaker, Dutch, English, French, Irish, Scotch, met and mingled.

 

   Three generations came into being with scant opportunity for education. Books were scarce, schools few and inadequate, and the majority of both teachers and ministers poorly equipped to meet the emergency. The cry "educate or we perish" was raised by teachers and parents, who saw the unsatisfied hunger for learning in some of their children and the lapse toward ignorance and savagery in others.

 

   Into this field came McGuffey to assume, without pretense, but from a deep sense of duty, a leadership which made him one of the great among the cultural powers of the world. From 1836 until near the close of the century he exerted the greatest influence, culturally, of any person in American history. His teaching methods and his selections themselves, I know, have been ridiculed and criticized among modern educators. He has been charged with teaching by the absorption method—if so it is amazing how much of the fine taste in literature, how much of the morals pointed by his selections, millions of American boys and girls absorbed and retained. Probably he drove home the point of his moral in crude manner; but he drove it home.

 

   Even today his instructions to "scholars" as to how to read properly are surprising in their correctness and thoroughness as to the correct posture, voice handling, breathing, pronunciation, and expression. The effect probably was somewhat stilted, bombastic, unnatural—but his directions, although frequently distorted by incompetent teachers, developed a generation of orators and readers far better than those of the present.

 

   McGuffey's religious, moral, and ethical influence over millions of Americans, especially in the Middle West is beyond computing, and it still remains the American standard. He taught rugged individualism, the dignity of labor, the basic virtues of thrift, honesty and charity, and pointed the punishment of doers of evil in a hundred examples. If virtue always triumphed and wickedness always was punished in his books it was because, despite the cynics, virtue always triumphs and sin always is punished.

 

   The "Dignity of Labor," "The Village Blacksmith" and "The Rich Man's Son" persuaded millions that contentment outweighs riches in this world.

 

   Despite the fact that McGuffey wrote little and seemed to think of himself only as an instrument, we know he was a very human, warm-hearted man. The idea that he was a bulging browed, solemn bookworm is wrong. His love of children, his keen sense of humor, his quiet joking, his unexpected illustration of athletic prowess for the benefit of students, was remarked by all who knew him well.

 

   He taught millions how and what to read and study. He taught generations of American boys and girls the joy of labor—whether manual or mental. And the man who taught us how to study and work, also taught us how to play. More than forty selections in his readers taught fair play and sportsmanship. In a time when sports and games were rude, rough, sometimes almost savage he preached the doctrine of fair play and honor. He was, in fact, the father of sportsmanship in the classroom, the workshop, and on the playing field.

Hugh S. Fullerton

[Osage Orange]

Started HS'ing in SoCal in prolly 89-90..

Easy to do..really.

Had plenty of other HS'ers we knew and many HS'ing socials with other's like-minded...

Moved from there in there in 98..to OK.

Easy to do there also...Very few HS'ers....but we found some.

Long story short...our girls were socialized, but with people that thought like us.

Our girls were very good with 6 yr old kids and 30 yr. old mom's...and 70 yr. old folks....

We had all the talk about socialization..and that baloney. We had "teachers" in the family...that quizzed our girls all the time...at family get to gathers...,,Ha!!

We went K-12...and they both are very professional..and making great money.

Heck that was one of the best times of our lives..!!

[MortMan]

There are some excellent teachers, and some good programs.

My oldest daughter’s 2nd grade teacher (her last year in public school) was excellent. She was the ONLY one who encouraged our decision to home school.

My comment was aimed at stating that a system that, as a whole, is dysfunctional is not well suited to judge the effectiveness of others doing the same work. The rules *requiring* a certified teacher to administer such tests are simply patronage to the teachers’ unions.

[a fool in paradise]

Harvard - home to Timothy Leary and the Unabomber
Columbia is just as bad

[SheepWhisperer]

This is EXACTLY when the homeschooling movement needs to ramp up members/participants. Bankrupt the government skool scam.

“Never let a good crisis go to waste”...to use their playbook.

It is the fear of the HS growth that is probably the genesis of these articles we’re seeing. They know that HS will grow because of these lockdowns and they fear the lost money from each child that is removed from the system. In other words, preventive propaganda

[aspasia]

Our girls were very good with 6 yr old kids and 30 yr. old mom's...and 70 yr. old folks....

It's nothing short of amazing in age where most children and teens are purposefully anti-social.

[wita]

If there was a like button...

[Osage Orange]

I never understood the argument that HS'ing was anti-social.

My girls were quiet and well behaved...but were not anti-social at all.

I recall a lot of things....about those times. They were good times...

[Elsie]

People can find old McGuffeys at your local thrift store quite frequently.

It’s amazing how high level things were for 5-6-7 grades!

[Elsie]

6th reader

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/16751/16751-pdf.pdf

[grey_whiskers]