Skule Ripportes

Readers of MacDoctor Moments will know that my wife and I home-schooled both of my children. Consequently, I don’t have a lot of experience with parent/teacher meetings and school reports; at least, not past primary school. So I have not seen reports as turgid as this one detailed in the SST:

“James “finds self-management quite challenging”. He “needs to use appropriate mediation skills when solving conflicts, and practise safety procedures”.”

Given that James is only five, you could be forgiven for wishing to file the report under G for garbage, impenetrable codswollop that it is. 

The article goes on to say how school reports are often couched in a style that reflects the whole curriculum, rather than simply “school subjects”. Whereas parents may wish to find out whether their child is learning to read or do basic math, the report is much more likely to reflect “learning goals”  without objective comparisons.

I have never regretted home-schooling my kids, but reading this nonsense makes me wonder why any parent allows people like this to educate their children. This is nothing less than disenfranchising parents from participation in their children’s education. How can you contribute in any meaningful way if you have no idea how your child is doing from year to year?

A good education is one of the most important things you can give to your child. I find it hard to see how you would know that your pride and joy is getting said education unless you have some objective standard to go by. The current educational milieu seems to be actively discouraging parental input and choice. The trouble is that all the evidence suggests that the output at the other end of the education system is deteriorating, with functional illiteracy on the rise. Impenetrable jargon and a “trust us, we know what we are doing” attitude, is no longer very reassuring.

I know that if I gave experimental drugs to children without parental consent, I would be struck off in short order. Yet educationalists appear to be able to get away with experimental education with impunity. I am very much in favour of National’s new policy to re-introduce objective standards for numeracy and literacy into schools. At least a parent will then have some idea whether his child is being skilled for the real world.

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