The Homeschooling Threat

This from last week's Lode:

By educating the young generation along the right lines, the People's State will have to see to it that a generation of mankind is formed which will be adequate to this supreme combat that will decide the destinies of the world. - Adolf Hitler

In light of the later success of the Hitler youth in the calamitous war that soon followed, it is worth examining closely the words written by future leader of the Third Reich while imprisoned on the heels of his failed Beer Hall Putsch. For while it has become almost taboo to claim that Hitler was anything other than an inhuman monster, the aforementioned quote suggests that he was not wholly devoid of reason.

Indeed, molding the fresh minds of youth is the surest way to a revolution, as fellow humanitarian Vladimir Lenin realized when he promised, “Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.” His statement is almost Biblical: Proverbs 22:6 reads, “Train a boy in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not swerve from it.”

The education of children then is of utmost importance to the powers that be. Thus the federal education system; thus the opposition thereto by many parents; thus the homeschooling movement, which now stands at 2.5 million students nation-wide.

When homeschooling is discussed, one always hears that such students are improperly socialized. It is not a cheap shot to suggest that Hitler and Lenin felt the same way.

For the end to which modern education aims has little to do with the “three R's”. While literacy and basic computational skills are desirous qualities in students who have succeeded in becoming “educated”, these effects are actually secondary. The real purpose of school is to ensure proper socialization as defined by the State. It so happens that those who can read, write, and do simple math are more readily employable, and thus attainment of these skills serves the needs of the State, but only to a point. Those who read too much can be dangerous, especially to those who profit from stability.

There are three types of students in a class room. First there are the intelligent. These quickly realize that school moves far too slowly to be entertained thereby and either seek amusement elsewhere or become burnouts. Most become exceedingly docile; many are pumped full of Ritalin to combat symptoms of boredom or boyhood, I mean A.D.D. Many end up in cubes.

Second, are the lucky few who can learn the material at the pace at which the teacher is teaching. These are not torpid, but neither are they brilliant or motivated enough to threaten the status quo; nor will they be given material which will challenge their mind too seriously.

Third are the students who are either wholly ineducable or simply too slow to follow along. Occasionally someone may take an interest in one whose only fault is hereditary, but most of these students stumble along to nowhere, which serves the elites very nicely. There will always be burgers in need of flipping.

The value of homeschooling is its ability to allow students to dictate the pace of their learning. Bright children are not restrained; slower ones are not left behind. More importantly, by dealing with a child one-on-one, he learns the importance and the beauty of individuality. But this is dangerous to the State.

If mastering the “three R's” was the real purpose of education, home-schooling would be encouraged; nine years of home-schooling is equivalent to twelve years in the government-run monstrosities. Yet no matter how badly schools fail to educate students, they continue, not only to exist, but receive more and more funding.

As the power of the State continues to increase, we will shortly see the day when home-schooling is made illegal and those who are actually learning must be placed in schools wherein no learning can be had. After all, we'd hate to have people who aren't “socialized”.