Category Archives: All About Education

New Zealand Educators

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Comments by NZ Educators Which Reveal Schooling’s Purposes Are Other Than Generally Believed

Sir Neil Waters

Past Vice-Chancellor of Massey University

NZ Qualifications Authority Board Chairman

From an interview in the NZQA’s magazine LEARN, Issue 10, November 1996, p. 8.

(The punctuation of this paragraph is exactly as it appears in the magazine.)

“If you ask what schools are for the obvious answer is to educate kids, but there’s an equally important answer. And that is to socialise them, to bring them up to be comfortable in adult society and I think this has always been a feature of the education process, otherwise it wouldn’t take so long. You don’t need 15 years to educate somebody but you need 15 years to socialise somebody. I think we should use the schools for the socialising role and we should somehow or other try to separate the educational role from that so that as a pupil you were in the class with every other 14 year old but you might be doing maths with adults and Japanese language with 10 year-olds or whatever. So everybody learnt at an individual pace but you were socialised at a chronological pace.”

Dr John Clark

Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Education

Department of Policy Studies in Education

Massey University

(From his course notes for Understanding Education in Aotearoa/New Zealand, 1997.)

“Schools are social instruments designed to bring about the attainment of extrinsic goals which lie outside of and beyond the schools themselves. For our purposes, four functions of schooling can be identified. One of the clearest functions of schooling apparent from the first day parents leave their children at the school gate is the role of the school as a baby-sitting agency….[Another] thing schools set out to do is socialize young children into a set of moral values and cultural practices….[T]he task…is made all the more problematic because of a lack of agreement over what sorts of values and beliefs ought to be inculcated.” (The next two functions are: preparing children for the world of work and the promise of upward social mobility coupled with the reality of cultural and class reproduction.)

Hon Trevor Mallard

Minister of Education

In a speech launching the UNESCO and Living Values Trust

“Values Education” seminars, July 2000

“Whether we like it or not schools and teachers have a strong influence on the developing values of young people and they have that influence whether they plan to or not. We have to acknowledge that all people live by a set of values and that there is certainly no such thing as value neutrality in education. It is not an easy thing to meet the obligation to include attitudes and values as an integral part of the New Zealand curriculum. The implicit values education that comes from the way a teacher behaves, the way they speak to children, the kind of control they operate in their own classroom, what is sometimes referred to as the hidden curriculum, cannot be overestimated

Phillip Capper

President, PPTA

Dominion Sunday Times, 14 October 1990

“What I would like to see in the political debate about education is a recognition that public education is an exercise in social engineering by definition.”

Dr Colin Knight

Principal, Christchurch Teachers’ College

Manawatu Evening Standard, 4 December 1990

Unresearched government-decreed practices in schools could socially, emotionally and intellectually deform children, says Christchurch Teachers’ College principal Colin Knight. Dr. Knight said the education system placed children at risk by continuing to neglect educational research. “It is of serious concern to me that, despite the far-reaching effects of teaching on society, few educational practices have a sound research basis.” He said changes in what went on in schools were mainly brought about by politically initiated reviews and reports on questionnaires and Gallup polls, by parliamentary debate and political expediency.

Home Education in New Zealand

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Vision

Loving and genuinely concerned parents are the best qualified of all to teach their own children. Who else is more motivated to invest the time, the money, the blood, sweat, toil and tears required for the child’s best interests than the parents? Who knows and understands the child better than the parents? Who is more motivated for the child’s success than the parents? A homeschooling parent has the vast advantage of a tutoring situation: one parent/teacher to one or two pupils, recognised worldwide as the most effective teaching method. Because of the logistical and political and practical difficulties associated with the conventional classroom, the average parent involved in home education routinely possesses advantages that outweigh even the most gifted of teachers in the most expensively equipped classroom. Two hours of quality one-on-one time with a parent can easily accomplish what a conventional classroom would take two weeks to do. Whatever they may lack in the area of formal educational qualifications, the home educating parent will usually more than compensate for in motivation and the advantages of one-to-one teaching.

Learning the three r’s, or teaching them, is no big mystery. Children learn most in those first 3-4 years when they are like little fact-sponges and are taught to speak and understand a totally foreign language by Mum with no curriculum. Home education is basically an extension to that. Children are natural learners with their own scope and sequence: the constant questions “Why?” and “How?” Simply answering these questions will cover all and probably a lot more than the Nation Curriculum Guidelines.

Schools and teachers only control the access to “schooling”….lecturing, pre-digested notes, certain classrooms and labs and paper qualifications. They do not control “education”. An education is available to all and is virtually free of charge: it is not in short supply, it does not diminish as more people get it. Schooling in schools and other institutions is in a limited, finite supply, and it is this which people like to control for they can make money out of it. Once a person learns to read, write, do numbers plus some research skills, they can teach themselves virtually anything….that is, a true education is out there to be acquired by anyone with the initiative to dig it up for themselves.

Parents’ biggest concern is that they are unqualified or unable to do this. Not so! Parents already know from lifes experiences what facts and skills their children really do need to know and which politically correct lessons can safely be dropped. If they are not themselves in mastery of the 3R skills (Reading wRiting and aRithmetic), they can learn along with their children, perhaps engaging a private tutor now and again. A parent’s enthusiasm and excitement for learning is contageous and will motivate the chidlren like few things else. In addition, we all know that the most important lessons of life each of us learned were not learned in the classroom. These lessons the home educating parent can teach without the bullying and drugs on the school campus.

Socialisation

This is usually the first objection people raise about home education, even before worrying about academic success. Home educators themselves and researchers both in NZ and overseas, regard “socialisation” as a non-issue among home educated children. They consistently demonstrate superior social skills. Children do not need other children to teach them how to be children. They need warm, responsive adults to teach and model proper social graces. Home educated youngsters generally fit in comfortably with a wider age range and are not dependent upon nor intimidated by their peer group.

Curriculum & Resources

Finding resources is not a problem: there is a vast variety available everywhere you look! There are many packaged programmes available, and many parents simply make up their own. One of the best resources is the public library. Friends, neighbours, relations, local support groups, the internet all have expertise in many areas, just waiting for you to tap into it all!

Costs in Time and Money

It can be as expensive or as economical as you like, and time commitment is extremely flexible. First of all, dispel the picture of a mini-school established in your home: many start that way but few ever carry on that way, for schools are designed to deal with logistical problems completely absent from the home. At home you are in a tutoring/mentoring situation, the most superior setting for academic excellence, social training, physical self-discipline, character development and spiritual growth ever devised. Education is not limited to certain activities in a certain place during certain hours of the day: education and learning are taking place all the time, and parents with their children at home are in the unique position to pretty well organise what they learn, to what depth, in what manner and for what purposes.

Legal Issues

Your child does not need to be enrolled in any school until s/he turns six. A couple of months before this, in order to legally home educate, you need to contact the Ministry of Education to obtain a “Certificate of Exemption”. This takes several hours of work writing out what you plan to do, how you plan to do it, and how you’ll know you’re making progress. It is like a statement of intent, rather than a contract, for both the Ministry of Education and the ERO recognise that good parent/teachers will be constntly changing and upgrading their programme.

Getting into University or Employment

Universities have various discretionary schemes whereby one who is under 20 can enrol without paper school-leaving qualifications if the admissions officer is satisfied (usually after an interview) that s/he is able to do the work. Many also offer full-time courses designed to bridge the gap between high school level and university for theose who have no paper qualifications. Sixteen-year-olds can sign up for classes at the NZ Correspondence School at around $80 per paper, take four in a single year at NCEA Level 3 (one does not need to work through Levels 1 and 2 before tackling Level 3), including the right maths and English papers, and end up with a University Entrance Qalification. Or wait until age 20: all kiwis of this age have right of entry to NZ Universities. All you need then is the enrolment fee.

Employers do not necessarily need qualifications but are certainly looking for character traits such as Reliability, Motivation, Honesty, etc. These are best taught at home. Seek creative ways to introduce yourself, showing the strengths you want the employer to see. Get work and character references from short-term, part-time and volunteer jobs. Really positive references such as these are worth their weight in gold.

Conclusion

Every piece of research has shown that home schooling produces children who are superior both academically and socially. Your family can also experience other wonderful benefits: function as a unit with children being thought of and trained up as vital parts of the family corporation, rather than thought of and treated like expensive freeloaders waiting to leave home. Many home educators experience no teen rebellion or generation gap. Kick the public school habit: be done forever with uniforms, peer pressure, school fees, bullying, drugs, and the bad attitudes and language and finger signs and head lice brought home from school. You’ll be glad you did.

For Reference:

http://www.nheri.org/ –National Home Education Research Institute

http://www.hslda.org — Home School Legal Defence Association(These first two contain many research articles and results.)

www.hef.org.nz — NZ’s Home Education Foundation http://www.home.school.nz/ — More about home education in NZ

Kids around all day?

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How can you stand having your kids around you all day and not be out there seeking your own fulfillment?

by Carol Munroe of Auckland

Home-schooling is so much a part of our lives, it is impossible to imagine what our lives would have been like without it.

When we were first married 20 years ago, we had never heard of the word, but it seems like right from the beginning God laid on our hearts to home educate our children. I just could not bear the thought that at 5 years old a child should leave the influence of home and be exposed for the best hours of the day to a situation totally outside parental control, where morality would be taught (or not), and where God would be considered irrelevant to life. It made no sense for God to entrust children to our care only to have us turn them over to someone else to be a major influence at five years old ! So we just never sent our first child to school! That was at a time when it was a bit “hippy” to do it, and we were looked askance at for a while.
Now we are at the stage where we are beginning to see some fruits for our labour, and although we have many years to go (our youngest is six), we know that the benefits are there, whereas in times past it was perhaps harder to see. In fact, there are so many advantages in home-schooling it is hard to figure what is most important.

Life Skills
We found that life skills are learned almost by osmosis. After each child was born the “formal” or bookwork part of our lives fell by the wayside for about six months, as I was just too exhausted to handle my normal routine. But the children learned about how to handle crotchety babies, to be flexible, change nappies and enjoy a new addition to the family. How awful to have to send siblings off to school when a new baby is in the house – all that getting-to-know-you time in the baby stage is lost. At home, it was another part of education – life – that children at school are not exposed to in full measure.

In a home-schooling situation, our children see us warts and all and we can’t hide that from them. It is a constant challenge to model godliness and be the example of Christ to them — showing patience under stress, calmness under pressure, making decisions based on Biblical principles — they see it all. We believe that academics are important, but more important than anything is to build godly character.
One of our children was witness to an argument Mark and I were once having. I have at times “a volatile personality” (politically correct for “bad temper”, due to Irish background and thus beyond my control!!) and this little note was handed up to me. It was a page from a phone message pad, and it read thus:
TO: mummy.
MESSAGE: why are you shouting at daddy all the time?
FROM: andrea
Everything was filled out nicely although misspelled. It brought us up with a round turn, I can tell you! Mark kept it as one of our “precious things”, a humbling reminder that we are constant examples whether we like it or not. While our children have seen us when we disagree, they have also seen us having a hug in the kitchen, holding hands, laughing together, and standing as one when our backs are against the wall. Consequently they will enter marriage realising that at times couples do disagree – sometimes very strongly — but what is more important than anything is to talk it through , and hang in there in the tough times.
Marriage is for life and there is tremendous stress on marriages these days. We want our children to enter marriage knowing that it is “till death us do part”, and we want them to know that every worthwhile marriage goes through hard times and takes work, but they are to be in there for the long haul.

Relationships
As our children have become teenagers, I have enjoyed a different stage in our relationship, I remember someone saying to us years ago when our children were young – “You wait. They are O.K. now but when they get to be teenagers, you’ll find out all about it”. I half expected them to grow horns on their 13th birthdays, but it never happened! In fact, in a number of ways it is BETTER having teenagers because they can discuss issues and think and work things out — all the more reason to home-school through the high-school years, because it is that time that their faith takes on real meaning, and they see how the Bible applies to all of life.

A couple of years ago we went through Understanding the Times by David Noebel, where every area of life – philosophy, law, biology, politics, etc., was looked at through the grid of a Biblical worldview, and we studied at the same time the other worldviews — Marxism, Humanism, New Age – and how they have influenced the world in which we live. It is alarming that so much worldly thinking has permeated Christianity, and we are not even aware of it. It was an exciting time discussing these issues with our teenagers and seeing their understanding of the faith deepen as they learned the relevance of the Bible to every area. What thrilled me was seeing the two children arguing points as they tried to nut out what the BIBLE said, where the world influences our thinking, and the need to yield every thought captive to Christ. We had some very exciting discussions!
Teaching the children at home has enabled us to become good friends with our children. We talk about things, and we as parents are the first port of call in difficulties rather than their peer group. Last year Andrea (16) read Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina . I had read somewhere that this book was one of the most significant literary works ever written, so I picked a copy up in a second hand book shop and determined to read it. It was fascinating and I could hardly put it down. Andrea wanted to read it too, being an avid reader from an early age, so I passed it on, and when she finished, asked, “What did you think of it?” Then followed a discussion about the characters in the story, whether Anna was justified in her behaviour, the consequences of sin, double standards, was Anna a hero or antihero, the attractiveness (or repulsiveness) of the other characters, whether life is really like that — all sorts of perceptions and insights as a result of reading the book.
It crossed my mind later that there would be very few adults that you could have this kind of interaction with, and here is a 16-yr-old understanding it and wanting to learn through it. Where else does that sort of parent-child interaction take place apart through home education?
An exposure to good literature helps a child appreciate quality. This year Andrea enrolled in a full bursary course through correspondence (“I want a challenge, mum!”) and one of her subjects is English. She has recently been studying NZ poets and some of the material she calls “disgusting”, and “Why do we have to study this stuff?” She has developed an appreciation for the good, and home schooling has allowed us to influence her tastes. I remember reading somewhere that it is not enough merely to keep your children from the bad — you have to expose them to what is good. (Children of a Greater God by Terry Glaspey is an excellent book on this, although some have criticised it as being “too intellectual”). Music has always played a important part of our lives, and our children, naturally, have all developed a love for the classics (and some easy listening) because the music is there and they have grown up with it. None of the children so far has shown any interest in modern “rock” music, because they know that loud noise is not music. At school even Christian children have been heavily influenced by rock bands without really thinking what kind of things these groups are promoting, just because their peers think it is “cool”, and it is unthinkable not to be “cool”.
Home-schooling is a calling for the long term just like parenting. In fact, there is not much difference is there? We need to remember that there are “stages” in life, and we cannot — if ever — have perfection. This goes for our children as well — I have learned that there is growth taking place, that what is true now may not be true tomorrow, and behaviour problems can be worked on and maturity is the goal.

Character Building
It used to worry me that our children were quiet, “not outgoing”, and they had not had many opportunities to make friends their own age. Adult peer pressure comes into play here. I had been told that David (now 18) was socially immature and it was because he was home-schooled and he needed to go to school to be socially developed! Mark says the next time somebody tells him their children go to such-and-such a school, he will ask them, “What do you do about socialisation?” Our son David will never be a social whiz, but it was interesting at a Church camp where there were children of the same age and home-schooled (similar interests), there was no problem making friends at all. In fact, we hardly saw him! Now, as he is at university, he is always talking about people he has met, and there is certainly no evidence of personality problems because he has been home-schooled. He has taken to it like a duck to water. I heard a while ago a helpful perspective on this “shyness” issue and I mention it because another home-schooling mother shared she had had a similar experience with one of her children, so it is not uncommon. The world has an “ideal” that we must attempt to conform to — outgoing, life-of-the-party type, good at sport, leader, strong, etc. We need to realise that God deliberately did not make all people like that, and that in fact quieter people sometimes have depths and can be more solid and mature. There is nothing wrong with being quiet, and as home-schoolers we seek to enhance our children’s strengths and build their characters with the God given personalities the children have.

Enjoying Our Children
Like all home-schooling parents, we enjoy our children. Sometimes as I am cooking tea and may be a bit tired or pressured this beautiful music comes drifting out through the kitchen as Andrea plays the piano — our favourite hymns one after another – God and God Alone, Wonderful Grace, The Servant King, Majesty — and my heart is lifted with praise and worship as I cannot help but sing. Or coming home and finding Amy (14) has cleaned the whole bathroom without having been asked (she’ll fetch a good bride price!), Jonathan (12) cuddling up and holding my hand – in public! or irresistibly having to join in when he is just rolling on the floor with laughter, little Cam (6) covering my cheek with kisses, saying, “I love you, mum”. Children are indeed a gift from the Lord, and home-schooling has enabled us to develop the kind of close relationships and memories that we would never have had if we had chosen to send our children to school. We praise God for the privilege and opportunity it has been.