by Steven David Horwich
You’re a homeschooling parent. That most likely means that you have relatives and friends who extravagantly frown at you. They find ways to let you know that what you are doing to your kids is bad. You’re a bad parent. You should be ashamed. You should be removed from the gene pool given the travesty of nature that you are.
Don’t worry. Every homeschool family gets this garbage from time to time. It invariably comes from just a few types of people. 1) People who would never be willing to commit to their own children the time and resources that you have. They can’t be “wrong” for NOT doing what you’re doing – so YOU must be wrong. 2) People (read “sheep”) who have completely bought into the “press” regarding how important schools and teachers are. Though they may be genuinely concerned and caring, still, they are misguided.
Or let’s say that you’re a parent who has considered homeschooling your child. You’ve spoken to other parents, those who do not homeschool. Or you’ve spoken to a “trained professional”, a teacher or administrator. You’ve asked them what they think about homeschooling. In response, you’ve received grim glares, frowns, sighs of annoyance. Don’t you KNOW? Aren’t you AWARE? It’s a hard world, out there! It’s tough! Times are tough and competitive! How will your child ever learn to work with others, if he homeschools?! How will he learn to get along? How will he learn to “bear the whips and scorns of time” (Shakespeare, Hamlet), or the fists and words from the inevitable haters and detractors he will encounter?! Listen, bad mom and dad, you MUST not homeschool your kid! They’ll end up insular, uncommunicative, alone and emotionally crippled and miserable in some dark apartment, wasting their life away without any sense of the value of social contact with others.
I know, I know. Right now, a lot of homeschoolers and their parents are laughing. We know that such arguments are not merely incorrect, but disastrously so. But listen, many people aren’t laughing. They believe all this. They think it’s true. They have been told many times that it’s true by “experts”, and by their friends who only have their best interest at heart – and who have read the “experts”. In fact, sadly enough, most people have completely bought into this monstrous lie, the lie of the need for public schools and the “socialization” which they provide.
It is a lie.
Make no mistake. The “need” for “socialization” and for any sort of schooling is a complete fabrication. We won’t get too much into why schooling is not needed in this article, though I’ve written books and over a hundred other articles covering it, and I will writ6e about it again, soon. But let’s talk about “socialization”.
What is “socialization” anyway, this thing parents are endlessly told they must allow their child to experience or the poor kid is doomed? It is essentially the idea that a child should be exposed to others in groups. These groups are sort of representative of society at large. In being exposed to them as a young child, he’ll learn to adapt to their pressures and needs. In other words, he’ll learn to “get along”, to “conform”, to be “a part of”.
Yes. Well. The fact is that nearly every the great discovery or creation or human development, every major religion, nearly every scientific invention of note, nearly every political systems, every work of art…almost everything we as human beings hold in high regard…was invented or created or discovered by individuals who did NOT get along, did not conform, and were not a part of. If you know your history at all, then you absolutely know this is true. So right away – why do we want “socialized’ people? Certainly not to move mankind forward. So if not to move us forward and improve life for all of us, what exactly is the real agenda of “socialization”?
It isn’t good. We’ll get to that soon.
Where did the lie of the need for “socialization” come from? And why do schools and their shills push this lie so often and so hard?
Let’s debunk this lie.
(The following is excerpted from my Homeschool Teacher Training Course on Socialization.)
“Socialization” is a buzz word. It was first coined by a man named Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929), an American sociologist and economist. Cooley was an instructor at the University of Michigan in sociology and economics. It’s important to know that he taught both sociology and economics, as you’ll soon understand.
Let’s know a few things about Cooley, from his writings. He was not a scientist. Scientists believe in numbers. They believe in statistics and provable, verifiable, even repeatable results. In his writings, Cooley made it quite clear that he had no interest in statistics, only in “observation”. And he would often use his own children as “guinea pigs”. Additionally, he did not believe that people have any innate, inner ability to formulate a sense of morals or integrity. He believed that such things were taught, and almost entirely learned from the groups that a young person belongs to. (And looking at Mr. Cooley’s own behavior, it is hard to argue that HE had no sense of morals. He clearly had none.)
Mr. Cooley had many “interesting” ideas. He believed in a class or caste system. He felt that each “class” would contribute something different to society. This is much like the old and rotten system in India in which each “caste” has its own unique assignment, from the philosophical lives of Brahmins to the manual labor of the “Untouchables”, that system which so many social reformers (including such people as Gandhi) despised and tried to change.
So the acceptance of one’s “place” in the world and one’s inherited (from one’s position in life) work was an important part of Cooley’s view of life. To quote Mr. Cooley directly:
“How is a man to find where he belongs in life? The more original he is, the less likely is he to find his place prepared for him.”
So don’t be “original”, is his suggestion. Instead, find the place prepared for you. There is no “free will”, or freedom of decision. Your life was decided by the circumstances of your birth. So spake Cooley.
What a sad view of the potential of the individual. He believes each of us incapable of creating our “place” in the world. This does not leave much room for personal interests, growth, creativity, or any other personal factor that many of us cherish, does it? Again, it’s important to understand the above, to understand how the concept of “socialization” first developed - and what the actual intention of “socialization” is.
Mr. Cooley believed that society was the all-powerful shaper of a person’s nature. He did not believe that individuals shaped themselves, or for that matter, that they even shape society. He believed as he did despite everything history and common sense teach us – that society, mankind, if you will, progresses always on the basis of the work, the creativity and the lives of those few people who create, and dedicate themselves to some great pursuit. America’s greatest historian, Will Durant, makes this quite clear throughout his works. Yet Mr. Cooley chose to believe that we are each almost entirely shaped and formed by our interaction with the larger culture, the civilization. While there is limited truth to this idea, it is a considerably limited truth with too many hundreds of millions of exceptions to be considered remotely valid as any kind of “rule” or “operating basis.” His texts have become a staple in the Psychology business, and little surprise there. But how do all of Cooley’s ideas fit nicely into economics? Why do public school teachers and their unions use Cooley’s ridiculous assertions as a bizarre weapon in their attempt to murder homeschooling? More to come.
Steven Horwich is an Emmy and Dramalogue award-winning writer/director, who has split his life between the arts and education. A teacher with over 35 years and over 20,000 hours of experience from elementary school through university-level teaching, he started homeschooling his own children in 2002. This led him to author over 300 courses since 2002, a complete curricula (excluding math) for ages 5-adult, called Connect The Thoughts. Over 20,000 people have used CTT since making it available via the Internet in 2007. His curricula is presented at www.connectthethoughts.com. There is over 5 hours of film explaining his courses and approach. He has authored a book about education today, Poor Cheated Little Johnny, and a teacher training program to go with it. He currently presents a free webinar about education and homeschooling every third Tuesday.
You’re a homeschooling parent. That most likely means that you have relatives and friends who extravagantly frown at you. They find ways to let you know that what you are doing to your kids is bad. You’re a bad parent. You should be ashamed. You should be removed from the gene pool given the travesty of nature that you are.
Don’t worry. Every homeschool family gets this garbage from time to time. It invariably comes from just a few types of people. 1) People who would never be willing to commit to their own children the time and resources that you have. They can’t be “wrong” for NOT doing what you’re doing – so YOU must be wrong. 2) People (read “sheep”) who have completely bought into the “press” regarding how important schools and teachers are. Though they may be genuinely concerned and caring, still, they are misguided.
Or let’s say that you’re a parent who has considered homeschooling your child. You’ve spoken to other parents, those who do not homeschool. Or you’ve spoken to a “trained professional”, a teacher or administrator. You’ve asked them what they think about homeschooling. In response, you’ve received grim glares, frowns, sighs of annoyance. Don’t you KNOW? Aren’t you AWARE? It’s a hard world, out there! It’s tough! Times are tough and competitive! How will your child ever learn to work with others, if he homeschools?! How will he learn to get along? How will he learn to “bear the whips and scorns of time” (Shakespeare, Hamlet), or the fists and words from the inevitable haters and detractors he will encounter?! Listen, bad mom and dad, you MUST not homeschool your kid! They’ll end up insular, uncommunicative, alone and emotionally crippled and miserable in some dark apartment, wasting their life away without any sense of the value of social contact with others.
I know, I know. Right now, a lot of homeschoolers and their parents are laughing. We know that such arguments are not merely incorrect, but disastrously so. But listen, many people aren’t laughing. They believe all this. They think it’s true. They have been told many times that it’s true by “experts”, and by their friends who only have their best interest at heart – and who have read the “experts”. In fact, sadly enough, most people have completely bought into this monstrous lie, the lie of the need for public schools and the “socialization” which they provide.
It is a lie.
Make no mistake. The “need” for “socialization” and for any sort of schooling is a complete fabrication. We won’t get too much into why schooling is not needed in this article, though I’ve written books and over a hundred other articles covering it, and I will writ6e about it again, soon. But let’s talk about “socialization”.
What is “socialization” anyway, this thing parents are endlessly told they must allow their child to experience or the poor kid is doomed? It is essentially the idea that a child should be exposed to others in groups. These groups are sort of representative of society at large. In being exposed to them as a young child, he’ll learn to adapt to their pressures and needs. In other words, he’ll learn to “get along”, to “conform”, to be “a part of”.
Yes. Well. The fact is that nearly every the great discovery or creation or human development, every major religion, nearly every scientific invention of note, nearly every political systems, every work of art…almost everything we as human beings hold in high regard…was invented or created or discovered by individuals who did NOT get along, did not conform, and were not a part of. If you know your history at all, then you absolutely know this is true. So right away – why do we want “socialized’ people? Certainly not to move mankind forward. So if not to move us forward and improve life for all of us, what exactly is the real agenda of “socialization”?
It isn’t good. We’ll get to that soon.
Where did the lie of the need for “socialization” come from? And why do schools and their shills push this lie so often and so hard?
Let’s debunk this lie.
(The following is excerpted from my Homeschool Teacher Training Course on Socialization.)
“Socialization” is a buzz word. It was first coined by a man named Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929), an American sociologist and economist. Cooley was an instructor at the University of Michigan in sociology and economics. It’s important to know that he taught both sociology and economics, as you’ll soon understand.
Let’s know a few things about Cooley, from his writings. He was not a scientist. Scientists believe in numbers. They believe in statistics and provable, verifiable, even repeatable results. In his writings, Cooley made it quite clear that he had no interest in statistics, only in “observation”. And he would often use his own children as “guinea pigs”. Additionally, he did not believe that people have any innate, inner ability to formulate a sense of morals or integrity. He believed that such things were taught, and almost entirely learned from the groups that a young person belongs to. (And looking at Mr. Cooley’s own behavior, it is hard to argue that HE had no sense of morals. He clearly had none.)
Mr. Cooley had many “interesting” ideas. He believed in a class or caste system. He felt that each “class” would contribute something different to society. This is much like the old and rotten system in India in which each “caste” has its own unique assignment, from the philosophical lives of Brahmins to the manual labor of the “Untouchables”, that system which so many social reformers (including such people as Gandhi) despised and tried to change.
So the acceptance of one’s “place” in the world and one’s inherited (from one’s position in life) work was an important part of Cooley’s view of life. To quote Mr. Cooley directly:
“How is a man to find where he belongs in life? The more original he is, the less likely is he to find his place prepared for him.”
So don’t be “original”, is his suggestion. Instead, find the place prepared for you. There is no “free will”, or freedom of decision. Your life was decided by the circumstances of your birth. So spake Cooley.
What a sad view of the potential of the individual. He believes each of us incapable of creating our “place” in the world. This does not leave much room for personal interests, growth, creativity, or any other personal factor that many of us cherish, does it? Again, it’s important to understand the above, to understand how the concept of “socialization” first developed - and what the actual intention of “socialization” is.
Mr. Cooley believed that society was the all-powerful shaper of a person’s nature. He did not believe that individuals shaped themselves, or for that matter, that they even shape society. He believed as he did despite everything history and common sense teach us – that society, mankind, if you will, progresses always on the basis of the work, the creativity and the lives of those few people who create, and dedicate themselves to some great pursuit. America’s greatest historian, Will Durant, makes this quite clear throughout his works. Yet Mr. Cooley chose to believe that we are each almost entirely shaped and formed by our interaction with the larger culture, the civilization. While there is limited truth to this idea, it is a considerably limited truth with too many hundreds of millions of exceptions to be considered remotely valid as any kind of “rule” or “operating basis.” His texts have become a staple in the Psychology business, and little surprise there. But how do all of Cooley’s ideas fit nicely into economics? Why do public school teachers and their unions use Cooley’s ridiculous assertions as a bizarre weapon in their attempt to murder homeschooling? More to come.
Steven Horwich is an Emmy and Dramalogue award-winning writer/director, who has split his life between the arts and education. A teacher with over 35 years and over 20,000 hours of experience from elementary school through university-level teaching, he started homeschooling his own children in 2002. This led him to author over 300 courses since 2002, a complete curricula (excluding math) for ages 5-adult, called Connect The Thoughts. Over 20,000 people have used CTT since making it available via the Internet in 2007. His curricula is presented at www.connectthethoughts.com. There is over 5 hours of film explaining his courses and approach. He has authored a book about education today, Poor Cheated Little Johnny, and a teacher training program to go with it. He currently presents a free webinar about education and homeschooling every third Tuesday.
