... just another brick in the wall?

When I started homeschooling our four-year-old in Albany, NY, little did I know that I was joining an enthusiastic fleet of two million Americans, who had chosen to play a dynamic role in the education of their children. While some homeschooled for religious reasons, and to protect their kids from an early introduction to sex education, others for whom Bible was the word, wanted to safeguard the innocent souls from baseless concepts of evolution. “How can there be dinosaurs million of years ago, when our earth is only 6,000 years old? Bible clearly states…” that’s how the discussion with these parents went. Anyway, there were others who were coerced into homeschooling because their children were too unruly for the school, so they had to take matters in their own hands.

We, on the other hand, decided to teach our child at home, because it did not seem justifiable for a four-year-old to spend eight hours in school/after-school, so that both of us could concentrate on our careers, and buy a grand five-bedroom home with two car garages  for a convoy of three people. Our aspirations were different. We wanted to have time for each other, time for hikes in the nature, time to travel, see places…

So, thus having homeschooled our son until the beginning of the sophomore year, I was happily unaware of the fact that the school district you live in, and resultantly the school your children attend is an important factor, not only towards their overall development, but also towards their 'self-esteem'. It is then was I struck by  the depth of division in the societal structure of a country, where `equal opportunity for all’ is the mantra.

Yes, the class system, the divide between the rich and poor is sewn in the very woof-and-waft of this so called `civilised’ society, and affects an individual from the moment one is born. For example, if a kid hails from any downtown/city center, it is more than likely that he/she is being brought up by a single parent, working on minimum wage. And most probably, this is where that child will grow up and go to the area school. And since the school is in a non-affluent area, the taxes would be low. With taxes low, the funding for the school would suffer. Low funding may translate into inferior supplies of stationery, and unqualified teachers. Even the extra curriculum activities, and programs, such as theater, journalism, opera as well as lego and chess clubs are curtailed, and on several occasions completely annulled because of the paucity of resources. Catch 22.

However the children whose parents can afford to move to better school districts, enjoy unparallel benefits. And the sheer luxury of having not only a crew of qualified teachers, but also a plethora of extra-curriculum activities, from sowing and carpentry to drama, journalism and cross-country. Even the buildings of such schools imitate sprawling manors, with spruced up halls, immaculately clean restrooms with automatic flushes and hand-driers, and a stretch of well-groomed grounds. One can see that a lot of thought and finances have been poured into landscaping as well. Comparatively, in the school districts where kids are less privileged, even the usage of the bathroom is restricted to an emergency situation, for their hygiene levels are substandard, to say the least.

I happen to know of a case in which a student, hailing from a low-income school district, had excellent credits and score to get admitted in MIT, yet was told by the interviewer that despite his academic credentials, he should be aware that no one from that school district had ever been selected by MIT. ‘Of course, we will not hold that against you, and that will not be a criteria which would influence our selection process,’ he was ensured. But, the fact that such a point was even raised, is appalling.

Needless to say that not all  kids  from richer districts land  up in Ivy League Colleges and go on to become the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. And, by the same token, even the disadvantagd school districts may have a fair share of students, who, through a little push and determination, are able to rise above their circumstantial limitations and become more than what their parents had afforded them. But, the divide remains. Those attending a better school, grow up aware of their financial and social status, and unfortunately, so do the ones on the other side of the spectrum.

I am glad we chose to homeschool our child, not only because of the restraints imposed by the schooling system, but also because of the freedom it gave us, and to our little one: freedom  to  learn at one's own pace, in one's own space...freedom to ponder and figure things out for oneself...freedom to venture into the unknown, and above all, freedom from the trappings of a capitalist model.