Interfering With Life

By Shay

I do not know how many times I have encountered the phrase, "I am a product of the ___ (name of district) public schools." I shudder every time I hear or read that phrase. It calls to mind the 12-step programs: "My name is ____ and I am a product of the public schools."

The Free Dictionary defines "product" as "something produced by human or mechanical effort or by a natural process," or "A direct result; a consequence." To state that one is a product of the public school system is to negate all that makes one something other than a factory-formed product. Although I spent about 9 years in public school (plus 1 year in private), I do not consider myself a "product" of the system or of school in general. In my mind, it is largely the time and learning I spent out of school, and even in resistance to school, that made me who I am. Were I to be only what the school produced, I would be a sorry specimen, indeed.

During the last two years of my public education, I often stated--in a joking tone, although I meant it sincerely--that "school interferes with my life." I was able to make this declaration only because I had experienced two years of life without school. It was unschooling, actually, although it was considered "truancy" in that time and place.

Many times in my school "career" (as they seem to call it now), I had little or no interest in the subject at hand or the educational method used. I was completely turned off by rote memorization, history presented as a series of wars, busywork, and the lack of any visible connection between the curriculum and real life. Some of my teachers and classes were great, a few were awful, and most were so-so. Where I had great teachers, I put my energy into learning, and I declined to invest where the material or instructor was boring.

My most effective response to the system was to not show up. In my last two years of high school, I skipped as often as I went to class. Asked classmates for the homework assignments, did those, crammed for- and aced the tests, and kept a B average without totally ruining my young life. I would certainly be expelled from today's schools, and, for me, that would be a good thing. Indeed, it might have been good back in the '70's.

Shay Seaborne is an edgewalker, known to leap empty-handed into the void. Fun and magic are crucial elements in the design of her life. Shay filed her first Notice of Intent to homeschool in Virginia in 1995. She loves living and learning with her two daughters, who are turning out well despite being raised far from the turbid waters of the mainstream. This piece originally appeared on Shay’s homeschool blog, called “Anecdotal Evidence.”

Comments

[Marjorie]

I was a good student and enjoyed school for two decades. I think it retarded me in some ways -- when given a task, I want to be told how to do it. I tend to wait to be given tasks without initiating them on my own. I want the A, tell me how to do it and I'll get the A, but I can't do it on my own. I am slowly breaking out of this, a decade later, but its not easy. I want better for my girls.