Schooling vs. Education

In the computer age, with a myriad of choices for higher education, it is counterproductive to subject homeschool graduates to the industrial model of bureaucratic schooling, which churns out assembly-line products. Those who learned in a homeschooling setting were not spoon-fed and subjected to a one-size fits all approach to learning. To begin this approach when they reach the age of eighteen is a monstrous step backward.

It is time to change the paradigm. We can do better. We must do better. Online and distance learning opportunities are a significant step toward that change. They allow the student to remain integrated in his family, church, and community. They avoid the artificial environment of the college and university setting (with the resulting peer pressure) as well as the inflated cost of acquiring a degree on campus. What's more, the opportunity to earn while you learn and the growing trend of hands-on mentoring in internship and apprenticeship situations gives these students a sizeable advantage when it comes to establishing themselves as productive members of society. These innovations have given a significant boost to our efforts to reclaim America for King Jesus.

Additionally, with the extensive amount of free federal financial aid, that is practically forced down students' throats, public universities are de facto academic welfare centers servicing students with other people's money. Ironically, many who take advantage of this free money, will leave their schooling years with sizeable debt since this aid often consists of deferred loans, with few, if any, innovative skills. In our society where personal and national debt has reached a breaking point, feeding this beast is not only harmful, but suicidal. The Scriptures are clear, The borrower is a slave to the lender (Prov. 22:7). These embedded institutions are designed to cement a slave mentality that will seek the approval of peers and make personal fulfillment and pleasure among the highest goals.

Contrast this with the homeschooling movement which has recaptured a spirit of entrepreneurship and brought innovation to the American scene. To funnel these bright, homeschooled graduates into the modern higher educational system makes little sense. The architects of this system are the very people homeschool parents wanted to shield their children from. With the opportunities available today, students can continue their education without the burden of forced indoctrination at the hands of an entrenched bureaucracy that sucks the spirit of personal responsibility and liberty out of its victims.

Those who pioneered the homeschooling movement in the middle of the 20th century sowed the seeds of a biblical world and life view. Today we reap the benefit of their efforts and education is back in the hands of the family, which is the biblical design. The next major step is to move higher education into the arena of the congregation of the faithful, where individual families work alongside each other, sharing their knowledge and expertise to create an organic network that will handily replace the existing educational model. As the expression goes, the future is now!

This article first appeared in the College Plus! blog.