By Jessica Marie Baumgartner

Public schools are obsessed with identity politics. No longer can teachers claim that they just wish to teach students about diversity and acceptance. Children are being divided up by their race, gender, and heritage. In a twisted effort to teach children not to judge others by their physical characteristics and lifestyle preferences, they are being taught to judge each other by their physical characteristics and lifestyle preferences. 

Parental concerns are brushed off or even vilified as “racist,” while education systems in the west have no interest in allowing families to determine what children are taught. Lawmakers and school officials tout extreme progressive politics and act as if mothers and fathers have no teaching ability themselves.   

Despite this, throughout much of history, home education was the preferred method of teaching children. Many western leaders and innovators were homeschooled or self-taught within their homes. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt learned this way. Lewis Carroll was homeschooled when he was young. The royal family of England has a long history of home education. 

Wealthy families were able to employ knowledgeable professionals to impart wisdom on their children in the comforts of their own home. Those with less funding were also able to pass on their understanding of the family trade or taught their children as much as they could before enrolling them into an apprenticeship, where they worked under a successful tradesman.

This method was individualized and easily supervised by parents. Instead of being taught by a career teacher — whose only skill is to teach — students learned from individuals who were truly expert craftsmen, people who had their own businesses or worked at the top of their field.  Families were more involved in the early learning process because parents directly funded and supported lessons, and students grew to seek experience shadowing successful innovators as they matured.  

Children typically entered these apprenticeships around 12 or 13 years of age because that is the timeframe when most students are eager to work with their hands and test out their own abilities. Some males entered the family business and young ladies were encouraged to take on a stronger role within the household with their mothers or to take on their own teaching positions with smaller children. This kept them engaged and gave them the opportunity to find purpose in growing comfortable with tasks they would excel at in adulthood.

While this model did not fit everyone, plenty of families sought the options deemed appropriate for their children. For example, during his youth Benjamin Franklin wanted to be a sailor, but his father would not have it. When the two argued, his father used Franklin’s love of reading to gain him an apprenticeship with his uncle who owned a printing shop.

Instead of catering to this desire to learn through experience, many schools are now adamant on inserting identity politics into classrooms. While young teen students begin to examine the world through new lenses, teachers are eager to force political ideologies onto them by presenting these theories as fact. One-sidedness is promoted and even celebrated by teachers like Gabriel Gipe who was paid off by his California school district to resign after getting caught admitting that he is a member of antifa who works to recruit students to his extremist political movement. 

Children who go into the system asking various questions come home to parents with strict angry notions about race, gender, equity, climate change, and overpopulation. Moderate and conservative parents who understand that there are many layers to these concerns are often shocked by how quickly their children turn against them, or, should they challenge the narrative being pandered at schools, are shunned, bullied, and even forced out of class by teachers. 

Despite the fact that modern systems are funded by taxpayers, many government officials and school leaders believe they have a more important role in children’s lives than the parents funding them. It is as if they have a god complex and look down on the mothers and fathers who wish to at least have some say in what their children are being taught. Thankfully, homeschooling has been the standard for much longer than public school education systems. 

This education alternative is available to parents who are frustrated at public school failures. There are more resources available to families than ever before. Many are free or affordable so receiving the best education possible is not only able to be done at home, it’s more likely. From websites like Khan academy to Starfall.com and the Astra Nova School’s videos on problem solving through ethics, there is a wealth of at-home teaching tools that parents can utilize to ensure that their children are learning to think critically and solve problems.  

Just as parents educated children at home for generations before the modern age, so can parents today. They must exercise confidence and look to themselves and their own knowledge to aid their children. 

The western education system has veered off course. It is no longer about teaching students to think and explore the world, it’s become standardized, factorized, obsessed with data and promotes political movements. In order to combat these harmful teaching methods, parents must look to the past and trust in tried and true education methods that allowed children to succeed for much longer than the current system. 

Jessica is a Homeschooling mother of 4. She is the Senior Writer at Go 2 Tutors education news, and the author of, “Homeschooling on a Budget.”  Her writing can be viewed at Jessicamariebaumgartner.com.