This following snippet of homeschooling trivia gleaned from Spunky's blog -- the exclusion of women in some homeschooling circles from the fullness of adult human concerns -- reminds me why I continue to re-read Dorothy Sayers' book, Are Women Human? [apologies for the format errors that may follow -- I've tried fixing them, but their ghosts are haunting the HTML]
-- The Rock From Which We Were Hewn; a video about concern that the intellectual freedom gained by homeschooling will be lost.
-- A related website: The Vision of the Leadership Summit
In March of 2009, Christian Home Educators of Colorado will host homeschool leaders from around the country at a national gathering in Indianapolis. The Purpose? To lay out a vision for home education in the 21st Century. In the same format of the 2006 Men’s Leadership Summit in Oklahoma City, this Summit will allow a time of vision-casting from nationally-respected speakers as well as a weekend full of fellowship between like-minded homeschool fathers in leadership from across the country.
-- The related website's registration page:
Any dad or husband that is a homeschool state leader, support group leader, pastor/elder, or other visionary leader who supports the home education vision in America. Sons are welcome and encouraged to join their fathers for the cost of $89/son.
I comprehend that in religious contexts, as well as in other contexts, men and women might want to do different things (although the Episcopal conferences I attended made no such distinction). Within a home though, leadership comes from parents; both fathers and mothers (husband + wife = one flesh? sound familar?). The form the leadership takes may be different, as it may differ between any two individuals -- perhaps Generals Bradley and Patton -- but within the home in which adults have children, the focus is (I hope) that of the parents raising the children. The idea of leadership belonging only to one gender -- and with the underscore that sons are valued, but not the women who not only gave birth to these younger males, but who have raised them -- does not (to me) support HOMEschooling. To me, "home = parents + kids", not "home = hierarchy in which one gender controls the other." This division of 'leadership' is especially insulting considering that mothers do the bulk of the work of homeschooling.
I may choose what the Germans quantify as "Kinder, Küche, Kirche," but those concerns are not the sole extent of my interest, being, or responsibility. (do Mary and Martha also sound familar?)
I share the concern expressed in the video clip that the intellectual freedom homeschooling has gained for everyone (since the choice to homeschool is open to all) may be virtually pushed back into the curricular jackie-in-the-box out of which it has sprung. It appears that not only does 'Jackie' frighten those who more or less control the font of official information provided to children, but Jackie also seems to frighten many men who want to cut out of the homeschooling discussion the hundreds of thousands of Jackies who worthily gave, and are giving, their days, nights, weeks, months and years to accomplish the goals of their family's homeschooling. Excluding mothers from helping to form "a vision for home education in the 21st Century" is a monumental act of hubris, as if the women whose adult lives have focused on educating their children do not have the same human desire to see educational freedom maintained.
I've always found it quite interesting that these far-right homeschooling seminars are aimed at men. HSLDA did a similar one years ago, IIRC. OTOH, the biggest/bestest homeschooling symposia/conventions always seem to have mostly women speakers. That is, I think, as it should be. In our society, the women have the experience and have earned the right to be up front at the podium. The guys at Vision Forum have not.
Posted by: Daryl Cobranchi | 18 November 2008 at 06:04 PM