Home Schooling

Critique of Formal Education

The turbulent atmosphere of Western societies during the years after the World War II, which led to an awareness of public education's domineering values as well as academic studies on the disadvantages of schools, aroused a growing critique of education. Critics of public school called for educational transformation and reformation, and parents expressed their discontent with the educational system by choosing private schools for their children.

John Caldwell Holt, a teacher and lecturer, is considered to be a pioneering educational critic who laid the theoretical foundations of the home-schooling movement. In his first book, How Children Fail (1964), Holt argues that schools maximized compliance and “good work” at the expense of qualities like curiosity and creativity. The contents of the book were based upon a theory he had developed as a teacher, that the academic failure of schoolchildren is caused primarily by pressure placed on children in schools. This stance remains solid in his second book, How Children Learn (1967), in which he criticizes crowded schools, as he believes that children learned best individually or in small groups.

Holt's books were followed by other authors whose books question the premises and effectiveness of compulsory schooling. The most prominent author was Ivan Illich, whose book Deschooling Society (1971) conveyed a critical discourse on education as practiced in modern economies. In his firm and provocative book, Illich questions the apparent discrepancies between schooling's promises and its actual outcomes. According to Illich, schooling effectively dulls the student's imagination, making it unlikely, or even impossible, to imagine meaningful learning experiences occurring in any other context. Learning happens via obligatory attendance to an impersonal relationship in which one has authority over another's interests. In the midst of this criticism, Illich demanded that society be deschooled; instead, educational webs would heighten the opportunity for each student to transform each moment of living into one of learning. Illich's suggestions of drastic reforms for the public education system remain as controversial today as they were in their time.

The Scope of Home Schooling

Laws pertaining to home schooling differ from one country to another. Home schooling is permitted in some forms in most European countries, excluding some countries such as Germany. Information on home schooling in Africa is limited due to the instability of many African countries; it is likely that home schooling in South Africa has been influenced by missionaries who have home schooled their own children. In Asia, there are some countries that allow home schooling, yet laws regarding home schooling are too vague to allow home schooling to expand. However, home schooling thrives in Australia and New Zealand.

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