School comes in for a lot of criticism, including from me. I'm really not convinced school is the best place for most of us, and if I had a child of my own (I have two step kids) I'd be very keen to home school them, rather than send them into the current UK education system.
But…
I've read John Holt; I've read Ivan Illich; and as convincing as they are, and as right as they may be, society has to be organised somehow. School isn't perfect, but as an exercise in optimism and honesty, I thought I'd try to come up with ten good things about school, partly as an experiment, and partly just to see if I could.
1. It gets kids away from their parents
This works both ways. Parents can earn a living and gain some respite from the ceaseless tedious demands of their youngsters, regaining a sense of themselves as autonomous individuals as a result. Meanwhile kids meet other adults with (if they're lucky) entirely different opinions, approaches, skin colours and habits to their parents. By being presented with variety kids gain a sense of difference, and can choose their role models. (Obviously I'm biased, but I also thing kids with two sets of parents have an advantage over those from nuclear families…)
2. It introduces risk in a secure environment
If kids were taught about the world in uncontrolled, unstructured environments (as many around the world still are), a lot more of them would suffer, and a lot more would die in horrible accidents. Schools and teachers are really, really good at introducing kids to physical and intellectual tasks in a graded, secure manner, which builds up their confidence and abilities gradually. This is considerably better than the days when kids were chucked into swimming pools and (literally) told to sink or swim.
3. It encourages creativity
I read a quote recently that the only part of the UK school system which wasn't broken was primary school, because of its emphasis on encouraging constant creative exploration. Even if it's true that this stops at secondary (and I don't think it is true), that's still 7 years of being encouraged to explore, make messes and experiment. If kids were all schooled at home, or in creches in the workplace, I think it's unlikely that they'd be given as much time or space over so many years to explore so many different subjects, write so many stories, paint so many pictures or just muck about in the grass and the sandpit.
4. It encourages competition AND collaboration
Try as they might, schools can't eliminate competition. Kids will always measure their achievements against those of their peers, just as they will continue to do as adults. Good schools will channel this spirit of competition to drive students on to do their best. A child educated at home or in an adult environment will only have their own achievements or those of unsuitable 'opponents' to measure themselves against. Similarly I can't conceive of a school environment where daily collaboration between peers wouldn't be the norm. Collaboration is essential in all human environments, but there are few where it can be as common or as well planned as in schools.
5. It provides increasing responsibility at points when *most* students are ready for it
I didn't think my step-daughter was ready for sitting an important series of tests like SATs (I'm still not happy that anyone has to sit them at such a young age), but she really surprised me by rising to the challenge of revising for and getting top marks in all of them (with a fair amount of encouragement at home, it has to be said). Most of her peers did well or well enough in them. If it had been left up to me I would never have challenged her with such high-stakes tests at her age. I'm too emotionally close with her to want to put her through something like that. And that's probably why it shouldn't be me making the judgement about when she's 'ready' to be given that responsibility.
6. It challenges them
School is hard. It's hard physically, emotionally and intellectually. My kids are often exhausted at the end of a school day, and no wonder. If they were studying at home with me I doubt I'd be able to keep them as busy, as well-organised or as engaged as they are at school. I still think that the year I sat my Highers was probably the most demanding one of my life. Many argue that school doesn't prepare kids adequately for the workplace, and in some respects this is almost certainly true, but in other respects, what experience better prepares them for negotiating complex, hierarchical organisations; getting along with their peers; coping with enormous workloads and juggling a wide variety of projects at once?
7. It gives kids opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have
If my parents had been responsible for educating me I doubt I'd have spent as much time as I did playing musical instruments, using industrial lathes, interviewing astronauts, visiting Moscow or being encouraged to study computer science. Even the poorest kids are given significantly better opportunities and experiences through school than they would otherwise have.
8. It teaches kids things their parents can't
Despite getting good marks in maths all the way through school I found myself really struggling at times to coach my step-daughter in preparation for her Maths SATs. There is no way I could help my step-son with his GCSEs without sitting them first myself. There are many other school subjects I feel ill-equipped to help my step-children with, and I know from experience that my advice can sometimes confuse matters, especially with maths, where different schools have different approaches to things. I'm glad my kids are being taught by specialists with professional training and (mostly) several years of experience in their subject.
9. It teaches them good behaviour
It's a rare child who isn't better behaved in school than at home. Because of the intense emotional closeness between children and their parents, kids generally feel freer to criticise or play up around their parents. I remember being quite shocked to see my step-daughter bring home a school report which praised her 'exemplary' manners and behaviour at school. If only I were able to report the same! That's not to say that parents can't teach good manners, but the organisational structures of school, and the emotional distance between teachers and pupils, is probably better designed for the transmission of social norms and codes of behaviour.
10. It's fun
Not all the time. Not even most of the time if I'm really honest about my own time there. But my abiding memory of my last few years of school at least is the amount of time I spent having a laugh, both with friends and teachers. Sure I was bored a lot of the time, I was bullied, I disliked a lot of my teachers and classmates - I wouldn't go back if you paid me, but I frequently used to laugh so hard my sides ached - that happens maybe once a year now, if I'm lucky. Maybe that's just a function of youth, but there again, who better to share your youth with than with other young people, and where better to do that than in school?
