Do I Have to Go to School?
Karla, a high school freshman, came home from school one afternoon. Bored with school, she said, “Every year we do the same old stuff. We learn about nouns and verbs. We study the history of the United States, I’m bored to death. Do I have to go?”
Jack, also in Karla’s class, went home asking the same question, but for different reasons. He said, “I’ll never get it. I still can’t tell when to use good and when to use well. They both sound all right to me. What difference does it make what x is? I’ll never use algebra anyway. Do I have to go?”
Karla was bored because she learned rapidly and already knew most of what was being taught. Jack learned more slowly, and he felt as though it was just not worth the effort. Since both were teenagers and not allowed to work, our culture had to do something with them. Education seemed like the logical, even practical, thing. Like not allowing them to work, making teenagers go to school was part of our creation of adolescence.
Everyone Must Go
For thousands of years parents educated their own children. They taught whatever was necessary to succeed in society. Our society wants everyone to read and write, to understand the scientific method, to know algebra and geometry, and so on. No country has ever achieved that kind of education by just setting up schools and encouraging parents to send their children. The only way to get it has been to pass laws forcing people to send their children to school.
Modern laws requiring school attendance began in Germany (Prussia) in the seventeenth century. Although the laws existed early that century, they were seldom enforced. More democratic countries did not even pass similar laws until the nineteenth century. People saw those laws as the state taking over what parents should do.
In 1852 Massachusetts passed the first effective law in the United States requiring all children to go to school. According to that law, everyone from eight to fourteen years of age had to go to school twelve weeks a year. It took more than sixty-five years for all the other states to follow. Notice that these early laws did not create adolescence. Children had to attend until they were fourteen, and puberty occurred at fifteen, sixteen, or even later. Children had to go to school, adults did not.
As more laws were passed, legislators lowered the age for starting school, raised the age for quitting, and lengthened the school year. Today Ohio and Utah require everyone from six to eighteen to be in school, a total of twelve years. Mississippi requires only six years, those years from seven to thirteen.
Notice that these laws say that people must spend a given amount of time in school, not that they must learn anything. They are compelled to attend, not to learn. Typical laws state that people must go to school for about 180 days a year for about 6 hours a day for about 10 years. That is, people must spend 10,800 hours in the classroom before they can be fully accepted into the adult world.
Compulsory attendance laws alone did not create adolescence. That first Massachusetts law of 1852 requiring children to attend school until the age of fourteen meant that only children had to go to school. At the same time that the age of puberty decreased to twelve or fourteen, laws were changed to make people attend school until they were sixteen or eighteen. The increase in required schooling at the same time as the decrease in the age of puberty was part of our creation of adolescence. With these changes adults (adolescents), not just children, were forced to attend school.
Who Gets Promoted?
Another recent invention and a part of our creation of adolescence is “age grading.” This is the practice of putting people in a class (grade) in school, not because of what they know, but because of how old they are. At one time people were promoted to fourth grade because they knew the third grade material, not because they were nine years old.
Age grading began in Germany and was introduced in the United States in 1844. The Quincy Grammar School in Massachusetts was reorganized in 1847 to become the first fully age-graded public school in the United States, and all schools were age graded by 1900. Part of this was motivated by the fear of the “disease of precocity” mentioned in chapter 2. If all the pupils of the same age were in the same grade, none would be considered precocious.
School has become a twelve-year-long assembly line. Once a child starts on it, he or she finds it very difficult to move faster or slower than anyone else. Neither “retention” (failure) nor advancing faster than other people the same age is common. Although bright seventh graders may know more than the average twelfth grader, they are forced to stay on the assembly line for another five years—they are taking courses, but learning little.
How Long?
Free, compulsory public education at first applied only to the elementary school. High school came later. In fact, the high school is a part of our invention of adolescence.
Most people consider the English Classical School, founded in Boston in 1821, as the first high school. It had a three-year course of study usually completed between twelve and fifteen years of age. This “high school” did not create adolescence because graduates were only fifteen, and the age of puberty was still above that. In 1874 the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the high school was a proper part of the public school system, and that opened the way for increased development of high schools at public expense. From then on public education increased, and private education declined.
Still, only a few people went to high school until the first half of this century. According to the U.S. Office of Education, in 1890 only 7 out of every 100 people between fourteen and seventeen years old were enrolled in high school. By 1910 it had about doubled to 15 of every 100. It was not until 1930 that even half the people this age were in high school. Today 95 of every 100 are in school. In 1870 only 2% graduated from high school, but in 1970, 75% did.
Support for compulsory education may be on the wane. In 1980 the National Commission on Youth pointed out that school had become a “holding period,” serving detention or custodial services. It had become a place of detention, not attention. It kept teens in custody, off the streets during the day, freeing other adults for more efficient production in their work. It also kept them out of the job market so that other adults had the best chances at jobs.
In 1973 the National Commission on the Reform of Secondary Education recommended that the length of required attendance be shortened. Specifically it suggested that it be lowered to fourteen in every state. In 1980 the National Commission on Youth came to the same conclusion. In other words, they were questioning our invention of adolescence. After a century of adolescence, the newest idea is to return to what worked for thousands of years.
College for the masses did not help create adolescence, but it has lengthened it. Most college students are adolescents because they are not economically independent and are not participating fully in adult life. As we require more education by more people, adolescence becomes longer, and problems increase.
Who Is Responsible?
A big question today is, “Who is responsible for education?” Many people believe it is the job of the school system, but that is a new concept, part of our invention of adolescence. Let us look at who was responsible for thousands of years and who should be responsible today.
Parents Did It. Among the ancient Hebrews parents were responsible for the education of their children. The Talmud said, among other things, that the father was to “teach him Torah, take a wife for him, and teach him a craft.” Notice that the father had two teaching duties, one religious and one occupational.
Roman parents educated their own children too. Mothers taught both boys and girls reading, writing, and arithmetic. The girls stayed with their mothers, but at about the age of seven boys went with their fathers. If the father was a farmer, the boy went to the fields with him. If he lived in Rome, the boy joined him, learning about business and government.
In the American colonies parents were still responsible for educating their children. In 1774 John Adams wrote his wife about their son, “Tell him I hope to hear a good account of his acidence and nomenclature when I return.” He went on to say that the education of his children was never out of his mind.
In Loco Parentis. Although parents were responsible for educating their children, at times they had someone act in their place. Roman fathers too busy to give much attention to their children’s education sometimes turned them over to slaves. Although the fathers were still responsible, the slaves were acting in the fathers’ places, in loco parentis, which means “in the place of a parent.”
The word “apprentice” literally means “to learn.” The apprenticeship system of the guilds persisted even into the United States. Children were apprenticed for two to ten years to a master workman of good character. The master agreed to teach the boy his trade, to give him food, clothing, and shelter, and to stand in loco parentis. The boy agreed to be obedient, not to marry during the training, to keep the secrets of the craft, and to work faithfully.
Problems arose when some parents and masters in the Massachusetts Bay Colony did not fulfill their obligations. The colony passed a law that the selectmen of each town were to watch the “calling and employment of children,” and “especially of their ability to read and understand the principles of religion and the capital laws of the country.” If they found children not getting such an education they were to apprentice the children to masters who would teach them. This was a new day in education. The state began to act in the place of the parents.
Under the concept of in loco parentis the teachers and administrators began to play the role of the parent when the child was in school. This was not only in regard to the content of their schoolwork, but also in regard to behavior. They regulated hair length, clothing styles, and social practices. This took place nor only at the elementary level, but in grammar school, the academy, and the college.
The State Does it. It was only one more step to move from the state acting in the place of the parent to the state taking the place of the parent. Today most educators see themselves as having primary responsibility, with the parents’ role being to cooperate with them. For example, the “Code of Conduct for the Jessamine County Schools” which our teens brought home this year says that all parents are expected to “cooperate with, show respect to, and lend support to the teachers, administrators and other school personnel.”
What Can Parents Do?
Parents are ultimately responsible for all of their children’s education, and formal education is important in our culture. Finding work often depends on carrying the “union card” of a high school diploma or a college degree. Dropouts are simply considered last when it comes to getting most jobs. Advancing in many organizations depends more on what formal degrees one has than on what the person contributes.
There is nothing wrong with being in school 1,800 minutes a week. The problem comes when your adolescents are just putting in their time, rather than learning. The state requires only that they be physically present. You need to emphasize that they must learn too. Ask them what they are learning and let them know that it is important to you. Also be sure they realize that their future depends, to some extent, on what they learn, not just on how much time they put it.
Regardless of your teenagers’ abilities, you should advise them. High school counselors are good sources of advice, but the final responsibility is yours. You know their abilities, their motivation, and their attitudes toward school better than anyone else. You are in the best position to advise them. Curriculums are generally geared for average students, so let us consider what to do for those who are below or above average.
For slow learners. If your children or teenagers learn more slowly than average, find a program from which they can profit. If they are having difficulty, help your teens at home and get them into courses where they can succeed. Do not deny the problem, solve it. Gail’s parents could not admit that she was below average. The school counselor put her into prealgebra in ninth grade, but her parents insisted on algebra. Gail spent a frustrating year and got a D. Her parents’ pride actually hurt her progress.
In contrast, Seth’s parents met with the teacher to find out what the problems were. They helped Seth set up a study schedule and then helped him stick to it. They realized that if he missed only two or three important concepts in some courses, it might mean that he would never be able to catch up. Three times when they could not help him they found a tutor who could explain it to him. Seth had a good freshman year and looked forward to his sophomore year.
Encourage them in areas where they succeed. If they have trouble with math and science but are good in art, music, or athletics, encourage them there. Help them to see that their worth does not depend only on what they do in certain courses. Let them see that you love, accept, and value them for what they are, even if they do not get high grades in all courses.
Be patient with them. Even if they are trying, they may take much longer, and even then they may not be able to accomplish what others do. Work with them during summers and evenings to help them as much as possible. Taking that time may mean you will not be promoted in your own career as fast as you had hoped, but it is well worth it.
If you believe your teens’ best abilities are in vocational education, encourage them into it. When they realized that Bill would never even be admitted to college, much less graduate from it, his parents enrolled him in a job training program. Today he is happy, self-supporting, and productive. If they had insisted on his trying to make it in college, he probably would have been frustrated the rest of his life.
For fast learners. If your children are fast learners, you face very different problems. Rather than being frustrated, they may be bored. Supplement what they get at school with extra reading and projects at home. These teens can channel their extra time and talent into other areas, such as art, music, reading, or athletics.
Many schools today have special programs for gifted children. Monica was far above average, so her parents put her in the program for gifted teens. She was able to learn much on her own, far more than she would have in a normal classroom. Her parents encouraged her to learn with understanding, not just learn what was necessary to pass.
Meet with their teachers and suggest that your teens be given more challenging problems than average students. Since Kevin did so well in math, they talked with his teacher, suggesting that Kevin tutor slower students in the class. The tutoring helped not only the slower students, but Kevin himself as he found he had to understand geometry better to teach it. Teachers can often use superior students as teacher’s aides to make up problems or grade tests.
Many special programs exist for such students. Our own state has a “Governor’s Scholars” program in which 600 top students attend special programs on university campuses for part of the summer to study—at no charge. Some summer camps teach computer science, music, and other subjects. Colleges often offer courses to students between their junior and senior years of high school and apply the credit to the students’ records when they come to college.
Be careful not to overemphasize academics to the point that your teen’s social development is hurt. Some such teens become proud and are rejected by others in school. You want to rear an all-around person, not an adolescent who can do nothing but academics. Encourage them to become involved in athletics, band, and other extracurricular activities.
If your teens need college to prepare for their vocations, they need your help as much as possible. Parents have always been responsible for preparing their children to participate in society, and today that often includes college. We have told our teens that we will do all we can to see that they get a college education. That is a promise based on the condition that they do their best in classes. If they do not study, we will not pay.
Alternatives. Some parents cannot find suitable programs in the public schools of their communities, but that does not mean all is lost. Today good private schools exist in many communities. Sheldon and Maxine sent their teens to a Christian high school in which subjects were taught from a Christian perspective. Since it was not accredited, they investigated it thoroughly to see that it would provide a good education. Many parents today find this a good alternative to the education the state provides.
In some instances parents teach their children at home. Jason and Clara took their teens out of high school and put them in an Accelerated Christian Education program. Both of their children moved rapidly through their grades and on to the next. The parents were delighted, but the teens felt left out socially. They had no teams and no clubs. They finally increased their activity in the church youth group to have more social life.
Remember that whether you teach your teens at home or not, you are their models. If they see you reading and learning, they will develop life-long patterns of learning. If your intellectual diet consists of the front page, the comics, and the sports section of the newspaper, your teens will choose the same.
College credit can also be earned through alternative means. Our son tested out of a year of college through CLEP (College Level Examination Program) and AP (Advanced Placement) tests. Some colleges give credit for work experience. Others offer credit for correspondence work. Scholarship help is available on the basis of both merit and need.
The primary responsibility for educating your teenagers is yours. If you do not educate them, the state will step in and do it. You can determine the kind of formal education your teens get, or you can leave it up to the state.
As parents, you are also responsible for education that takes place outside the schools. This includes religious education as well as teaching teens social and practical skills.
Religious education. Moses specified that the parents had responsibility for the religious education of their children. This was not the responsibility of the priests, but of the parents at home. “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates” (Deut. 6:6-9).
Moses not only told them when, but how to go about the religious education of their children. When out children ask us why they have to keep God’s commandments, we are not to say, “Because God says so,” but to review our identity as God’s children. Then we are to make it plain that God has given us these commandments to give us the best lives possible. “The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today” (Deut. 6:24). Too often we present God’s commands as something to spoil our fun. God gave them to us as the best means of living full lives.
Of course, the Christian Education Department of your church can be a great help in the religious education of your children and adolescents, but the final responsibility is yours. You should be involved in the Sunday School program of your church, helping educate other people’s children and adolescents as well as your own.
Social skills. When they begin to think like adults, adolescents are exercising a new ability in critical thinking and forming arguments. Their thinking may not be completely logical, so you need to help them with it just as you helped them learn to walk or ride bicycles. Too often parents who encourage walking when their children are a year old try to discourage thinking when their children become teenagers. These parents take offense at the criticisms made by their teenagers.
Instead of knocking down their arguments, you need to help them think more clearly—and admit it when you fall short yourself. The best way to argue is to keep arguments about nonemotional matters. Rather than discussing personalities, discuss issues. Turn the discussion to actions the adolescents can take, and place responsibility on them. When Clyde was critical of the government for not conquering world hunger, his parents asked what he was doing about it himself. Then they complimented him on his thinking and joined him in giving to a relief organization. You can do the same whether the criticism is of church, school, or family.
Your children and teenagers will learn about being husbands, wives, mothers, and fathers from you. In addition, you need to teach them how to get along with people in general. Of course, much of this takes place right in your own home. Your children and adolescents learn to relate to authority the way they relate to you. You should be a model in terms of how you relate to those in authority over you, and how you relate to others under your authority. They learn how to get along with people their own age by getting along with brothers and sisters.
Nicole and Grace were not on speaking terms. They communicated with each other through Nelson, their brother. Mom let it go on for a couple days, hoping they would work it out themselves. Finally, she called them together and said, “Nelson, I know you want to help, but what you are doing isn’t helping. Nicole and Grace, we won’t try to place the blame for this on either of you, but I want you two to start talking to each other. People have to talk to get their differences worked out.”
Some of it takes place between “friends.” Leland came home with a bruise on his cheek and torn pants. He was talking with his dad about how he would get back at Jerome by letting the air out of his tires that night. Dad listened for a while, then gave some advice about how to handle conflict. He talked about soft answers turning away wrath, and suggested some better ways to handle anger.
Practical skills. Your teens need to learn to do many everyday things that you do without thinking. They will be delighted to learn some, but not want anything to do with others. Both men and women need to learn these. Times change, so these may well be different from what you learned as a teenager.
They need to learn how to get around in the world. A century ago this meant learning to ride a horse or drive a team. Today it means learning to drive the car. Most teens are eager to learn this part of living. For some it is an exciting “rite of passage” to get a driver’s license. Others may be reluctant, but all need to learn.
Part of learning how to get around is knowing how to maintain your transportation. Today few people need to know how to curry or feed a horse, but they do need to know how to wash a car, check the oil, and pump gas at a self-service pump. They may not be as excited about this part as actually getting behind the wheel, but it is necessary.
They need to know how to maintain a home. A century ago they needed to know how to chink the logs and split wood. Today they need to know how to use a caulking gun and change the furnace filters. They should know how to run a lawn mower and use a paint brush.
Both men and women need to know the basics of cooking and cleaning. Rather than needing to know how to build a fire in the kitchen stove, they need to know how to program the microwave. Scrub boards are not used much any more, but college students visit the laundromat frequently, and they need to know how to sort clothes and what temperatures to use for the different loads. They should learn this at home.
Of course, this list will be different for every family, depending on where they live. People who live in high-rise apartments may not learn about gardening and lawn mowing. Those who live on a farm may not learn about subway schedules and how to get transfers on buses.
This chapter could go on and on. Nearly everything you do can help your adolescents learn, and you learn along with them. Although schools continue to expand the subjects they offer, there will always be things your teens will best learn from you.
2005 Update
The biggest change relative to education is the far greater number of people being homeschooled. The Statistical Abstract of the United States 2004-2005 www.census.gov/statab/www/) shows that in 1999 (the latest year for which statistics are available) there were 186,000 homeschoolers in grades 6-8, and 235,000 homschoolers in grades 9-12. That is a little over 1.6% of the total number of students in middle and high school.
People who homeschool are more likely to have a college education, have two parents in the home, have one parent working outside the home, and have three or more children. In fact, if the family has two parents in the home and only one working outside the home, 4.6% of all school-age children are homeschooled. Although some people do not do homeschool very well, I believe this is a very positive trend in our society for people to once again take their God-given responsibility for the education of their children.