Homeschooling and Elitism

[mahogany]

My chiropractor is sending his kids to private schools that are costing him about 15k each. I was teasing him the last time I saw him because he is always picking my brain about resources and ideas for teaching my children this that or the other. I told him that he should consider saving himself the 30,000 a year that he's spending in tuition, and maybe just go for the homeschooling, seeing as how he feels the need to supplement so much. We had a good little chuckle about it, and then I flat out asked him why he was sending them to private school if he didn't feel that they were getting a superior education. So we chatted about it, and he has a number of reasons that all seem fair enough.

So then I let slip that I had considered sending the kids to private school in late high school, not for educational reasons, but for networking. Most of the kids in these schools go on to post secondary insitutions and many of them become highly successful (a combination of talent and parental connections I'm sure) in their careers. I've often thought, that it's not a bad idea for my kids to surround themselves with people that are ambitious, industrious and headed for success. I still maintain contact with a number of people from high school, and there's a good chance my kids will too. I jokingly said, that I imagined that there is probably only one scholarship available (the tution is far too rich for my blood), and hundreds of applicants. He told me that there are actually quite a few, and that he thought both of my kids would have a great chance of getting in if they wanted.

So this has had me thinking over the last few days. I had never given it much thought, or really dug deep into my assumptions etc prior to thinking that these sorts of schools are anything more than a pipe dream.

The more I mull it over, the more I think that maybe this isn't really something that I want at all. For starters, I certainly don't want to put my kids in situations that could turn them into characters like Clyde Griffiths in Theodore Dreiser's American Tragedy, and being surrounded by a bunch of kids whose parents are extremely wealthy has the potential to create exactly that.

Then I realized that I was defining success only on one criteria, which isn't a message that I want to send to my kids. I still think that having good connections has become increasingly important to getting ahead, and I believe that by the time my kids become adults it will be absolutely critical, but I've realized that I don't think that they have to go to a chi chi prep school in order to surround themselves with good people.

I think I will stay the course. My plan for helping them surround themselves with good people is to continue homeschooling so that I can be around them as much as possible and hopefully mold them into good people. After all, like attracts like, right? I figure that if they know how to assess people's character, and choose their friends wisely, and they in turn know how to be true friends, then I will have done my job, and put them on the path to success (in the broadest definition of the word) in work, life, and love.

I'm still enough of an elitist bag that I'm not entirely closing the door on the private school idea, though...

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, that. (or me too, if you prefer)

[tatianne.livejournal.com]

Hrm, that was me, not sure why I came up anonymous.

[tracied.livejournal.com]

Elitist bag, lol....

[nightynight.livejournal.com]

I think you hit the nail on the head when you say like attracts like. I've met your wee ones and they are great kids. They will have good, happy, productive lives. Re: networking - heck, I watched them befriend other kids for a short while on a playground, and then you were complimented by another parent on how great they are! I love knowing you as a person who is such a thoughtful parent: I learn things from you.