Individualism in Education

When I had my first son, I decided I had two main goals in raising him. They were to teach him to know who God is and to raise him to be a productive member of society. The first goal is a conversation for another day. The second goal is seemingly abstract, but in reality, it is not.

How do I raise my sons, and other children, to be productive members of society? What exactly does that look like? How exactly can we raise our children to be strong, moral, individuals who think for themselves and who helps others?

We live in a society that demands conformity. It demands that we accept people, what they say, and do, without question. Society says to wait for the experts to tell you what is right or wrong and what to do.  The government will be right there to take care of you when the time comes.

How did we become this way? 

Well one answer is the public school system. We all go through it. The vast majority of us are educated under the same standards, tests, and learning goals. This is not an attack to the education system; it is just the way it is designed. It is designed to educate a mass number of children in the most consistent and efficient way possible. The public school system is designed to create a strong society of people who work together for IT’S greater good. Individuals who think less for themselves and more for society.

So, what is the distinction here? Why does individualism matter?

Individualism is the belief that people should think and act independently instead of depending on others to think and act for them.

Teaching our children to be strong, moral individuals allows them to be better members of society. And what curriculum you use does not matter here. Because that is the point. Small steps of making individual decisions for your family encourages individualism in your children. They see you modeling the individualism you are trying to teach them. Homeschooling your children makes this easier but its not the only path.

Remember, individualism is not the end goal. A productive member of society is. 

Our government education system is designed to build and maintain a “better” society that we are all a part of. However when we leave the government to the task of solely educating our children, the future members of our society, it will educate them in its self interest. So one way or another there will be productive members of society. Ones either educated by the government or ones educated by you, the parent.

This is why I said homeschooling just makes it easier to educate your child. Because it gives you the easiest control. But ultimately taking control of your child's education is what is of the utmost importance. And you CAN do that even with your children in the government school system. It just takes more creativity. 

When our children grow up, we wish the world for them. Great careers, beautiful families, a desire to create a vibrant life for themselves and their world. 

In the end, when we have stronger individuals comprising a society, we WILL have a stronger society. That's how we got here. Our country started because of the work of strong, moral individuals who knew that a strong country needed strong, moral, and independent citizens. The first step to us getting there is taking our children's education into our own hands.

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