It should be understood that without the assistance of a teacher many
roads become open to a practitioner, some on the correct path and some
on the incorrect path. It is not for everyone to be without guidance -
only a few, and they are exceptional, can make a journey to wisdom
without a teacher. Musashi, The Book of Five Rings, ( p.xvi, as translated
by Kaufman, 1994)
A recent conversation has caused me to question, or at least shine a brighter light on, the concept of homeschooling. Realize of course that the majority of my practice involves homeschooling. So in essence I find myself questioning the hand that feeds me (again). I think homeschooling resembles Musashi’s “journey to wisdom.” Like in many endeavors, some homeschool programs address learning better than others. To be clear, I am not throwing shade on homeschooling. This issue impacts many aspects of learning and education in general.
The conversation occurred with a student. Really she just blurted something out in some combination of frustration and jest. “YouTube is my teacher,” she told me. So, we started talking about what it means to learn, what she needs to learn, and why teachers come in handy.
This student participates in an online high school and my role is to check in, answer and ask questions, and fill in any gaps in her learning. Every day she watches the assigned video, reads the assigned texts, and completes her work largely on her own. Both of us know that this has not been the best learning experience for her (although it’s still better than her previous school). Every day the web dispenses information and every day she fills in some dots. Actually what she does more closely resembles painting by numbers. I would love for her to connect the dots and that is the problem. There is no one to help her make sense of the material and to make connections between and across topics. I don’t work with her enough to guide and support all of her academics. Left alone to consume materials she is, in Musashi’s words, on the incorrect path.
Most days I fear my student feels trapped in Do mode with the occasional mix of Think and Learn. Her journey with little guidance reflects the reason why I don’t call my teaching service Think Do Learn. I discussed this at length in an earlier article, but the short version goes like this - just because you do something, doesn’t mean you have learned anything. I will always advocate for Do + Think = Learn. Really I prefer Think + Do + Think = Learn, but that makes a clumsy name for a business. After you do something without reflection, analysis, and connection the only thing you can really say is, I did that… Unfortunately, I think a segment of the homeschool community (and education in general) equates doing with learning.
Of course, my student could be more active or intentional in her learning, but many a great student has needed guidance on their journey. That journey, as Musashi described, “is a very difficult road to travel and not many are made for it. It is frustrating, confusing, very lonely, certainly frightening...” (Musashi, as translated by Kaufman, 1994, p.xvi,). Really, not many middle school or high school students can pull off this type of journey. This young woman asks good questions, does her work much of the time, and wants to succeed. However, she struggles as Musashi predicted. I don’t think she’s learning as much as she could in each subject. There isn’t someone standing with her to support her practice. Until I see her at the end of the week, her questions around how, why, and what would that be like often go unanswered. She’s missing a teacher.
Too often the educational experiences of students, or worse, the educational philosophy of parents emphasizes this Do mindset. In classrooms, academic support systems, and homeschool programs this outlook continues to evolve as a component of teaching and learning. Technology does have a role in learning. Many people assume that technology will enhance the educational experience of students. And it can, but regardless of delivery someone has to support students’ learning by translating and facilitating their learning experiences (not just with technology). Otherwise, the adults (whether teachers or parents) are left wondering and hoping if their charges actually made sense of and connected that information to their foundation of knowledge. Now, I’m a bit old-school this way, but hoping and wishing is a lousy teaching philosophy. In order to really learn, students have to deconstruct information and play around with it before they reconstruct that information and build knowledge.
Musashi’s philosophy for learning and practicing, The Way of the Samurai, although hundreds of years old, fits with this contemporary educational issue. Without a teacher to guide them, students wander aimlessly around the landscape of learning without crossing the bridge to knowing. Homeschooling represents a great educational option for many students. We have to keep diversifying the educational options available to students and parents in order to dismantle the educational monolith that has smothered education in America. Yet, if we want to provide a diverse array of school options, those schools have to provide high-quality educational experiences. To reach this level of learning, the majority of students need someone to guide, question, and push them on their “journey to wisdom.” Learn-ing is way more than watching videos. YouTube, while offering some good insights, is not a teacher. Do-ing alone is not enough. We have to Do and Think before we Learn.