Not At School Today

I was initially sceptical about this book for a couple of reasons. The author, Gareth Lewis, has spent part of his career as a Steiner teacher, and I disagree with many aspects of Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy. Also, although I appreciate autonomous education, that is not really the method I am aiming to follow with our home education. However, this book was available through the library, so I thought I would give it a try!

It is billed as an ‘ideas’ book, a ‘practical guide’ etc, but what I found fascinating was Lewis’ individual take and explanations for his reasoning and thoughts about home education.

Lewis has a very negative attitude towards school, and he is definitely of the opinion that the majority of children would be better off being educated at home, at least until age 11. To avoid a confusing array of ‘carers’, to develop at their own pace, to avoid negative peer pressure, to not lose an innate love of learning, to avoid exposure to negative aspects of our consumer culture – advertising, TV, computers, confectionary etc, and all businesses seeking to exploit our children for profit.

I was especially interested in his explanation of how the institutions of English Primary Schools came about. Lewis says that they were started in the 16th and 17th centuries by minority religious groups of the lower classes (i.e. the Quakers) in order to take control of learning and literacy so they could read the Bible for themselves. By the 19th century the government cottoned on to the reason behind the success of these groups, and decided to end illiteracy for all children. Primary schools were necessary because the parents themselves were not able to perform this function and the schools were an outstanding success – by the 20th century illiteracy was almost eradicated.

However, now the vast majority of parents can read and write and so have the ability to teach their own children. Primary schools have therefore lost their main educational value, and are now used as deficient substitutes for childcare (so both parents can work), and socialising (in an environment contrived and artificial to those a child will face in the rest of his life). Primary schools could provide a valuable role for children whose parents are ill-educated, or for whom English is not a first language, but they are prevented from effectively achieving this beneficial purpose due to concentrating on children who don’t need to be there.

There are many such ‘snippets’ throughout the book, covering all kinds of subjects. I found his practical ideas about reading, writing and maths encouraging and informative also (Lewis was a maths and science teacher in state schools), as well as the sections on arts and crafts, cooking and gardening.

I think this is actually a book I will purchase, and also one I will be recommending to friends with children at school. As long as they can stomach the guilt-tripping, Lewis has lots of advice, written specifically for these parents, about how to combat the negative aspects of a school education. So, in the end, pleasantly surprised and encouraged by this book (which is illustrated by his children, a nice touch!).