(This started out as a response to
teacherken's diary and it got way too long so what the hell.)
The educational system is never going to be reformed or re-imagined in my lifetime, or my children's lifetimes. It's much more likely to just keep on keeping on the way it always has, growing more bloated and irrelevant with the years. So what's a parent to do?
Homeschool.
Yes, progressives homeschool. There are thousands of us. In some areas of the country (like mine), we're even beginning to outnumber the fundamentalist homeschoolers. There are innumerable secular resources out there, and among the best of the religious materials it's pretty easy to separate out the stuff you don't want from the stuff you do want.
As a "for instance," my family relies on Charlotte Mason's teaching philosophy: Short lessons, focused on "living" books as opposed to textbooks, and lots of free time. Miss Mason was a 19th century British educational reformer, and as such she included much Christian material; but she herself was not hostile to other religions. I find that substituting our own religious path in those spots where she would have included, say, Bible studies or learning hymns is not difficult at all and would fulfill her basic point: That children need a moral education of some kind along with the rest.
I've heard all the arguments against homeschooling:
"Involved parents like you are just what the school system needs; you need to be in here fighting." For what? And who's listening? I watch parents fight that fight and it's not only thankless, it's hopeless. I decided to fight with my feet, as in "feets don't fail me now." I am not going to sacrifice my kids for the good of a system that doesn't really want my help anyway.
"Your children won't get the socialization they need." To do what? Line up like cattle? Respond like dogs to a bell? Cringe because they're not wearing the latest clothes? I choose to have my children taught how to become adults from adults, not other children.
"You're over-sheltering your children." We see other children frequently; we're not home with the drapes drawn. OK, the drapes are drawn right now, but that's because I'm writing in my jammies. :) In fact I dare say my kids are exposed to more types of people than public schooled kids are. My girls are comfortable with people of all ages, from babies up to old folks, and are around people of many orientations, colors, economic backgrounds and religious persuasions. One thing I always hear about them is how open and friendly they are.
"You're just a neo-con in disguise who wants to tear down the public education system, and you hate teachers." The system is tearing itself to shreds without any help from me. And if I'm a neo-con, I'm disguised so well even I couldn't tell. I vote in favor of school levies all the time and pay my taxes with just the usual amount of grumbling. But here I'm going to get flamed for libertarian thinking (and I don't really care): How you can trust the government to educate/raise your kids, I just don't know. It doesn't matter who's running the government. Until schools are in the hands of the immediate community again, which is never going to happen, we are opting out.
As for hating teachers, my own little sister is a teacher, as is my father-in-law and his wife. I don't hate teachers. I know exactly the kinds of crap they have to face. The stories I hear from the trenches reinforce over and over again our decision to homeschool.
"You're a rich, privileged family." My family lives on a single income, below $50k/yr (with decent health benefits luckily), though we live in an area where the cost of living is really climbing. I'm disabled, I haven't gotten my disability benefits yet, and like all disabled people trying to get disability I'm expecting a long, tiring fight. We have only one car (I can't drive any more anyway), and no debts other than our house; we don't buy crap and we don't live on credit. Homeschooling is cheap; we make extensive use of the library and I spend less than $300 a year in supplies and outside curricula, about what we'd spend for school supplies if we went to public school.
So in summation:
We're progressives. And we homeschool.
We're Pagan Unitarians. And we homeschool.
We're immersed in as diverse a community as you can scrape up in Portland, OR. And we homeschool.
We're not rich. And we homeschool.
I don't have a phD in Education--I don't even have a bachelor's. And we homeschool.
And my girls are thriving.
It's not hard to do and it doesn't take as much patience as you think. It's way easier than being tied to someone else's schedule, especially for a disabled mom who some days can barely get herself out of bed let alone two stubborn night owls. And it's going to result in two young women who can think for themselves.
I know not every family has even the resources that we do. We are lucky that we can (just) make it on what my husband earns. But if you're at all in doubt about the way your family lives, sit down and take a long hard look at your resources, your values and your priorities. It may be that you can reshuffle some things and keep one parent at home enough to keep the kids at home too.
All I ever ask of my own website's readers, and now you here, is that you actually LOOK at your lives. Don't do what you're doing because "that's what you do." Going along to get along is NOT a progressive value; in fact, these days, putting your family's welfare above the economy's welfare is a downright revolutionary act.
So is homeschooling.
*UPDATE IN RESPONSE TO COMMENTS:* I'm not saying everyone should homeschool. Why do people jump to that conclusion? I never said that. Obviously there are people who cannot for whatever reason. I'm saying this is a real option for progressive families who may not have considered it for fear of cost or ability.
I'm not saying "abandon the school system." I'm saying the school system has abandoned us. Teacherken's diary says a lot of the same thing, quite frankly. There needs to be a wholesale revolution in public education, and better minds than mine will have to address it because I have no faith and no good ideas. An educational focus at YKos next year is a great idea.