Today when listening to On Point on NPR, I couldn’t help but think about homeschooling and the future of my kids. The topic was about the decline in upward mobility compared to previous generations and how upward mobility is currently greater in Europe than the U.S.
Education kept coming up even though it wasn’t an in depth discussion on education. I had to think that by the time my kids are completing school and possibly college, that the paradigm will likely be different than that faced by us in generation X and Y. Until recently (and it still continues to a certain extent), kids were sold on the idea that as long as they worked hard and got a college education that everything would be fine.
Unfortunately, this is far from the case. In Buffalo, this is very apparent. While Buffalo is under-rated in certain respects regarding jobs, you can still look around and see a significant number of people with graduate degrees (plus) working in retail outlets and call centers doing collections work, brilliant people. Brilliant people who worked hard, did all the right things, and even took on heavy student loans.
Homeschooling is a good opportunity to try things differently. Many kids will finish high school at home sooner than their peers. Perhaps this will allow time to complete projects to earn scholarships or start an apprenticeship in a technical field or start a business. Homeschooling may just provide the flexibility to work sooner and be more careful about choosing a field that is both interesting and has good job prospects. While upward mobility may continue to be on the decline, homeschoolers will be best able to face it!
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2012/01/09/not-movin-on-up
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