The Duggars: Why Children Should Never be Home-Schooled

Today during my break between classes I sat on the couch to watch a little television. I was flicking through the channels when I came to TLC and found that my favorite show, 17 Kids and Counting (I believe it’s called 18 Kids and Counting now, with #19 on the way) was on. Of course I had to stop here and see what they were up to, and to my surprise the Duggar family was visiting the Creationism Museum in Kentucky.

Jim Bob (the husband/father of the family, and yes, his name is Jim Bob) was being interviewed on why they were there. He said he wanted to teach his children about how the world was created, and show them that all this “evolution stuff” just isn’t true. They saw all the different parts of the museum such as the “Natural Selection is Not Evolution” exhibit where they were shown how “natural selection allows organisms to possess characteristics most favorable for a given environment—but it is not an example of evolution in the molecules-to-man sense”, the “Dinosaur Den” where humans and dinosaurs lived harmoniously on Earth together, the “Noah’s Ark Contruction Site” where millions of animals in “close quarters” were saved from the floods, and the “Walk Through Biblical History” where they could see the TRUE time line of the universe unfold.

After, some of the kids were asked about their thoughts on the subject. One of the girls said that scientific evidence suggests that the Earth is 6000 years old. I don’t think I need to even go further into that. Her brother said that a lot of things about evolution made sense to him, but once he read the Bible and its explanations he knew that evolution couldn’t be true because the Bible explains everything.

The show then went to a clip of Jim Bob in front of a large chart on the wall that shows humans in relation to other primates. The chart showed humans, fully developed, tall and slender as we are today, on one side with a line indicating 6000 years ago to today. The other side had a small tree of apes, all evolved from one common ancestor, with another line indicating 6000 years ago to today. Jim Bob said, “See kids! We aren’t evolved from apes!”

You may be wondering, like me, “How the hell can they possibly believe those things?!” Well, my friend, the lovely notion of home-schooling is why.

Extreme religion is just one example of why kids should NEVER be home-schooled. Home-schooling gives the parent complete control over what their child learns. Although there are laws (varying from state to state) regarding what subjects to teach and different standardized tests they need to take, in the state of Arkansas (where the Duggar family resides) there are no required subjects to be taught. No credentials are needed for the parents to teach, or any required amount of time they need to spend “learning”. The student does not even have to meet a minimum score on any standardized tests. All the state requires is the parents must alert the superintendant in writing that their child will be home-schooled, and show up for the testing.

Now, I for one would never in a million years want my mom or dad to be my teachers. Don’t get me wrong, I love my parents and they are both very smart in different ways, but they have little to no idea what is going on in an academic world. They know very little about history, science, math, sociology or any other subject that might be taught in school. Even if they do know the basics, there is no way that one person could supply all the information I need to be successful. Throughout my academic career I have had a lot of teachers; most people have had a lot of teachers. The reason for this is because everyone specializes in different things. Students need to have all these teachers so they can absorb all the new information that each one brings to the table. They need to listen to all the different opinions, deal with all the different teaching styles, discuss problems, theories, equations, but most importantly develop their critical thinking skills.

Although even public schools for the most part fail to really promote or expand critical thinking in students, simply being in an environment that promotes the spread of information as a whole lessens the severity of ignorance. Not to mention the laws regarding curriculum, teaching credentials, and testing help the situation as well. But with good ol’ home-schooling if I wanted to, I could spend all day teaching my child that fairies create everything. That fairies run the country, make decisions and magically make cookies appear.

That may sound silly, “But Angie, fairies aren’t real!” you say. Well, it’s not far from reality in a home-schooled setting. A parent can completely brain wash their child. They have the legal ability to keep their child isolated from not only their peers, but information. Vital information that is needed in order for the child to function at a healthy level in society. Vital information that may change their undoubted faith to “God,” and question their beliefs. And there is nothing keeping these parents from doing that.