Tuesday 24 July 2012

The illusion of choice


Before I return to some personal accounts of home education, I feel that I must expand upon the idea that I set out yesterday; that unless heroic efforts are made, children are indoctrinated  by their family life from birth in various ideas which will force them in certain directions, thus robbing them of a free choice in how they develop and which interests they pursue. Here is an extract from the blog of a very well known home educator who is vehement in advocating the right of children to choose their own topics for home education:

‘Pottery again today, it is my weekly therapy and we both love it’


The mother goes on in detail about the wonders of creative artwork. The word ‘we’ constantly recurs. One seeks in vain for similar enthusiasm for physics or mathematics! Already, at the age of twelve, this child has been guided into ‘creative’ rather than scientific channels. The mother is determined that the child will not take GCSEs, which means that if she goes to college it will probably be a course which can be accessed by a portfolio; almost certainly  not an A level course. I would put money on its being something in the art line. How much choice has this young person really had?

Or consider the case of a child raised in a very devout Muslim home or one belonging to some protestant, fundamentalist Christian sects. If you have been taught that the world was created only six thousand years ago, you are unlikely to end up studying biology or astronomy at university. After all, you will probably not accept evolution or standard cosmology. Here again, the family belief system is imposing a curriculum which precludes various lines of study.

Of course one does not need to look at devoutly religious families to find ideology being imposed upon children which will push them in a particular direction! Here is a presumably modern, enlightened and progressive parent speaking here yesterday of the way in which she raised a home educated child:

‘'I'm not sure why I'd want my child to develop vastly different life values to the rest of their family. I wouldn't want them to be racist, being rather an obvious example.'



‘We started out with anti-racist beliefs’

This is a pretty general type of dogma which is so common that we may not even recognise it as being a prejudice in which we are indoctrinating our children. Assuming that this parent was using the expression ‘racism’ in the usual meaning, that of believing that different races have different innate qualities and characteristics, some of which make them superior or inferior to those of other races; then why on earth was she conveying opposition  to this belief system to her child as being axiomatic? Why was it her default setting? True, she says that she discussed the question, but clearly from a particular and slanted perspective.

I am myself open minded about the idea of racism and have always promoted this to my daughter. The evidence is far from conclusive and is actually pretty finely balanced on either side. Let us look at just  one example which militates against the holding of ‘anti-racist beliefs’. ( How this can be a matter of ‘belief’, rather than evidence is, I confess, quite beyond me. The very expression, 'anti-racist beliefs'   tells us at once that to the writer,  this is  a matter of ideology or faith and not objective science.)

It is a matter of common observation, in this country, America, Africa, China and everywhere else that data are collected, that black babies reach their motor milestones earlier than white babies. Babies of Chinese origin, by comparison, lag behind both black and white children. Any Health Visitor in this country will know about this and it has been the subject of many studies. Black babies crawl earlier, stand earlier and walk earlier. This is regardless of where they are born and no convincing cultural explanation has been offered for this advantage. They just seem to be stronger and quicker to develop. The physical superiority of black neonates has also shown up in premature babies. Black babies born prematurely have higher survival rates than white babies. It has been suggested that this early advantage in physical development goes some way to towards explaining why there are so many black athletes and footballers.

Now here is evidence which strongly supports a central tenet of racism; a racial group with apparently innate characteristics and traits which give it a superiority over others from different races. To make opposition to such evidence a matter of ideological belief and not science means that many parents who view themselves as being liberal and progressive are in fact in the grip of dogma just as much as the family who believe in the existence of Adam and Eve! The child of such a family who notices that while there are an awful lot of Asian doctors and dentists, it is vanishingly rare to encounter one of Caribbean origin, will be fobbed off with an explanation founded upon ‘anti-racist beliefs’; perhaps that the disparity is due to white racism or is the legacy of colonialism.

We all have irrational family belief systems. Our children are raised in this context and often we are not even aware that we are handing down our own prejudices to them. The only way to counter this is to devise a broad and balanced curriculum which is designed to replace our own prejudices with the best modern thinking about anything that we believe or have faith in. Without an objective education, there is little chance for children to become individuals. In the average family, to pretend that we are allowing children a free choice is a complete nonsense. We are in fact playing a version of the three card trick with them; forcing their choice in line with our own unconscious bigotry and preconceptions.

25 comments:

  1. 'we started out with anti racist beliefs'
    I wondered about that one too, sounds like something changed.
    I notice they never say..
    'we started out with anti homophobic beliefs'

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  2. So roughly what proportion of your intrinsic, core values has Simone taken into adulthood, despite your efforts to prevent this?

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  3. 'So roughly what proportion of your intrinsic, core values has Simone taken into adulthood, despite your efforts to prevent this?'

    That is an extremely interesting question! It presupposes both that I have a set of intrinsic values and also that I tried to prevent my daughter from acquiring them. Neither is really true. I would not say that I tried to prevent her adopting my values, only that I made strenuous efforts to promote values in opposition to my own, to provide a balance. In fact, she currently disagrees with me about almost every major point on ethics, religion and philosophy.

    However, this touchs upon the idea of my having 'intrinsic' or 'core' values. My values are constantly changing and adapting in the light of new evidence and my own thoughts. The values which I hold now are very different from those which I held ten or twenty years ago. The same process has taken place in my daughter and so she too holds a different set of values now than she did ten years ago when she was eight.

    From time to time, our views about things coincide, but this seldom lasts long. If it did, it would siggest that our views had fossilised and were no longer changing; a horrifying idea indeed!

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  4. Do you think perhaps that the writer of the 'racist' comment was using it to mean 'irrationally despising those from other races'? That's what I assumed.

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    1. Yes, that's what I meant, thanks. Glad at least one person understood what I meant!

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  5. I sent a post yesterday that answered just this point but unfortunately blogger seems to have eaten it. And this is my second attempt at posting this message. Blogger seems to have taken a dislike to me!

    I said that we had considered and accepted the evidence that there are evolutionary differences between races which inevitably result in one race being superior to others in certain aspects. But our current theory (I agree that belief was a bad choice of word) is that this doesn't mean that one race is superior to another generally, since different races are superior to each other in different ways. For example, bone density varies between races so some races are likely to be better swimmers whilst others have stronger bones as a result.

    Looking at a dictionary definition of racism:

    Definition of RACISM

    : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

    : racial prejudice or discrimination


    I don't think there is enough evidence yet to conclude that any race has overall superiority, but I'm open to more evidence as I'm sure I've not seen it all. Do you agree with racism according to any of these definitions?

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  6. 'Do you think perhaps that the writer of the 'racist' comment was using it to mean 'irrationally despising those from other races'? That's what I assumed.'

    That is, I suppose, possible. If so, then it is hardly necessary to hold a 'belief' that irrational behaviour is to be avoided. The word 'racist' can of course mean somebody who has prejudices about or preconceived ideas about the members of different races and, as I point out above, this need not be irrational. Indeed, it might be irrational not to hold that members of some races have inherently different characteristics than those of other ethnic groups. I don't see that it would be any better, logically and intellectually, if that was the meaning when she used the word 'racist'.

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    1. The definition Old Mum used specifies that the views held are irrational, which clearly excludes rational reasons for believing one race is superior to another. BTW, I'm not sure that, 'belief' necessarily excludes conclusions based on evidence, one definition being, " Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true."

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    2. Just to add, I certainly didn't mean belief as in faith. I think that's the meaning you must have ascribed to the use.

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    3. And following on from Old Mum's definition, I also don't believe that differences are a reason to despise a race. I've certainly not seen any evidence of despicable racial traits.

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  7. ' Do you agree with racism according to any of these definitions?'

    A good question. I have to say that I do not either agree or disagree with the proposition that race is 'the primary determinant of human traits and capacities'. There is evidence for and against the idea, although there is probably more against than for. As I said, I am open minded about this. It is difficult, because whenever anybody comes forward with any data supporting the hypothesis, he gets treated like a leper!

    As for racism as being discrimination or prejudice, of course I am familiar with this. If you granted the idea that some ethnic groups are better endowed with brainpower or muscles than others, I suppose that you could justify racial discrimination in some cases. The problem is that all these characteristics fall on a bell curve. That is to say, even if you accepted the evidence which shows that black people have IQs typically ten points or so lower than white people, then it would still mean that many black people would have IQs at genius level; just not as many as there are white people. Since the evidence is weak anyway for this, I do not think that prejudice or discrimination could be justified. I am however open to persuasion about the desirability of racial prejudice. It seems to me that the jury is still out.

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    1. So it sounds like we hold similar views.

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  8. 'So it sounds like we hold similar views.'

    Savour the moment! This is not the sort of comment which we commonly see here.

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    1. I know! Are you shocked that you hold similar views to an autonomous educator given your bio? ;-)

      I should mention that I wrote all the anonymous posts on yesterdays article (to date), and all but the first two today so far. Should have used a name earlier - I'm sure it makes life easier.

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  9. 'And following on from Old Mum's definition, I also don't believe that differences are a reason to despise a race. I've certainly not seen any evidence of despicable racial traits.'

    But it is easy to see how such despite could be justified. Suppose that some ethnic groups were more prone to brutish and degraded conduct than others. Perhaps they had a disposition to be less controlled sexually or were prone to violence. This is one of the contentions made by those who believe that racial prejudice is a good thing. I have never seen any evidence for this, beyond bare assertion, but if it were the case, then it would be quite natural for others to feel a slight loathing for those unable to exercise the same control as we ourselves.

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  10. Simon, your posts over the last few days have been very interesting. I am intriuged to know more specifics regarding your daughters education - the methods you used. Can you tell me how you managed to achieve the acting awards and the music on your own without external tutoring? (I cannot currently aford music tuition so this is particulary pertinent to me)

    One rarely comes across these things being talked about in home education. I am thirsty for more.

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  11. Thank you S, it is always nice to know that somebody is interested in what I have to say!

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  12. Some parents become interested in a subject because their offspring have become passionately involved in it. This has happened to us several times, but I don't doubt that the outside observer might misconstrue our mutual involvement in projects as having been instigated by us parents. The outside observer would not know the facts. Family enthusiasms can travel both ways.

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  13. while there are an awful lot of Asian doctors and dentists, it is vanishingly rare to encounter one of Caribbean origin

    I googled famous black doctors and came up with a site where posters made suggestions of names. One list:

    James E. Bowman, Jr.
    Lovell A. Jones
    Ben Carson
    Samuel Lee Kountz, Jr.
    Jewel Plummer Cobb
    Robert F. Murray
    Rebecca J. Cole
    Kenneth Olden
    Charles Richard Drew
    Maurice F. Rabb, Jr.
    Mary Styles Harris
    Daniel Hale Williams
    Mae C. Jemison



    1. Recently Deceased Claude Organ, M.D. Past President American College of Surgeons
    2. Haile Debas, M.D. former Dean of UCSF Medical School
    3. The afformentioned Charles Drew, M.D.
    4. Daniel Hale Williams, M.D.
    5. L.D. Britt, M.D. BRILLIANT Surgeon, Chair Dept. Surgery Eastern Virginia Medical School
    6. Ben Carson, M.D. Internationally known Neurogsurgeon
    7. Mae Jemison, M.D. first black woman in Space
    8. Vivien Thomas (although not technically a doctor, Blaylock probably wouldn't have pioneered the famous blue baby surgery without his surgical expertise...)
    9. Bernard Harris, M.D. first black man to walk in space (internal medicine guy...)
    10. David Satcher, M.D. US Surgeon General
    11. Joycelyn Elders, M.D. Former US Surgeon General
    12. Maurice Rabb, M.D. Ophthalmologist..he taught me how to examine eyes. Great teacher.
    13. I can't count myself as famous yet...
    These are mostly surgeons...and just off the top of my head.
    Source(s):
    Physician

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  14. I think it's a silly comment about doctors and race.

    http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/register/search_stats.asp

    Only 37.6% doctors are white, despite being the vast majority of the population. So if only 3% doctors are black, that's not such a shocker, is it?

    Did you know that black 6th formers are disproportionately more likely to apply to Oxbridge?

    One of the reasons our children are not in school is so that they can avoid these limited ideas of what counts as intelligence.

    A

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  15. 'The child of such a family who notices that while there are an awful lot of Asian doctors and dentists, it is vanishingly rare to encounter one of Caribbean origin, will be fobbed off with an explanation founded upon ‘anti-racist beliefs’; perhaps that the disparity is due to white racism or is the legacy of colonialism.'

    I was adavancing no explanantion for this, merely pointing out that some children notice it and may be offered an inadequate theory to explain it.

    'I googled famous black doctors and came up with a site where posters made suggestions of names.'

    There are more black doctors in the USA than in Britain. Few of these are of Caribbean origin though.I was making a point about culture.

    'Only 37.6% doctors are white, despite being the vast majority of the population. So if only 3% doctors are black, that's not such a shocker, is it?'

    I was pointing out that it is very rare to encounter a Caribbean doctor. Those black doctors one does meet are almost invariably of West African origin. This is a cultural and not a racial question. Unwittingly, you have made my point for me, by not distinguishing between Caribbean and African people.

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  16. Your point being what? That you can tell the difference between Africans and Caribbeans by looking at them?

    You could just as easily point to the higher number of Black British youth workers, social worker and teachers. Does that mean that black people are more community-minded, or like children more? Careers advice from home or school is more likely to play a

    What about this gem? "That is to say, even if you accepted the evidence which shows that black people have IQs typically ten points or so lower than white people, then it would still mean that many black people would have IQs at genius level; just not as many as there are white people"

    IQ established how? By whom? When?

    You did rather better when you stuck to describing trips out with your daughter. Leave the 'Descent of Man' stuff to Adrian Burley.

    A

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  17. 'Your point being what? That you can tell the difference between Africans and Caribbeans by looking at them?'

    No, but I can certainly recognise Yoruba or Igbo names as opposed to ones of colonial origin.

    'IQ established how? By whom? When?'

    Over many decades, chiefly in the USA. The differences are significant and not found among other minorities such as Hispanics and Amerindians. I do not myself believe that this indicates anything about racial differences, only that the evidence could be interpreted in that way. This is a classic example of even the mere mention of possible racial differences provoking outrage.

    I made the point that a child asking why there were a lot of Asian doctors in this country and few Caribbean ones, might be offered a faulty explanation. This is very far from suggesting that the correct one is based upon inhereant racial differences. The evidence is finely balanced.

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  18. Wot? Wot? Wot's your problem, I woz only having a larf!

    Can't say nothin without you people getting chippy ...It's political correctness gorn maad!

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  19. That's the exact term I use "Illusion of Choice". I have been told recently by an unschooling friend of mine, that I am more autonomous than her, and that she guides her children!

    She told me this because I don't feel my daughter needs the number of GCSE's she wishes to obtain for her job of choice. (However, there's always a different job of choice depending on which way the wind blows, but so far, none of them have needed what she's aiming for)

    There are easier routes for what she wants to do. However, it's my daughters choice and I'm not going to stand in the way of them. She's old enough to know what she wants and needs and if I am able to provide that, I will.

    However, this is a choice she has NOW. This wonderful, 'autonomous' choice to choose whichever route in life she deems appropriate, is only possible, because in her primary years, I taught her how to read, write, and be numerate in as structured fashion as I felt was right.

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