Friday 8 November 2013

The baleful influence of John Holt




I received an email last night, reproaching me for singling out Leslie Barson as  somebody who would like to see the abolition of compulsory education in this country. It was pointed out that many of the better known figures in the British home educating scene share her feelings about this.  This is of course quite true and it makes one wonder how many more of John Holt’s stranger views are held by modern home educators in this country.  Voting at the age of three? Four year-olds being allowed to drive cars on the roads? Five year-olds injecting heroin?   Abolishing the age of consent and legalising paedophilia? But let us focus today upon just one of Holt’s key ideas; that children should be free to abandon education and start work whenever they feel ready to do so. It is this which Leslie Barson  thinks a good idea and she is not alone.

Something to bear in mind here is that well-meaning and good-hearted people tend to assume that everybody else is like them. The home educators who would like to see the end of compulsory education are thinking in terms of parents taking responsibility for their children’s education and not being forced into it by the state. It is a noble vision, but one which history teaches us would have the direst consequences for children. Let’s look both at the past and present to see what the likely consequence would be if there was no compulsion to ensure that our children received an education. Compulsory education in this country came into force in 1880 and there was enormous opposition to it from parents. During the following decade, prosecution of parents for their children’s non-attendance at school was the commonest offence in this country, apart from drunkenness. There were over a  100,000 cases a year. These were not home educating parents who resented the state trying to usurp parental authority. They were mothers and fathers who wanted their small children to go to work and earn money. They were driven by economic necessity, rather than a philosophy of education.

More recently, before the school leaving age was raised to 16 in 1972, many working class children at grammar schools were forced to leave school before taking their GCEs, because their parents wanted them to get jobs. An awful lot of children were thus deprived of the chance to go into higher education. This still happens today. I know of a number of cases of children who have left school with good GCSEs and want to attend sixth form or college. Their parents tell them that they can’t afford to keep supporting them and so the children have to get jobs instead. Raising the school leaving age to 18 will rescue some of these children and enable them to go on to university if they wish. Compulsory education protects these young people and allows them to fulfill their potential.

The problem is that many home educating parents come from comfortable, middle class backgrounds and simply don’t know how things work in the real, ordinary world. If compulsory education was abolished and parents were not forced to send their children to school, many would not bother at all about their children’s education. Their only concern would be how soon they could have another wage coming into the house, so that they could cope with the next electricity bill. Lower the school leaving age to 14 and masses of working class children will be forced to drop out of school for this reason. Ideas like this will generally benefit the middle classes  and penalise horribly children from working class homes. Raise the school leaving age to 18 and this will have the opposite effect. 

I hope to look in future posts about which other of John Holt’s ideas might be popular among home educators today. I have an idea that examining this question  might shed light upon the frantic reluctance of some of these types to allow anybody from the local authority into their homes! Those who would abolish compulsory education and allow eight and nine  year-olds to work in the fields again, as they did before 1880, are clearly not overly committed to the welfare of young children; to put the case mildly.

I have written extensively on this question of compulsory education and the effect that it has had upon improving the lot of working class children. In particular, the introduction of compulsory education in the late 19th century is covered in Chapter 1 of Elective Home Education in the UK, Trentham Books 2010. The business about working class children being compelled to leave at 15, before sitting their GCEs, is treated in detail in The Best Days of our Lives; School Life in Post-War Britain, The History press 2013.

11 comments:

  1. I wonder how many of today's home educators have actually heard of John Holt?

    I certainly hadn't till you started mentioning him, and I'd be amazed if any of today's home educators expected their children to work in the fields. (Altho if anyone does and can give me any advice about persuading children to help with gardening, I'd love to hear it!)

    Most of the home education books I read were American, and my favourite remains 'The Well Trained Mind' by Susan Wise Bauer, even though she does make me feel like a real slacker.

    So, as always, there are two sides to every coin. How about choosing some of the more cheerful ones with Christmas coming up?

    Atb
    Anne

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    1. 'I wonder how many of today's home educators have actually heard of John Holt? '

      I suspect that you are not the sort of person who goes to HesFes! Because so many of those mixed up with this part of the British scene are, like Leslie Barson, followers of a particular ideology, I thought it worth examining. You yourself may not wish to see the abolition of compulsory education in this country, but that way of thinking is a pretty significant strand in home education in this country.

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    2. Oh, do me a favour, Simon. Every time you manage to unearth some extreme oddity in the HE community you claim that it's a 'significant strand'. You wouldn't know a significant strand if you fell over one, because you've never associated with other home educators. You have avoided them like the plague. All your information about what they allegedly think comes from the internet.

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    3. 'Every time you manage to unearth some extreme oddity in the HE community you claim that it's a 'significant strand'. You wouldn't know a significant strand if you fell over one, because you've never associated with other home educators. You have avoided them like the plague. All your information about what they allegedly think comes from the internet.'

      I'm not at all sure that I would describe Leslie Barson as an extreme oddity! As for never associating with other home educators, I think perhaps that you mean that I have not been connected with any organised groups. This is true, but then neither do most home educators. The average home educating parent just gets on with the job of educating his or her child and I know many such people in real life.

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    4. 'I'm not at all sure that I would describe Leslie Barson as an extreme oddity!'

      I thought we were talking about an idea: the end of compulsory education. At the extreme edge of any community, you will find odd ideas. This person clearly has an odd idea (if what you have quoted is correct.)

      It is not sensible to then go on to say, 'This is a significant strand' of thought among home educators without evidence.

      'The average home educating parent just gets on with the job of educating his or her child and I know many such people in real life.'

      Are you really trying to tell us that of the 'many' home educators you know, a 'significant strand' of thought among them is that children shouldn't be required to be educated and be allowed to be put to work from early childhood?

      Pull the other one.

      Every now and then, your blog has the appearance of a useful contribution to debate and then you post something like this.

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    5. 'Are you really trying to tell us that of the 'many' home educators you know, a 'significant strand' of thought among them is that children shouldn't be required to be educated and be allowed to be put to work from early childhood?'

      I have never in the whole course of my life met anybody who thinks this would be a good idea! That is because the home educating parents with whom i have contact in real life do not belong to groups or have dealings with organisations like Education Otherwise. I was suggesting that this mad idea is popular among those running things like HesFes, Education Otherwise and Home Education UK. As a result, such ideas are influential. That is why those who avoid them tend to have more sensible ideas about home education.

      ' At the extreme edge of any community, you will find odd ideas. This person clearly has an odd idea (if what you have quoted is correct.)'

      Leslie Barson is not at the extreme edge of organised home education in this country, but rather at the centre. She was a trustee at Education otherwise, is a chum of Paula Rothermels, a mainstay of HesFes, set up the otherwise group in North London and her academic writing is quoted approvingly by quite a few home educators. her ideas are standard, mainstream fare for people in Education Otherwise and so on.

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  2. Er...I went to HESFES this year - ( actually was speaking) - not sure what that makes me ( wish to point out did not camp- stayed in a ( warm/dry) hotel)

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    1. 'Er...I went to HESFES this year '

      And I suspect that you know about Leslie Barson's role in Hesfes and also that many of those involved would indeed like to see the end of compulsory education in this country!

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  3. Funnily enough I was pleasantly surprised when I want - I was only there the day I was speaking - by the diversity of those I met - although I suspect that most of those who go to the talks are more likely to be the more "formal" types anyway ....

    Should add that I am in favour of compulsory education- though not for 2 year olds...

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    1. you get paid to speak Julie?

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  4. I, a HESFES attending home educator, first heard about John Holt from a recently qualified primary school teacher who had had his books as set reading on her P.G.C.E. course. Apparently his books were the most popular and frequently discussed on her course. Ofsted/LA officers of the future maybe.....
    Godfrey

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