The first time I was ever quoted in a newspaper, I was misquoted. It was a little thing — the writer simply misquoted a number. But it was humiliating to me — getting that number wrong made me look like I didn’t know what I was talking about.
Fast forward to my life as a journalist. I try to take great care when quoting other people to get it right. If I have any doubt, I shoot them off an e-mail to ask. If what they said wasn’t clear, I ask them if they’d like to clarify so I can use a quote that won’t misrepresent their meaning. But of course, I’m sure I make mistakes. If I annoyed you by how I wrote about you, I’m issuing a blanket apology! I didn’t mean to!
But it’s a good thing to get a little of my own medicine back at me. I was quoted this week in the Santa Cruz Good Times in the article “School’s Out… Forever” by John Malkin. I actually think John did a good job of explaining homeschooling and capturing the Santa Cruz homeschooling community’s vibe. And, as far as I can see, he got my quotes perfect. Right down to the one where my pronoun and antecedent didn’t match. (“You can always go back to school!” my husband just joked to me by IM.)
But it is really interesting to have my words put into someone else’s context, and I think it’s a great reminder for me that when I write about other people, I am taking little bits of them and putting them into something of mine.
The nice thing is, I have a blog, and John nicely linked to it, so I can respond at lightning speed!
I wanted to point out one thing that he didn’t make clear in the article: Lots of homeschoolers are not anti-school. Yes, it’s true that school was painful and boring to me, and I eventually dropped out rather than stick it out as I was expected to.
But I actually think that many schools do a great job for many kids. I’ve been involved with a few too many schools in my time, trying to find a place where my kids would thrive. At each school my kids have attended, and at each school where I know parents or teachers, and at each school I’ve written about, there are parents, teachers, staff, and even students who love their school! Schools, I believe, are not intrinsically the problem. And homeschooling is not necessarily the enemy of schools.
John sprinkled his article with quotes from John Taylor Gatto, a well-known anti-school writer. I have tried to read Gatto’s work. I did make it through one entire book. But I found the arguments so polemical, the bending of history to his point of view so obvious, and the unnecessary skewering of teachers so spiteful that I haven’t read much more.
Unlike the people who made up the term, I actually do believe in the “Big Tent” theory of our country. I believe that we have a framework that allows us to accommodate many different lifestyles and cultural norms, all under the stars and stripes. We have some common goals that we all have to embrace, but past that, we have room for military academies and AFE, prep schools and unschooling, charter schools and neighborhood schools.
So while I really appreciate the Goodtimes’ support of the Santa Cruz homeschooling community, I also feel a bit uncomfortable seeing my words right under this from Gatto: “Schools teach exactly what they are intended to teach and they do it well: how to be a good Egyptian and remain in your place in the pyramid.”
Well, no. Some schools may do that, but that doesn’t have to be the essence of a public school. And it’s certainly not true of any school I’ve been involved with.
So… I am smilingly swallowing my own medicine and thanking John for his thoughtful article. I’m glad that the GoodTimes is getting the word out about many of the wonderful homeschooling programs we have. But I just want to remind people, again, that loving one thing does not necessarily imply hating something else. It’s just the best choice for us, right now. Tomorrow? Ask me again when soccer camp’s over and I don’t have a quiet morning to myself to write in my blog!
