I’ve chosen an
article from the Sydney Morning Herald, submitted on September 8th
2013, by Josephine Tovey outlining the issue of the increasing number of
students who are home-schooled over formal education. This article gives us
insight towards the contrasting views on the education system, particularly
emphasising the construction of the national curriculum. These views take on
two perspectives; the first perspective being from parents who encourage
home-schooling as it enables a more flexible and personal style of teaching
their children the curriculum, whereas the second perspective from the
representatives of the NSW Board of Studies who address the issue of the
misleading perspective the parents hold of the education system.
This relates
back to Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd’s text on culture and identity. They highlight the
notion that culture influences how we interpret symbols and signs through which
we construct and remould our identity. This concept is reflected in the article
through the perspectives of the parents and education institute and how such
issues on home-schooling may arise due to conflicts between cultures. I’ll
address this idea focusing on the parents first.
In the article,
home-educating parents provide several factors contributing to why they believe
home-schooling is the favourable option, however, their cultural attitudes
toward the government’s education system being the prime focus. In relation to
Pudsey’s text, this is an example of cultural upbringings influencing their
attitudes. Pudsey explores the notion of culture as the ‘embodied lenses we
inherit from the past’ (Pudsey, year, p. 6). He also stresses upon the idea
that we create stereotypes of particular groups and it is through our cultural
influences we interpret and place meaning upon these generalised categories.
For instance, culture influences the attitudes of the home-schooling parents
who share the representation of schooling systems being an inefficient means of
teaching children. In contemporary society, there is a stereotype particularly
on public schools which emphasise the idea that teachers are inexperienced and
lacking motivation, as well as issues of bullying. This representation then
becomes a generalisation of the teaching methods of all schools. Representatives
from the Board of Studies disagree with this viewpoint claiming
teachers are professionally experienced and the growing cultural views shared
by home-educating parents on schooling are becoming an issue.
In Pudsey’s text, it emphasises that we
place symbolic meaning upon objects and these meanings are not within the
objects but negotiated amongst others. As individuals we determine the value of
objects. With the influence of society’s views and attitudes towards these objects, we construct
our identity through
our self representation. In regards to the article,
parents interpret their views and attitudes towards formal education and choose
to reject those teaching methods. This moulds their identity as ‘caring’
guardians, protecting their children from bullying and benefitting them with personalised
teaching of the
curriculum. Home-schooled children in return are also
shaping their identities through cultural influences, presumably being mainly
influenced by their parents rather than other students and teachers.
Reference:
Wadham, B. Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R. (2007). Culture and education. Sydney:
Pearson Education. Chapter 1: What is culture?
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