Expanding the meaning of homeschooling
BevK February 12th, 2007
Definitions of the term homeschooling vary according to who is using the term. Public schools like to call their programs that allow children to learn from home homeschooling. Others would tell you that is not homeschooling. I was reading an article in the New York Times that included the term home-schooling. It came up in my normal news searches for homeschool news. The title of the article seemed like it could be a homeschool story, so I followed the link. Where’d You Go to Film School? In My Bedroom
WHEN David Basulto decided to become a movie producer, the first thing he did was enroll in a class at a film school in Los Angeles. The second thing he did was drop out.
“I absolutely didn’t learn a damn thing from the course I took, so I went out and bought a couple of books,” Mr. Basulto said. Home-schooling worked where the classroom failed. After 45 days Mr. Basulto, who is 41, had raised enough money to produce his first feature, “18 Shades of Dust,” directed by Danny Aiello III, and had written off the traditional filmmaking education process for good.
This isn’t the first instance I’ve seen of the term home-schooling applied to someone who learns something on their own. I’m not sure what I think about this usage. Although I believe that learning should be a lifetime habit, and I have certainly done my share of learning at home, I’m not sure I like the notion of home-schooling being used for non K-12 students. But on the other hand, I do kind of like the notion because more people might just get a truer understanding that learning doesn’t require a teacher teaching. So, I’m undecided. I’d welcome others comments on the topic in the comment section for this post.
