Questions of Leadership

I love the way Valerie frames the question at her Happy as Kings blog: Are Homeschooling Mothers Human? Of course, she immediately explains the title of her post in this comment: “the exclusion of women in some homeschooling circles from the fullness of adult human concerns — reminds me why I continue to re-read Dorothy Sayers’ book, Are Women Human? “

Valerie’s post references the same post on Spunky’s blog which I commented on and linked to yesterday, but Valerie delves into the second part of the post, beyond the initial reference to the forthcoming documentary. That’s the part I skipped, for reasons I don’t remember. It’s the part detailing a leadership summit to be held in Indiana next March, ostensibly to “lay out a vision for home education in the 21st Century.” Only men are welcome to attend. No women. No females. No mothers. No moms.

Okay, I skipped blogging about it yesterday because I sort of agreed with Spunky’s reply to someone in the comments to her post: “…I understand the motivation behind an all mens leadership summit. For men involved in patriarchal homeschooling, only men can lead.”

Just so. If a bunch of men want to get together somewhere and do whatever it is they do, what business is it of mine? Live and let live and all that…

But Valerie, bless her heart, reminded me why that’s not the best approach to take. Her analysis: “The idea of leadership belonging only to one gender — and with the underscore that sons are valued, but not the women who not only gave birth to these younger males, but who have raised them — does not (to me) support HOMEschooling. To me, “home = parents + kids”, not “home = hierarchy in which one gender controls the other.”

Hmmm. I suggest you click over and read Valerie’s entire post – here’s the link again. Like most of Valerie’s, it’s a good post, thoughtful and thought-provoking. But just in case you decide not to click over there and read it, I at least want to repeat her astute final sentence: “Excluding mothers from helping to form “a vision for home education in the 21st Century” is a monumental act of hubris, as if the women whose adult lives have focused on educating their children do not have the same human desire to see educational freedom maintained.”

There’s an important underlying reason why I’m revisiting this, but I’m still wrestling with what I want to say about it. I should have my thinking properly sorted out by tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Tags: homeschool, homeschooling, Spunky, Valerie Moon