by Samuel Jones

Created on: April 20, 2008

"You know we can force you to go to school?" That was what the education authorities asked me, when all other avenues had failed. I asked them how.

"We'll send someone to pick you up, walk you to school, wait outside your class and make sure you stay the entire day before walking you home."

I thought about this, at the tender age of eleven. I asked them if they had anyone willing to physically fight me all day, every day, every step of the way to school, and pointed out that while I was free to do whatever I wanted, the luckless person sent to drag me to school was forbidden to hurt me. I was only a child, but the authorities realised I was deadly serious. They looked at each other, thought about it, and suggested my mother contact Education Otherwise.

The common assumption of teachers and parents is that school is compulsory and that the only viable way to educate a child is through formal schooling. There comes a point, however, when it is clearly not in the child's best interest. My problems at school began when my teacher had a serious car accident. Despite being on medication and weekly dialysis, she returned to teaching and proceeded to single me out from the class as a 'problem student'. My first experience of bullying originated with this teacher, who singled me out as 'problem child'. My mother protested to the school, who sympathised and admitted the teacher's changed character and dubious judgement, but took the line that they had to support their staff through difficult times.

The only option was to move schools; as the 'new kid', I was quickly singled out for bullying by other children. Since my grandfather was a boxing coach and had enrolled me early in martial arts classes, attempts at physical bullying only resulted in my being identified again as a 'problem child'. By the time I reached secondary school, I was still being bullied, now from a safe distance of thirty yards. The school took no action, advising me that reading books set me apart from the other kids and made me a target. Naturally, I developed a total phobia of school and refused to go, preferring to study history, English, goegraphy, science and philosophy at home.

Only when I joined Education Otherwise, socialising with other school-refusers and home-educated kids, did my experience of education improve. I took my GCSEs and A-levels through college, attained good grades in English, Law and Sociology, and became the youngest qualified paralegal in the UK at the age of seventeen. I also achieved a black belt in Karate and went on to teach, a career that I pursued until my interest in writing blossomed into a professional freelance occupation. Other people I met through alternative education have gone on to be successful musicians and film makers; one boy I knew became a professor of ancient languages. Conversely, the only person I know who succeeded through conventional education went to a public school in Wilmslow.

Home Education is not for everyone; working parents may simply not have the time or resources, while a child may have special needs that require specialist support the parents cannot provide alone. However, for many children Home Education provides the environment to pursue creative interests that a school environment cannot. Gifted children in particular are ill-served by systemized education that can only accomodate the average.

Clearly, the assumption that school-phobia can only be treated in school is fallacious; primary socialisation and learning are the domain of the family, and it is primarily there that children learn the necessary skills to thrive in adult life.

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