Are you stuck in the mindset that because you attended public school, your children should? Is that the best option for your children?
Agency-Based Education
We all know that every person on earth is different. Even within a family, there might be a resemblance in the children, but on the inside, every child is very unique and their needs and desires should be respected.
How can a public school modeled on mass outputs ever hope to achieve such customization? They can’t. The best a person can hope for inside any type of different school, is a little more leeway in the type of educational experience and content they desire.
What is agency?
Agency is defined as the quality of moving or of exerting power; the state of being in action.
In a nutshell, it’s self-determination. Every person on earth has to make many decisions every day. Our lives are shaped by the choices we make. Some choices open more doors for our future, while others shut doors and introduce consequences that are sometimes painful realizations of missed opportunities.
When agency is restricted, we are hostage to those that control our choices. We experience a loss of freedom and begin to become accustomed to the life of a slave.
We grow up and get a job in a system we were trained to become part of, and continue the pattern of being told what to do and when to do it. It’s a natural segue from school to work and this is by design. It’s the rare individual that uses their agency to create their own opportunities such as becoming an entrepreneur. In the structured absence of agency during our formative years, our ability to be self-determined individuals is very weak.
Principles of Agency-Based Education
Public schools run on a compulsory education model. Every child must attend (in the absence of other options) a public school for so many hours a year. They must learn what someone else has deemed important for them, regardless of personal belief or interest. They must advance at a rate predetermined by others, regardless of their ability or desire to learn a given subject. Personal freedom of choice is absent except in upper grades where a student might be able to choose some electives.
Several years ago we held a conference that brought some of the best minds together in education and brainstormed a core set of self-evident principles in education. An agency-based education:
- Must be based in choice and not compulsion
- Helps develop an internal moral compass as one fosters a recognition and love of truth
- Recognizes that truth best inspires when sought from original source materials
- Should be individualized to allow children to identify and develop their gifts and talents and discover their life’s missions
- Must recognize that parents have the sovereign stewardship to guide their children’s educational journey
The public education system fails all 5 points at present, though in the distant past, these principles were respected and honored by public schools.
As parents, we have a “fundamental liberty interest” in the education of our children as defined by law. Yet public administrators do not typically recognize this natural right. Thus it becomes imperative that parents take matters into their own hands to determine the best education for their child.
What are your options?
With the failure of the public school system to adequately provide for the real needs of individual students, parents must begin to look at what options exist for their children.
To better understand the unique needs of your children, I encourage you to watch this video from our 2019 Conference. Then I invite you to explore the site. Watch some of the past conference presentations. It’s a work in progress as I am revamping a number of things at the moment. Please get on the mailing list to stay in touch. There is a project coming that will be very valuable for parents.
Other Resources
This site is full of a wide variety of resources.
Click here to learn if homeschooling is right for you?
Click here to learn how to set up a private school.
Look at past conferences in the navigation bar at the top and click to see the presentations that catch your eye. We will soon have them all on a podcast as well so you can listen to them while you drive if it’s difficult to find time to watch them all.
