I recently heard someone comment on how home schooling was one of those “grass roots” movements as if being a “grass roots” movement was a bad thing. Then I thought about it, and I realized he’s right! Grass roots movements simply have to stop! After all, consider earlier historical efforts in grass-rootism.
Grass roots movements cause wars! About 200 or so years ago, these people decided that it was unfair to be taxed without having a say in the government. They start talking about it and before you know it–poor England has a grass roots movement on their hands that then leads to war.
Grass roots movements always lead to poor and undesirable outcomes. A while back in history, some women got to thinking that maybe they were as smart as the men folk. So they started reading, and getting ideas and before you know it–one of those grass roots movements ended up giving women the right to vote. I can see how we wouldn’t want that.
And as if this isn’t the ultimate in grass roots activism–some lady refuses to give up her seat on the bus because she’s black. Now we have desegregation of schools and our country enjoys a relative tolerance unprecedented around the world.
Yes, grass roots movements are responsible for the Civil Rights movement, women’s suffrage, and even the American Revolutionary War. Many of the freedoms we enjoy are a result of some little nobody somewhere deciding to advocate for what he believed in.
So is home schooling a grass roots movement? I suppose it is. I suppose it is the result of numerous parents rejecting the conditions of public schools. What will be the awful result of this grass roots movement? A better educated generation? Better public education forced through by educational choice? I cannot fathom.
One more interesting thing about grass roots movements. At the time, they always seem foolish to the “main stream”–until they become the accepted ideology.
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