Dear Ones,

Did you know that high school students who have taken arts and music score an average of 100 points higher on their SAT's? Which might clue in those educators who are so interested in high test scores that their obsession with taking tests may not be the direction in which to shepherd the youngsters in their keep! What if we turned the emphasis of American education toward the arts or towards physics or towards metaphysical studies or peace studies? What then?

But who are those educators so interested in high test scores? None that I know of! Every teacher and administrator, to a one, that I know feels hamstrung by a system that insists on counting the true measure of a student by their ability to pencil in the proper little box in a staggering array of multiple choice questions on one arbitrary morning or afternoon of their life. It is the system that is at fault--a system which by its very nature (gargantuan) lumbers slowly and dumbly--toward what end?--while successfully dehumanizing the very children who are supposed to be its beneficiaries and the sole aim of its existence.

Something has to give, it seems to me. One possible antidote to a system that has become carried away by its own numbers is the hidden revolution in America--small pockets of parents who choose to educate their children at home. They are springing up everywhere, and doing such a competent job that their children grow up to become standouts at college and in their adult lives. They are the Mahatma Ghandis and the Mother Theresas and the Dorothy Days of our future. They are the ones who have learned to think for themselves. And they are the ones whose parents have allowed their kids' natural curiosity to bring them, often through the arts, to a place of true wonder, discovery and awe!

Watch for these little pockets of parents, attend their meetings, and listen to their ideas. They are taking back from the system the job of educating their children, often at the price of less affluence. They consider parenting their vocation. They are excited about what they are doing, and what they are doing is courageous. Feel free to join them. They are pioneers on the threshold of a new frontier.

We at Open Art wish them well, and support homeschoolers in any way we can!

Peace,

Judith Toy