What’s The Rush?

What’s the rush? I find myself asking this question more and more. Maybe it’s because I’m facing the empty nest and wanting to hang on to what I know and enjoy as long as possible but I would prefer to think it has to do with the experience I have gained over the past 27 years of home schooling. Specifically, what’s the rush to graduate our teenagers and enroll them in college while they are still so impressionable?

I begin to think about this question every year at this time. We are nearing the end of this school year and I start looking forward to what new adventures we will encounter during the next school year. My youngest child will be my only student. He is of the age that many of his peers and their parents get excited about dual credit enrollment in the local community college.

I’ve seen the dual credit enrollment movement grow from nothing to what seems like the best deal in town. When my oldest was in high school, I approached the local community college with the idea of my son attending the college while still in high school. I was greeted with astonishment that I would even suggest such a thing. In fact, I was asked, “So you want me to do your job for you?” It has been interesting how something that seemed totally ridiculous just 15 or so years ago would be so common place now.

Today, the concept of dual enrollment is popular among both public schools and home schools. The idea that a student can receive his AA before receiving his high school diploma sounds so wonderful. Who wouldn’t think that was a great idea? Well…me…I have a few questions.

One of the reasons we chose to educate our children at home was to protect them from the influences of peers, teachers, curricula that have very different values than ours. I know that at some point we must let our children leave the safety of our home but I have to ask, “What’s the rush?” Why would I want my 16 year old to attend classes with students much older than they are? Why would I want to prematurely have my teenager taught by a teacher who not only believes differently than our family on things we consider very important but actively wants to influence my son to follow him? What advantage is there of doing this now instead of waiting a couple of years? A couple of years that I know from experience allows for greater maturity and more time to establish his view of what is right and wrong?

One of the selling points for dual credit enrollment is the cost. Our local community college charges $385 per 3 hour course for district residents. The same community college charges $99.99 per 3 hour course for dual enrollment. That sounds enticing! If I send my 16 year old to this school, he not only gets college credit while he’s in high school but it costs a lot less. In fact, it costs nearly half as much as it will cost if he waits two years and attends as a traditional student. I have to ask, “Why?” Why do they charge less for high school students but full price for traditional students? The college website says that they are investing in our area’s future. Maybe, but if they are really interested in investing in our future, why don’t they charge everyone $99.99? Why are they giving the break to the high school students? I suspect it has something to do with getting the students into the colleges to have an influence on, not only their core beliefs, but also the path they take through life. For my son, at 18 years old that would be great but at the tender age of 16 or 17 I ask again, “What’s the rush?”

Another selling point for dual credit enrollment is early graduation. By completing or nearly completing his AA before graduating high school, he will be able to graduate college a couple of years early as well. What could possibly be wrong with that? Well, you guessed it. I want to ask, “What’s the rush?” What benefit is there to graduating early? What is the next logical step? They get a job and begin, as the young folks say today, adulting. Unless there is some sort of family difficulty that requires my son to begin adulthood early, I don’t see it as a benefit. I have 4 sons who have graduated college and are now in the working world. I don’t think waiting to enter college has hindered their career choices or their income or anything else. Instead of starting his lifelong activity of going to work everyday, I would prefer to see my teen spend more time learning. Learning things that school can’t or won’t teach him. Learning for the joy of learning instead of for credit on a transcript. Learning a trade. Learning a hobby. Spending lots of time perfecting skills that will be useful to him when he does step out into the adult world. Dual credit enrollment involves, instead of learning what he loves and what interests him, learning what the school requires…what the school considers important. I think waiting a couple of years before checking off the list of things required for a degree will not hinder his “adulting” years at all.

Home schoolers tend to be independent thinkers doing independent things for their children. I have to wonder what is the motivation behind encouraging their children to follow the path of dual enrollment. I think it is peer pressure. Home school moms are very susceptible to peer pressure. They love their children. They want the best for them but they are told by society and by themselves that they are not qualified to educate their children. What better way to prove that she is qualified than to be able to say that her child graduated from college before he was 20? The “ooohs” and “aaahs”, the “Great job, mom,” she hears from her peers are irresistible. After all those years of questioning her ability to teach her children, she has been validated by showing the world her child can make it in the “real” world and get there early. I know this to be true because it is the reason I was at the admissions office of our local community college 15 years ago with my oldest son. I had heard of home scholers graduating from high school as young as 11 years old. I wasn’t asking that much. I didn’t want to graduate my son at 11 but attending college early would be so impressive.

I ask again, “What’s the rush?” Why do we want our children to enter adulthood early? Is it for money? Is it for prestige? Now that I am once again facing the decision to dual credit or not, I am confident with what experience has taught me. There is no amount of money that would encourage me to send my child to a school before he was ready. Even with all the peer pressure I feel to encourage early graduation I want my child to spend these next couple of years broadening his interests and experiences with out-of-classroom activities and with independent learning. I want him to explore lots of ideas and beliefs in the safety of our home. I want him to be so grounded in truth that by the time he finally enters the college classroom he can withstand whatever influences he may encounter.