Genericization and homeschooling

At the risk of sounding like the Grammar Police, or raising the ire of those who didn’t like the We Stand for Homeschooling statement, I’m adding the new category of “genericization” to the blog’s category listings. This category will be the dumping ground for articles that appear in my Google alerts under the category of “homeschooling” (or one of the variants), but aren’t about homeschooling.

In the same Google news alert that included the article from the Philippines that follows, there was a California article whose author used the term “home-schooling” to describe tutoring. After I read the California article, which was first in that list, I decided to pass on specifically blogging the misuse of ‘homeschool’ instead of ‘tutor’ because of the sensitivity of the overall subject. But then the next article was, again, a ‘non homeschool’ article in a ‘homeschool alert.’ I threw that resolution out the window.

• INQ7.net, Makati City, Philippines, 5 June 2006, Home schooling catches on in RP

  The semi-regular program, under which most of the students are enrolled, is very similar to typical schools, in which classes are held from Tuesday to Friday between 9:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. at the Talent Center Building in the ABS-CBN compound in Quezon City.

  The home school program, on the other hand, requires students to come to school only during the periodic tri-mestral exams, to submit their projects or participate in special school activities.

Children receiving an education by whatever means they can is not in question, only (at this point) the use of the varieties of the term ‘homeschooling’ to describe everything from tutoring by public school teachers to public school programs delivered from a distance (or not much of a distance, as with the program in the Philippines).

In magazines about writing, articles about genericization are regularly published. Kleenex, Xerox, Rollerblade and Google want to try to avoid the fates of aspirin, linoleum and trampoline, items that went from the names of particular products, to generic descriptors pain relief pills, floor coverings, and jumping devices.

Even though no one owns a trademark on the variations of the H-word, there still may be people who stand to lose … something … if the meaning (even within a living language) changes.

The use of a particular word brings up a specific mental picture. If words didn’t do this, much of language would be useless. “Zog! Rock! Fall!” If the picture that the word ‘homeschooling’ conjures in the mind changes from that of families independently choosing their educational path to that of someone else calling the educational shots for the families, the effect of the change could act just like over-compliance does when authorities who have regulatory power over homeschooling families ask for more than the law allows, and families comply with the request. The usage sets precedent and changes the expected actions.

If the independent flavor that seems to be intrinsic in ‘homeschooling’ is lost through the word’s use as a synonym for ‘tutor’ or ‘distance instruction’ or whatever other developments arise on the educational scene, could that lead to the disappearance of the concept of families independently educating their children? There are already indications that, in some areas, homeschooling has peaked (for the moment), despite the many articles by reporters who’ve only just discovered homeschoolers in their community’s back yards.

• Ohio Home Education Coalition, October 2003, Homeschoolers: Numbers and Yearly Percent Change

(Now, of course, I notice that there are no reasons given for the decrease in the numbers of homeschoolers in the states where numbers are available. If someone has the cash to underwrite a study, I’ll be happy to blog it.)

I don’t comment on the broadening, again, of the use of the varieties of the word homeschooling just to keep the concept highlighted. Google’s alert service keeps dumping the situation in my in-box. If homeschoolers don’t make clear the difference, who will?

Articles of a similar nature from my only-just-looked-at Google “homeschool, home-school, home school” alerts are:

• United Press International, 5 June 2006, More families let someone else homeschool
• Taiwan Headlines, Taipei, Taiwan, 5 June 2006, Disability leads tribesman to lend a hand for children’s education
• Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, 5 June 2006, Home school for elite
• Homer News, Homer, Alaska, 8 June 2006, Home-school program graduates 24 Homer students
• Hickory Daily Record, Hickory, North Carolina, 9 June 2006, From coma to diploma
• Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, 12 June 2006, School offers new twist on classical education

and the world gets stranger, still …

• Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah, 6 June 2006, Bountiful Summer– An afternoon with the children of polygamists

and some stories are just advertisements

• PR Web, 9 Jun 2006, Home Schooling Happens Even if the Child Attends Public Schools

Tags: Grammar Police, homeschooling, Ohio Home Education Coalition, Quezon City

This entry was posted on June 13, 2006 at 3:34 pm and is filed under News-Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.