Homeschooling: Worth Doing Badly
Can I Homeschool? G. K. Chesterton and Why It’s Worth Doing “Badly.”
There is a well-known quote from G.K. Chesterton: “If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.” While this quote itself is quite famous, what is less well-known is that the context of the quote was a discussion about the role of parents in education. What did Chesterton mean by this saying, and how is it relevant to homeschooling?
Education: The Professional Vs. the Generalist
Throughout his writings, Chesterton frames modernity as a conflict between the “Professional” and the “Generalist.” The Professional is he who has attained specialized knowledge about a subject through scientific study; the Generalist is the regular person, the everyday schlub who might not have book learning but has a hardy dose of common sense. There is, nevertheless, a paradox here.
The Professional’s knowledge is exceptionally narrow, sometimes too much so, causing him to miss the big picture. He is likely to miss the forest for the trees. The Generalist takes a more intuitive approach to life. He has no specialized knowledge, but a broad, generalized knowledge that encompasses the whole. It is more organic, more integrated. Chesterton consistently defended the Generalist against the Professional, especially when it came to the most fundamental things about life.
To be sure, there are some things we want a specialist to handle (such as brain surgery or building an airplane engine), but Chesterton vigorously defends the competence of the common person to order the fundamentals of their lives as they see fit, trusting in their down-to-earth common sense. Chesterton was alarmed at what he saw as the increasing professionalization of life, where everyday tasks that were traditionally the domain of common people—including the education of children—are handed over to specialists.
Competency of Parents
“If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly” comes from his 1910 masterpiece What’s Wrong With the World. In Chapter 14 of the section entitled “Education: Or, the Mistake About the Child,” Chesterton critiques the increasing tendency of education to be relegated to the realm of so-called “experts.”
Traditionally, education was conducted at home. Mothers typically handled education in domestic matters, while fathers would educate sons in the trades. Education was a matter that was well within the parents’ competency to administer. These things learned at home are among the most essential things in life. It is precisely because of this that we do not want them handed over to narrow-minded, pedantic Professionals.
In another classic work, Orthodoxy, Chesterton says, “the most terribly important things must be left to ordinary men themselves–the mating of the sexes, the rearing of the young, the laws of the state.” When it comes to the bedrock of society, the ordinary people, the “Generalists” are the most competent.
Motherhood and the Education of Children
When it comes to the rearing and education of children, the mother plays a key role here. As a parent, she is the quintessential “Generalist.” She does not educate her children for money, or professional prestige, or to advance the science of education. Rather, she does it for love. She does it because she wants to. And these things, done out of love, are the most essential to humanity in creating a society of well-rounded, flourishing people.
Of course, there are going to be bumps along the way. Some days you will be tired. Some days you will second-guess yourself. Sometimes, you will struggle to explain a concept and require outside assistance. Some days you will cut class short. Some days, you may very well question whether a “professional” couldn’t handle things better. Sometimes you may feel like throwing in the towel. But these challenges do not negate the value of what you are doing.
Chesterton believed that a mother’s role in educating her children was so central to the child’s well-being (and to a healthy society) that it was worth her doing—even if it was bumpy and imperfect.
Homeschooling “Badly”
You do not need to aspire to the sterile precision of the Professional’s classroom, with its scientifically-determined curricula and credentialed expertise. Homeschooling parents are not paid pedagogues, but loving Generalists.
Yes, it may be messy at times. You may have to review fractions while baking bread, teach history through bedtime stories, or model virtue as you mediate sibling squabbles. Even weariness and distractions occasionally pull you from the ideal lesson plan. Yet, the heartfelt love you infuse into this imperfect endeavor will far outweigh any flaw.
Your bumpy, salt-of-the-earth homeschool is precisely the kind of organic, integrated wisdom Chesterton championed. It is this very amateur devotion that safeguards your child’s soul from the narrow, clinical focus of the Professional. This is the context of Chesterton’s famous saying, “If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.” The education of the young, being supremely worth doing, thrives not in flawless execution by so-called educational experts, but in the faithful, fumbling hands of parents who rightfully claim it as their own.
What are your thoughts on this topic? You can join me and other Catholic home educators in the Homeschool Connections Facebook Group or in the HSC Community. I’d love to continue this conversation with you there.
