Do we really need an expert to tell us what to think?

I just heard that Dr. Phil is going to weigh in on homeschooling this week on his show. Why, oh why, does anyone care what Dr. Phil has to say about homeschooling? I don't know much about him other than he has a pretty funny pop-psych shtick and says stuff like 'that dog won't hunt' and such. But were his children homeschooled? Does he have personal experience with homeschooling or homeschooling families? Why would we have an interest in his opinion?

I think it is just a symptom of our culture's expert dependency (not to mention celebrity worship, but that is for another day.) We want an expert opinion before we form and trust our own opinions. I think alot of that is a result of our public school upbringing. We are trained from a young age to listen obediently to authority, trust all the information poured into us and not question what those in charge of us say or do. (If you are interested in reading more about that read some of the writings of John Taylor Gatto . ) That training makes us look for an authority to tell us what to do or an expert who we can rely on. Making independent decisions, questioning authority and solving our own problems creates anxiety, we are so carefully trained not to think for ourselves. Kind of ironic that we have to be retrained later in life to "think outside the box", when the system has so carefully trained us to stay safely in the box and wait for the expert to validate us.

I am on the board of a statewide homeschooling organization and one of our goals is to empower homeschoolers with knowledge and encourage them to have the confidence to handle any issues they may encounter along the way. Homeschooling is absolutely and completely legal and if we know the law, there is no need for a lawyer and nothing to fear from school officials or social workers. Kids are designed to learn and it doesn't take an educational expert (aka teacher :-) to help them learn what they need to know. I think part of the homeschooling journey is the thrill of freedom (morethanfine!) that comes when we realize we don't really need an expert after all, maybe just a few friendly veterans homeschoolers will do the trick!

If you don't know any, may I suggest:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HEM-Networking/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AHA-Discussion/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/unschooling-dotcom/

See ya on the lists!