John Legend talks about education

Wednesday Oct 1, 2008 – by Zettler Clay

In the music stratosphere, John Legend’s name rings out. As a musician, he is as talented as they come. But something many people, including yours truly, did not know is that he was an Ivy Leaguer. You hear stories all the time about how music is good for a young child because it balances the child and provides them with a greater capacity to do math, reading, yada, yada, yada. So I asked John specifically about that, and here is what he had to say:

I mean, I can’t really compare myself now to what I would have been without music because I have always had music. But I would be lying if I said that it didn’t have a profound influence on my development as a person. The biggest part of my intellectual development came from my home schooling.

Legend was home schooled, private schooled and public schooled. He spoke on all three experiences: Public school gave him his social wings, so to speak, private school was education with a religious doctrine or what most of us know as a code for STRICT. Home school was perhaps most effective, but it did nothing for his shyness (A digression: Barack Obama also wrote about being home-schooled for a period in his life.)

So now I ask you, the readers of Clutch, which method of schooling do you see as being more potent for our leaders of tomorrow: the chaos of public schools, the pious and domineering of private school, or learning in your bungalow a few feet from your bed?

Ri says:

October 1, 2008 at 2:03 pm

Home schooling provides children an opportunity to learn at their own pace without having to “keep up” or “slow down” to stay in pace with a classroom. It allows a child to explore their own interests in a flexible and nurturing environment. The environment created through homeschooling nourishes a child’s natural love for learning.

I must admit that I’m biased. I was homeschooled through high school. My education at home set the stage for me to excel at a private, Christian university, and complete my education at a top public law school.

↑ Reply

asha says:

October 1, 2008 at 3:39 pm

i believe that there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to education. home-schooling may not be as effective for those that need the socialization, as public school may not be for those that need more individualized attention. i also wanted to note that there is a world of difference between private and parochial schools besides religion class but i won’t get into that now. each offers great opportunities. but i must add that our taxes pay for public school so we should not be so quick to discount public school in favor of private or parochial school. instead of just pulling our kids out of public school, we need to start holding the Board of Ed more accountable, which means doing more than attending than PTA meetings.

i was blessed with the opportunity to attend private and parochial (Catholic) elementary schools in my neighborhood (lower/middle class Queens) before going onto an all-girls parochial (Catholic) high school and then onto a HBCU. i’d like to believe that my education was very diversified and it complemented the education i received at home and at church.

dee says:

October 1, 2008 at 11:38 pm

I’ve been in private schools (catholic) my whole life..(elementary, middle, high school, & college) so i’m pretty biased towards that. The public schools in my area have always been terrible so I’m glad Ive never had to go to one and when I have kids, I’ll won’t send them to public schools either. Home schooling doesn’t seem to me to give kids enough socialization

ericka says:

October 2, 2008 at 12:14 am

The fact that home-schooled kids have no form of socialization is the BIGGEST myth about homeschooling. My husband & I home-school our son, and he is one of the most sociable kids at the playground & has plenty of playmates!!! LOL. Homeschooling may not be for everybody, but please know that most home-schooled kids…when done right are just as sociable as public schooled children and they tend to interact with people of different ages quite well & tend to know and be in touch with their real interests well before most public high school students because usually the teaching of many subjects are centered around the childs interest! One of the best resources for African American Home & Un-schooling can be found here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfAmUnschool/

Dionne says:

October 2, 2008 at 3:22 pm

The only thing I fear about home schooling is the socialization. Not saying that all home school children are socially awkward, but the ones I know are. It does give the parent a chance to instill values and teach their children, so if done right, which is the operative word, it could work. Also, going back to being done correctly, you have to make sure the parents have a good understanding of what they’re teaching. Public school is great for socialization, but the state of public education is horrendous, while private school may not be fiscally available for everyone. It really just comes down to what the parents want and think is best for their child. So in all cases, there’s no one answer, it just depends on the case.

Zettler Clay says:

October 2, 2008 at 5:38 pm

The biggest question is, how do you blend the positives of all three institutions and offset the negatives? Does a coalition need to be formed to come out and change the whole structure of schooling? Because the current educational system isn’t working, at least from where I’m from…