Notes on Book X of Nicomachean Ethics

I am currently reading Philosophical Documents in Education, which is an anthology containing excerpts from, well, philosophical documents about education. My goal is to read one chapter per day. The chapters are not too long, so I think this is a reasonable goal for a busy mother to a small child.

Today's chapter contains excerpts from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Because I am a perfectionist and also a little shy about the value of my thoughts, I think it is best to dash off a quick post about the lines that I found most striking.

Aristotle is discussing raising virtuous children, and encouraging adults to continue being virtuous through legislation. Then he says, "Now it is best that there should be a public and proper care for such matters; but if they are neglected by the community it would seem right for each man to help his children and friends towards virtue, and that they should have the power, or at least the will, to do this."

My thought is that the current state of many public schools deserves the description "neglected by the community." Even if a lot of attention is being paid to public education, the result has not been "proper care." In that situation, Aristotle says it would seem right for each man [or woman?] to help his children toward virtue. This is why I am oriented toward homeschool.

The next paragraph continues with, "It would seem from what has been said that he can do this better if he makes himself capable of legislating." This is, in part, why I want to pursue a degree in public policy. How better to effect change? I don't want to enter education policy for my children; I believe that I can see to their education. But all children deserve a better education than what is available to many of them now.

Aristotle goes on: "Further, private education has an advantage over public, as private medical treatment has; for while in general rest and abstinence from food are good for a man in a fever, for a particular man they may not be; and a boxer presumably does not prescribe the same style of fighting to all his pupils. It would seem, then, that the detail is worked out with more precision if the control is private; for each person is more likely to get what suits his case."

I am simply struck by the elegant argument in favor of individualized attention. To me personally, this is an argument in support of homeschooling. I don't know what the idea translates to in terms of broader policy. School choice? Smaller class sizes? Less standardization? More freedom for teachers to be creative?