In the USA, homeschooling is permitted in all states – unlike in Germany, where school attendance is generally compulsory. Around three million American children are taught at home, and the number has risen sharply, especially during the corona pandemic.
The reasons for this are very different. Some parents do not want to send their child to school for religious reasons, while others hope that lessons at home will provide them with a better education. However, the reason Kris Krohn gives is quite unusual. The influencer and father of four claims that he decided to take his child out of school when he saw the teacher. The teacher was very overweight. From this, Krohn deduces that the woman is “lacking energy” and “depressed” – and therefore not a good influence for his child.
“You probably spend more time with my child during the day than I do. And I worry about the influence you have on him,” he told the teacher. What the teachers teach the children is not primarily what is written in the books, but rather what they themselves demonstrate.
Krohn himself is a big advocate of homeschooling – an emotional and often ideological debate in the United States. The American mostly posts videos on business topics, motivational tips and parenting on his TikTok and Instagram accounts. What bothers him about the US school system is that most teachers are “uninspired” and have jobs that are too secure. He prefers to be able to choose the teachers for his children himself.
He selects the “coolest, most experienced, fittest” teachers. His requirements: The teachers would have to teach his children “meaning, fulfillment and happiness”. What is particularly important to him is the personal experience they bring with them. “A great teacher is in their 40s or 50s, knows the world and can still build a good relationship with a child,” he explains.
Certainly a job description that many parents would share – but you also have to be able to afford such home schooling. In normal everyday school life, such a strict selection of personnel is often hard to think of. In this respect, Krohn speaks from an extremely privileged perspective: According to his own statement, he pays his children’s teachers between 70,000 and 80,000 US dollars a year.
No matter how you feel about homeschooling, it is the condescending way in which Krohn speaks about the teacher that upsets many users. Someone says it’s “horrifying” to judge someone’s abilities based on their appearance. “What if she has a disability? Does that make her a bad teacher?” writes another user. Many people also point out that many teachers at public schools do their job with passion despite poor pay.
Sources: Kris Krohn on TikTok / National Home Education Research Institute
