Viral Posts...

Sue Patterson

I’ve never had a post “go viral” - until this week.
And it’s not really been that nice!

I noticed that it was starting to happen prior to my group coaching call on Wednesday.
I talked about it a little there, and decided I should talk with you about it here too.

I’m not sure if you do social media or we’re just connected here at the blog or via email.
But I’ve had Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest accounts for almost 10 years.
Throughout the year, I share a variety of posts:

Encouraging graphics I’ve either found or created,
Uplifting posts about parenting or how children learn,
Promotions about resources I’ve created for the community,
Links to articles/blogoposts I think unschoolers would like to see,
And memes.

To be honest, memes are what people engage with the most. I can feel the quiet nods as people see my other posts but scroll on by. My daughter, Katie, (did you know she works behind the scenes helping me manage a lot of this?) selects memes based on the season, or the monthly holiday. Then I write up a little bit that correlates with the selection.

In August, we typically go with the NOT Back-to-School theme. I’ve collected/created a ton of memes about this over the years. So many we can’t even post them all in one month, even if we did one every day!

If you want to see a bunch, I have them here at the bottom of this page.

Memes are relatable visuals, often scroll-stoppers. And sometimes the humor is...snarky.

And an interesting thing happened when I posted this one:

Over 3 MILLION people have seen it.
And over 300K have interacted with the post... so far.

For those commenting (2.5K+), it’s about a 50/50 split on whether they like it or not.

But when they DON’T like it, WHOAAA! The vitriol is flying.
And the shaming. And the cuss words! And the rage!
I’ve tried to remove or hide the most offensive ones, but I’m sure some are still there.

So here’s why I’m bringing this to you:

Humans see through their own lenses. It’s unavoidable.
We are at a certain point in our life and we see something differently than maybe when we are at another point in our life.

This meme is not about:

Being anti-teacher.
Or being anti-family who chooses public school.
Or being divisive.

It’s a meme about conformity.
It’s a visual representation of one of the reasons some of us may have made the choice to step away from school. And it’s about the systemic problem that we have all seen in the schools trying to standardize everything.
I remember when we left the school system, feeling they were trying to file everyone down to a nice mediocre. 🤨

About the Teachers

A lot of people wanted to defend the teachers... these were primarily the Shamers.

How could I say share that when "they work so hard!"?

But people also shared their not-so-great experiences in a classroom.
All teachers are not wonderful. And even if they were, the system itself hides behind the Good Teachers!

Kind of like the Wizard of Oz... "Don't look behind that curtain!"

Because Good Teachers are often not allowed to do what they see is needed...the ever-chugging-along System is the priority.
Not the learner. Not the Good Teacher.

A few people understood the intent...

Our Little Corner of the Internet

So few places exist for Unschoolers to speak openly about how we feel about our decision to not do school.

The Unschooling Mom2Mom platform is one tiny little corner of the world where we can say what we want, while the rest of the world screams about going back to school.

It’s one tiny spot to articulate what we are thinking and why we are choosing the path we do.

Sometimes with witty quips, tongue-in-cheek commentary, or snarky memes.

But when I opt to post those, the rage from the masses rises.

We are considered the divisive and problematic ones.

I didn't “boost” the post, or promote it with ads. This particular meme has been shared all over the internet for over a decade. It's not new. And I didn't create it myself.

I’m not posting this on anyone’s back-to-school photos or School Facebook pages. Only on our own Unschooling Mom2Mom page.

Most people can’t post these kinds of things on their personal pages - they have friends and relatives they don’t want to upset. So they opt to remain silent about their viewpoint.

Seeing it over at Unschooling Mom2Mom offers a little reassurance and acceptance for those who think these thoughts, but can’t share openly.

Many of us wouldn't choose this path if school had been perfectly fine.

Think about this...

When people come over to say how they hate homeschooling or they hate me for sharing this, I want to ask:

Would you go to a Vegan page and say,

"Hey, I think you’re wrong. Chicken is sooo good! Don't knock it!"

You would never!

But people have no problem telling me to be nicer, or be quiet.
And I think that’s wrong.

People who like school should probably not hang out on unschooling pages during this Back-to-School season. Too many people are prickly about their decision. When the Back-to-School Season stops, our posts about NOT going back to school (and why) will die down. Pretty much.