Here are two questions:
What if it could be proven that the child learns nothing in a Prussian-model government school? Would you still support paying up to $30,000 per year per child for a schooling program that was nearly completely ineffective?
What if it could be proven that** no **child ( academically successful or illiterate and innumerate) learns anything significant in a Prussian model government school?
A Stanford professor of education once e-mailed me a told me that studies have **never** been done to show **where** a child is learning and **who** is doing the teaching! Is it the teacher or parents, tutors and the child himself? Is it the prison-like school or in the home?
I ask these questions because it is my anecdotal observation that academically successful children ( whether institutionalized or homeschooled) are doing the **same** amount of formal studying at the kitchen table **in the home**! Their families also share very similar home habits and value for education.
So?...Both groups of academically successful kids ( home and institutionalized) are achieving the same levels of literacy and numeracy but one group ( homeschooled) does not go to school.
My conclusion:
Maybe, just maybe, the school is doing ***nothing***! Maybe, just maybe, we spend up to $30,000/year/child on a schooling program that is completely ineffective!
Maybe, just maybe, the only thing government institutionalization does is send home a very expensive curriculum that the academically successful child, parents, and tutors follow **in the home**!
Like I said, I don’t like public schools either and would like to see them disbanded, Honestly, the district I came from wasn’t all that good even 50 plus years ago when I was a student. But at least back then, we learned something valuable along with the indoctrination. Today kids learn that the US was the aggressor in World War II but they can’t read, write, do math or fill out a job application.
But my point was that parents have the obligation to ensure their child get an education somehow...if not in public school, then in private or parochial schools or at home. Just enrolling your child in a public school, and then not making sure the kid actually attends does the child no good, unless you want your child being 35 and living in your basement.