Posted on 06/22/2005 11:14:18 AM PDT by hsmomx3
"So are you against all regulations?"
Those which are not constitutional should not be easily considered. Formal education, per se, is not a consitutional right. That said, true homeschoolers are looking of more for their children than that which is provided by the public schools. Not less education, but rather MORE education.
"What's wrong with setting up standards, so people know what to expect when they are setting up their homeschool curriculum?"
Nothing. But such regulations are set by colleges, universities, trade schools, and employers. The reason one becomes educated is to become a productive member of society, and the destinations the kids find themselves in determine the skill sets they need.
"stards"? Wow, gotta get the ol' fingers moving: standards, I meant...
need a homeschool ping...
Tom Horne isn't going to be much help on this.
Having spoken to him directly on this issue numerous times, his position is clear. On the one hand, he says that he supports homeschooling. On the other, he belives we should have some sort of regulation in place.
Typical politician.
Unfortunately, there are bad home-schooling situations, and there are good ones.
I know of some parents that just don't put their kids in school so they can sleep late and not have to worry about getting their kids to and from school.
Most of the homeschooling parents that I know are not this way, but I know a few are.
You think the same people who preside over the failing public schools should set the standards for homeschoolers ?
They have just the formula. (sarcasm) After all, it worked on the kids who drop out of public school at age 16, don't know how to read or do simple arithmetic. But that's OK when the public schools have failures. God forbid homeschoolers should. Homeschooler failures are far more severe than bureaucracy failures - we only affect one family at a time, whereas the government can screw up an entire community all at once !
Your real problem is one that many so-called conservatives in this country have as well. You think a government bureaucracy (it's for the CHILDREN!) has better intentions for each individual than those immersed with the individual.
When will people ever understand that government workers are just people - as fallible as any other ? And more prone to failure simply BECAUSE they are not allowed to tailor solutions to individuals.
I think having the homeschoolers take yearly acheivement tests is a reasonable regulation.
I know that homeschoolers in California have to take that, and it seems reasonable.
If I were a parent that was homeschooling, I would want them to take the tests to see how they measure up to other kids.
"I think having the homeschoolers take yearly acheivement tests is a reasonable regulation."
Why?
"If I were a parent that was homeschooling, I would want them to take the tests to see how they measure up to other kids."
They do. They just aren't administered by the state.
How will the government minders in the public schools brainwash these children or prey on them sexually if they aren't monitored by the state? Of course, if this monitoring and testing is done, it will only prove how superior the homeschooled children are...doh!
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2005-03-16-remedial_x.htm
Included in the recommendations: A proposal for the Arizona Department of Education to monitor homeschooled students.
Translation:
Homeschoolers are showing up the goobmint shools so badly that they have to do something to eliminate the competition that is making them look bad and what better way to do it than to regulate it to death and bring the homeschoolers standards down as low as the goobmint shools are.
The horrors of a child not being constantly monitored by the state. Well, we are all socialists now. It seems.
The problem that I see is that you have a parent homeschooling their kid.
The parent doesn't really know how to compare academics with other kids, and thinks it's normal for a child to have trouble reading in first/second grade. If the kid never has any testing, then the parent may not know that the child is in trouble until it is way toooo late to do something about it.
I have a special needs kid, so I like testing to see how she is doing compared to other kids her age.
However, I know some parents of kids in public school who have been told their kids have problems, and the parents are in total denial. Since the kids are in public school, there are checks and balances to help the special needs kids. However, what if a parent is in denial about it and they are homeschooling their kid.
I think it is the compulsory kowtowing of the superiors (us) to the inferiors (them) that has people's collars getting tight.
Plus, since thay want oversight and that demands a warm body or so, they'll demand funding to provide this oversight, thus providing more money for public schools, more union workers, and more dues for political purposes.
Then the child is getting a superior education via the tutorial method - something that produced a lot of great leaders and visionaries in the history of this country and the world - in politics, science, and elsewhere.
Who is likelier to use learning methods/curriculums that work - the parent who has choices, or the teacher who is locked into a curriculum chosen by the school ?
Who cares more about a child - the parents, or the bureaucracy ?
I was a B/C student in public school, with the occasional A. Somehow, though, I made an 1100 on the SAT, no prep course, and a certain Texas-based Agricultural and Mechanical university (to remain nameless) was eager to take me in. I have found that if I am reasonably competent and willing to learn skills on-the-job, that's a very valuable thing. My mediocre Public School performance would belie that reality.
Learning the assembly-line way, via PS, is not the way for all people. Indeed, the flexibilty of HS allows for cementing an idea that needs to be learned, rather than forcing a student to be left behind as PS often does.
Unfortunately, many parents do not know how to tell if their kid has a learning disability.
I have a daughter with brain damage, so we know there are issues with her. However, there are lots of kids that just struggle with education, and no one does anything about it.
At least with minimum testing, maybe some of these problems can be caught early on, and the child can get some extra help.
Even with kids in private and public school, these issues still get over-looked. I know several kids that I think have some learning disabilities that the parents are just glossing over. One has their kid in private school, and the parents are basically paying off the school to pass him. He just finished 5th grade, and my brain-damaged daughter that just finished 2nd grade can read better than him.
I also know of several parents in public school that have ignored the teachers when the teachers have told them to hold back their kid. The kid isn't passing, but the parents insist on putting the kid up a grade.
I also know of a parent whose 3rd grade child was struggling in school, just barely hanging on. The parent didn't know what was going on, and the school was not helping. I suggested having him tested, and they found out that the kid is dyslexic.
Unfortunately, some parents are lazy, just like some teachers.
I like the idea of homeschooling, and in fact it may be an option for my children in the future. I am not against homeschooling, but I also don't want kids to fall through the cracks in either public, private, or homeschooling.
When the Arizona Department of Education does as good a job educating children as homeschoolers do, then it MIGHT be appropriate to start talking about the Arizona Department of Education being involved in monitoring homeschoolers.
Until then, that's like having high school dropouts grade graduate students.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.