Posted on 11/27/2006 7:04:44 AM PST by meandog
Schools With Good Teachers Are Best-Suited to Shape Young Minds
There's nothing like having the right person with the right experience, skills and tools to accomplish a specific task. Certain jobs are best left to the pros, such as, formal education.
There are few homeowners who can tackle every aspect of home repair. A few of us might know carpentry, plumbing and, let’s say, cementing. Others may know about electrical work, tiling and roofing. But hardly anyone can do it all.
Same goes for cars. Not many people have the skills and knowledge to perform all repairs on the family car. Even if they do, they probably don’t own the proper tools. Heck, some people have their hands full just knowing how to drive.
So, why would some parents assume they know enough about every academic subject to home-school their children? You would think that they might leave this -- the shaping of their children’s minds, careers, and futures -- to trained professionals. That is, to those who have worked steadily at their profession for 10, 20, 30 years! Teachers!
Experienced Pros
There’s nothing like having the right person with the right experience, skills and tools to accomplish a specific task. Whether it is window-washing, bricklaying or designing a space station. Certain jobs are best left to the pros. Formal education is one of those jobs.
Of course there are circumstances that might make it necessary for parents to teach their children at home. For example, if the child is severely handicapped and cannot be transported safely to a school, or is bedridden with a serious disease, or lives in such a remote area that attending a public school is near impossible.
Well-Meaning Amateurs
The number of parents who could easily send their children to public school but opt for home-schooling instead is on the increase. Several organizations have popped up on the Web to serve these wannabe teachers. These organizations are even running ads on prime time television. After viewing one advertisement, I searched a home school Web site. This site contains some statements that REALLY irritate me!
“It’s not as difficult as it looks.”
The “it” is meant to be “teaching.” Let’s face it, teaching children is difficult even for experienced professionals. Wannabes have no idea.
“What about socialization? Forget about it!”
Forget about interacting with others? Are they nuts? Socialization is an important component of getting along in life. You cannot teach it. Children should have the opportunity to interact with others their own age. Without allowing their children to mingle, trade ideas and thoughts with others, these parents are creating social misfits.
If this Web site encouraged home-schooled children to join after-school clubs at the local school, or participate in sports or other community activities, then I might feel different. Maine state laws, for example, require local school districts to allow home-schooled students to participate in their athletic programs. For this Web site to declare, “forget about it,” is bad advice.
When I worked for Wal-Mart more than 20 years ago, Sam Walton once told me: “I can teach Wal-Mart associates how to use a computer, calculator, and how to operate like retailers. But I can’t teach them how to be a teammate when they have never been part of any team.”
“Visit our online bookstore.”
Buying a history, science or math book does not mean an adult can automatically instruct others about the book’s content.
Gullible Parents
Another Web site asks for donations and posts newspaper articles pertaining to problems occurring in public schools.
It’s obvious to me that these organizations are in it for the money. They are involved in the education of children mostly in the hope of profiting at the hands of well-meaning but gullible parents.
This includes parents who home-school their children for reasons that may be linked to religious convictions. One Web site that I visited stated that the best way to combat our nation’s “ungodly” public schools was to remove students from them and teach them at home or at a Christian school.
I’m certainly not opposed to religious schools, or to anyone standing up for what they believe in. I admire anyone who has the strength to stand up against the majority. But in this case, pulling children out of a school is not the best way to fight the laws that govern our education system. No battle has ever been won by retreating!
No Training
Don’t most parents have a tough enough job teaching their children social, disciplinary and behavioral skills? They would be wise to help their children and themselves by leaving the responsibility of teaching math, science, art, writing, history, geography and other subjects to those who are knowledgeable, trained and motivated to do the best job possible.
(Dave Arnold, a member of the Illinois Education Association, is head custodian at Brownstown Elementary School in Southern Illinois.)
Probably in the case of the latest crop of pretty young female teachers, how to professionally molest....er, I mean "educate" teenage boys......< / sarcasm >
Well, yes...but you opened the ball, so to speak. I confess, some of my posts were pretty arrogant, too...but humility begets humility, generally speaking, and you can use this to your advantage.
The whole point was to get kids back into (either public or private) schools where they can enjoy such experiences as football, basketball, track, field hockey, golf, tennis, band, NJROTC, yearbook, newspaper, drama club, glee club, drill team, debate, proms, and making friends, as well as good education (and won't turn out to be little unsocialized nerds who have to sit at home 20 years from now during h.s. reunions).
Your post gives me a chance to illustrate my point. Among all the heat, a few people have indicated that their personal experience with homeschooling is not consistent with your personal experience with homeschooling. You yourself have posted that you have seen numerous homeschooling failures; well, of course...your situation precluded you seeing the successes.
If you might withhold judgment for a moment and try to understand that there is another side to the story, this whole exchange can have a happy ending. Yes, we homeschoolers are well aware that there are homeschooling failures and even homeschooling abuses. You have been heard. Now, please, hear us...these failures and abuses are the exception, rather than the rule. There's another side to the matter. Can you try to see it, please?
Perhaps these are students whose parents are essentially homeschooling them in the evening after they have wasted the day in government schools. Someone on FR calls it "after-schooling". ;-)
Two years ago, (when I last taught) I was involved in breaking up three fights between 16 and 17-year-old ruffians, caught a half-dozen kids smoking the heathen devil weed in cars on campus, caught many more with tobacco products, and nabbed way too many to report cheating on my tests; and along the way I got plenty of "F*** Yous" and other abuse. But I was also able to help more than 80 graduate to college and, at last report, all are doing well there so that makes me proud of the job I did!
When we homeschooled my son he never once said "F*** you" to me, never got in fights or any of that other stuff. Nor did he turn out to be an unsocialized nerd! At age 25 he bought his first house, he got married to an absolutely wonderful girl and has more friends than I can count .....yup....he's just a homeschooled failure in your eyes.
Don't let the inconvenient factors hit you on the posterior on your way out.
Oh yeah, because we all know the Elementary Education majors were all at the top of the educational pyramid. /sarc
Facts, not "factors". My public school typing skills need remediation. ;-)
And he's qualified!!!
ROFLOL!!!
I'd rather have my children schooled by Christian, well-meaning amateurs than brain-washed, liberal loonies who literally spit on our traditions, flag, and country.
Do you know what the stated school mission was for our local elementary
school 6 or 7 years ago--framed and hanging on the wall--"..to prepare students to becme citizens of the world..." I was outraged when I read it.
We should be educating our children in our history, what it means to be an American, and to fit into the global situation from that standpoint. Instead, they are brainwashed into believing these "global" mores are so much better than ours. Just take a look at the countries of the globe. So many Muslim govts; so many completely socialized countries; so many dictatorships---yet, the NEA WOULD HAVE THESE "TRAINED, PROFESSIIONALS" take away our childrens' natural heritage of individualism and freedom.
Off my soapbox for now.
vaudine
Are you a custodian too?
You appear intelligent....I'm sure you could help him....figure out his many options.
ROFLOL!!!
This is all satire, right?
I agree. My daughter, niece, and two nephews, are teachers and darn good ones.
I once offered kudos to home-schoolers who have so much time to post on FR, and WOW....not a good thing to do. My daughter is a Conservative, as are many of her peers.
Underpaid, overworked, and bashed. I, for one, say THANK YOU to all of the good teachers in this country. They certainly aren't to get it on this message board.
The question is - why do you think that schools are a better model of education than the tutor system ?
the death of parochial and private schools.
I don't think this is true. I graduated from Catholic school and the kids in my family all go to Catholic School (nephews). Mine go to DODDS right now, but will go back to Catholic School when we return to the states.
Underpaid, overworked, and bashed ?
Sure, whatever you say. I suppose you think showing up at 7:30 AM, leaving at 4:00 PM, getting 90 minutes plus a lunch period during those 8.5 hours as "prep" time and all this only consuming 180 days a year is overworked ? Performing half a year's work at the equivalent pay of someone who doesn't get long Christmas, Easter or summer vacations ? Who also has tenure and can't be fired from their job no matter how poorly they perform ?
Lady, get a gander at the real world. We are all sick of the usual cry of boo hoo by public school teachers. Most of us in other professions work 2000 hours a year at work, not to mention unpaid overtime, and only get a few weeks plus the usual 12 national holidays off, for pay similar to teachers. Very few of us get the outstanding benefits including retirement packages given to public school teachers. Additionally, I don't know a single teacher who doesn't at least get COLA every year, whereas I know a lot of people in other professions who have taken pay cuts or lost their jobs since 2000.
Here in SE PA teachers with 20 years service and a master's degree in Ed. makes over $85 K not including benefits. That's underpaid ? In whose world ? If you think that's insufficient, get another job that where the pay is better. You are not forced to be a teacher.
If teachers would stop whining and teach, and accept that we resent that we are all forced to subsidize their product whether they are good at their profession or not, you would hear no complaints about teachers on this board.
Saxon DIVE CD's and Rosetta Stone languages.
You ask good questions, and I am assuming, for the right reasons. Unlike most of the stupid questions us homeschooling parents usually get. This "socialization" issue is a myth. Homeschooled kids I know are the most respectful, articulate people I've met. They can speak appropriately to adults, and are kind to other kids they play with. They aren't hyper, angry, malicious, or sexually inappropriate. These characteristics are all PREVALENT in public school settings, and i know this because up until this year, my kids all have gone to public schools. School teachers and principals admit to me, that my kids NEVER initiated any violence or teasing or taunting with others, even though each of my four children have been subjected to frequent hitting, pushing, shoving, sexually suggestive teasing, ridicule for haircuts & clothing, and just about anything else that occurs DAILY in public school, right under teachers' noses.
We live in an affluent neighborhood and community. It still goes on. They have "strict" rules against bullying. It still goes on, and it goes on daily. How in God's name does this teach our kids about "socialization", other than to constantly have them on edge emotionally, always navigating their way around the meanest kids in class or on the playground? My kids have been through hell in their former life (I'm adopting all four) -- they don't need to live every day in that hellwhole of public school, where very VERY little actual learning takes place, around all the lining up, recesses, school assemblies, classroom movies, and dress up parades that happen throughout each school year. Academically every class is dumbed down to teach "to the middle" as teachers say, and the low ones and the high ones (i have both) get totally left behind.
As for subjects we don't know much about, us homeschool parents live in the real world, and aren't as arrogant as many of you think we are. As our children grow up, we know how to find tutors or other homeschooled parents and resources to provide our kids the tools they need to obtain the education they need to succeed.
I honestly know very few homeschooled kids who are remedial, who are behind academically, or who are even maintained only at the state standardized grade levels. Our kids don't have to compete for the teacher's attention against 30 other students she has to check on and "teach". We can go as fast through curriculum as we want to, and each of my kids LOVES schoolwork and LOVES learning, and are anything but anti-social because we now homeschool.
Homeschooling in our community is quite mainstream and common. The biggest problem I have is keeping our activity level manageable, since there are tons of homeschool groups (both formal and informal) that provide a wide variety of sports, music, art and field trip experiences for homeschooled families.
I'm not anti-public schools. I'm just pro-kids and pro-learning and pro-values, none of which are honestly important to the educational system in our country. I'm tired of the public schools de-valuing parents, and treating us like we're stupid and incapable of understand the "complexities" of teaching children. It's not complex at all. And it's not about teaching what really counts.
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