Watch Waiting for Superman.
I’m done with public schools.
I am too.
Actually...A merger might be a good thing. Why?
The reason we continue to have government schools is that they are a middle class babysitting service that the reasonably functional and well off families **SUPPORT** in the voting booth! For those who have moved to the suburbs this babysitting service is still safe for their children ( relatively “safe”).
The safety value for the functional middle class family has been to **MOVE** away from dysfunction so they can congregate with those that are still functional. If they can't move any longer then their support for choice will increase in the voting booth. They will join the lobbies advocating vouchers, tax credits, charters, and even complete shut down of the government school system. More middle class families will join the ranks of homeschoolers.
Why is government “schooling” a babysitting service?
Answer:
Little learning happens in any government school. What functional parents and their children are doing is **AFTERSCHOOLING**! The government is merely sending home a tuition-free curriculum.
I ran a large health clinic and over the years have literally know several thousand families. When I questioned parents of successful children about their home habits, I found **NO** difference whatsoever between those who institutionalized their children for their schooling and those who homeschooled. **BOTH** sets of parents were doing EXACTLY the same things in the HOME, and spending the same amount of time in supervising their children's “at the kitchen table” school work!
So?...I conclude that little learning happens in any government school ( good, bad, or ugly). If there is a successfully educated child 99.999% is due to the work done by the parents and the child, himself, IN THE HOME!
Yes, my observation is anecdotal. So?...For those who object to my conclusion, I ask, “Where are the controlled scientific studies to prove me wrong?” Hm?
As many times as I have offered the above challenge NO “professional” so-called “educator” has ever directed me to the controlled studies. Why?
Answer: Because if educators were to seriously study **where** children do 99.999% of their learning, and **who** is responsible for the brute effort of educating, the results would show that it is IN THE HOME. It is the parents and the child, himself, that is doing the hard work of educating and learning IN THE HOME! The school is of little to no value, except for sending home the curriculum and handing out grades.
Finally...Someone is bound to say, “My brilliant daughter or son was in AP courses, or was accepted to the city's elite government high school for the brilliant.
Well...My response to that:
If they are sooooooo smart and soooooo hard working why is the government keeping these responsible young people imprisoned in high school? Why aren't these bright kids in college, or finished with college and working on Ph.D.s, as so many homeschoolers are doing? Why?
Answer: Because government schooling is NOT NOT NOT about educating children. It **is** about votes for the Democrat Party!