Posted on 07/20/2005 12:13:49 PM PDT by Little Bill
I am not a member or supporter of the NEA.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. . .1 Corinthians 3:29
Still can't give me any sources for your statements, eh?
I am not surprised......
Take Care,
So, I will say it AGAIN. Home schooling is OFTEN a fine choice to make. If parents ARE ABLE TO DO IT, then I have NO PROBLEM with it. I think it can be a GREAT EXPERIENCE for SOME CHILDREN. However, There are parents who ARE NOT QUALIFIED to do it and who REMOVE THEIR CHILDREN from school with NO INTENT whatsoever of teaching them anything. I have seen the results of this. Therefore, it is still my opinion that sometimes homeschooling is a great thing, and sometimes it's not. There are pros and cons. I am not criticizing your choice to homeschool, or saying that you do not have the right to do so. I am merely offering my professional opinion.
I don't think you really understand what we're saying here. (Please note, there's more than one person responding to you. You may be confusing us).
You can repeat again and again that you think "homeschooling is often a fine choice if parents are able to do it," etc. etc. But your underlying statement is that the school system should decide who should and who shouldn't homeschool.
And that's where we all seem to disagree.
But, it seems that you're set in your way of thinking, so... there's nothing we can do to change your mind. Most people agree with you. I myself said the same things you're saying... until I was pushed into homeschooling and finally saw what was really going on.
You seem to think that you can pin me into agreeing with you and not acknowledge that homeschooling does have downsides. Additionally, if someone removes their child from school, doesn't buy any textbooks,doesn't teach them anything, and let's them sit in from of the TV or run the streets all day, who would be responsible for forcing that child to go back to public school? Would the parent volunatrily do it, or would the state? State law in Georgia says that children must be in school until they are 16. If someone pulls their child out of public school under the premise of homeschooling and then doesn't do it, then under laws in most states, the state has every right to decide that the child must be put back in school. That is where we disagree
Did you mean to reply to someone else?
I'm a homeschooler. My kids are not enrolled in public school.
Right. We do agree on what we disagree on.
As I said, your view is that it's the state's responsibility to ensure kids are learning such-and-such. Essentially, your view is that children are wards of the state.
My view is that it's the parents responsibility to educate, whether they pay a school to do it or do it themselves, and the state should just butt out.
You didn't provide details as to why the father was angry at the school and what you meant by "running the streets." So I don't know the whole story.
There's a tendency among people who believe so firmly in public school/traditional school to think a child has to be sitting somewhere working in books for a set number of hours each day. But, a kid could learn in a couple hours what it takes a class a week to cover. So, while I don't let my own kids watch Cartoon Network, for example, in my view, whatever the kid does is the parents' business, as long as there isn't outright neglect or abuse.
Hey, listen, I know a family that lets their kids run the streets 'til late at night making all sorts of trouble. The parents themselves have criminal records, and we see them abusing drugs. But, they send their kids to school. Things got so bad that I myself called Child Protective Services on them, and guess what I was told - that, as long as the kids are in school during school hours, there's no curfew that can be enforced. That's right - the mother could possibly have ME investigated for not sending my children to school, but she can let her kids run around 'til all hours of the night without anyone questioning her.
So, those claims we keep hearing about the state just wanting to make sure children are well-cared-for and well-educated is a joke.
Ok, here's what I meant by running the streets: The father bought no educational material. The father didn't conduct any lessons. The father made no effort whatsoever to educate this child. He merely removed him from school. The child did not work on anything educational for a full year, and returned to school a year behind everyone else.
How old was the child?
How old was the boy, and why did the father remove him from school?
Who's to judge whether a parent is "qualified"? My mother thought the Theory of Evolution was bogus and told us so when we covered it in our lessons. Does that mean she's unqualified? Does the government get to test parents to see if they're qualified to homeschool their kids? And if so, does that mean the government has a right to test parents to see if they're qualified to parent their kids?
Heck, let's test all teenagers at 16 to see whether they'll be competent parents. If not, sterilize them. It's better than taking the risk they might neglect their kids' education later.
We are having a heat wave in Tennessee, and it has my eyes all messed up. Sorry, and keep up the good work.
A college degree to teach high school? HS diploma I can see, any moron should be able to pass the GED, but college? That seems excessive.
We did homeschool co-ops occasionally for things Mom wasn't comfortable with, then once we reached advanced algebra/pre-calc, the community college was the answer.
Well, that's debatable...but I'm certain of one thing: More people can do it than are presently doing it.
In most states this sort of basic infrastructure exists. I know we've got it in North Carolina.
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