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.)
In logic we are taught to watch out for statements that use "all" "none" "most" "never" and so on.
I don't recall any one of my teachers ever knowing very much about the subject they "taught", at all.
And when you're a teacher, prepare to be FReeper flamed...teachers here are treated worse than Democrats!
Is that why the trained professional educators resist teacher testing and raises based on performance? Is that why the trained professionals don't want to do away with tenure? Is that why the teacher's unions force new teachers to become members before they can accept a job? Is that why homeschoolers do better in subjects like math, literacy, and science than public school students? Is that why the per-student spending for homeschoolers is far less than public school? Is that why the NEA resists school choice and vouchers? Is that why people with no kids have to pay taxes to support public schools? Is that why homeschooling parents still have to pay taxes to support schools they do not utilize? Huh? Is that why?
As opposed by Malicious-Meaning Collectivist Mercenaries in government schools.
Pound sand NEA union thug!
(Dave Arnold, a member of the Illinois Education Association, is head custodian at Brownstown Elementary School in Southern Illinois.)
The janitor wrote this? Well, it does belong in the trash.
Considering the source, the NEA, this is no surprise.
wow, how do you really feel about that. I don't home school, but I have no doubt that the average parent can home school their kids to Jr Hi school with better than average results. Not sure I would want to continue after that.
Consider that your personal examples could be worse cases that stand out in your mind. How do you think your examples would stand next to average students in say Washington DC, St Louis, or Kansas City?
One size doesn't fit all.
Our school district has tried three times to pass a tax levy and will try for number four in February. The first thing the school board did was close down the libraries in the elementary schools and eliminate teacher aides. Many people have come forward to volunteer in the libraries and help out in the classrooms. The school board refused these volunteers. When I asked a current teacher why the school board so adamantly refuses volunteer help, her reply was, "If we fill those jobs with volunteers, the paying positions will never come back. Those people really should get paid for those jobs." Un-freakin'-believable!! NEA-speak, if I ever heard it! And since the last defeat, the school board is going away with busing (of course -- the thing that will hurt the most). In the meantime, my real estate taxes have doubled in the last ten years. Get a clue school board -- we just can't afford higher taxes for a lesser product!
If that is the case what does this idiot know? He's not a teacher! What a hoot!
Per Pupil spending in Putnam Valley NY (a northern Westchester suburb of NYC) is $20,000 per student, and rising at roughly 10% per year.
I knew 2 engineering professionals who homeschooled their kids. At age 10, their daughter was doing college level math and literature.
Yes, leave your children to suffer the "benefits" of a lousy education while we forstall any efforts at reform.
The best way to reform public education is to leave it.
That is the only message that educators will understand.
So, how are the kids you homeschool going to do on the following standard high school math question:
Two automobiles start out in opposite directions. Each go 40 miles; make 90-degree left turns and go 30 miles. How far apart are they?
Is this article from the Onion?
I don't think you do understand. The homeschooling movement intends to DESTROY the educational establishment. Actually the rise of "Big Education" has destroyed it already, but it retains a death grip on the children of the country. These parents are willing to pay their taxes and not receive benefits because they feel so strongly that public schools do more harm than good.
You should be asking yourself why that is rather than insulting and pointing fingers at those brave enough to step out of line.
Did you forget your /sarc tag or are you that hostile to homeschoolers that you think we are all just filled with "hubris" ?
We homeschoolers call them co-ops, and most of us use them.
I guess our kids are unprepared for socialistic, mindless drivel to be rammed into their heads as real academics.
At 42, I STILL carry emotional scars from my years in public school. What a WONDERFUL social experieince that was...NOT!
More trash on janitor Dave here:
http://cache.zoominfo.com/cachedpage/?archive_id=0&page_id=561077525&page_url=%2f%2fwww.owl.org%2fapplication%3forigin%3dmax.jsp%26event%3dbea.portal.framework.internal.portlet.maximize%26pageid%3dHome%26portletid%3dHomeESP%26wfevent%3dnull%26contentId%3dxml%2fPublicContent%2fGC5667.htm&page_last_updated=7%2f8%2f2004+4%3a34%3a58+AM&firstName=Dave&lastName=Arnold
The Quiet Leader
Meet the Man Behind the ESP Poems and Editorials
When not hunting critters with his homemade 18th century musket, Dave Arnold uses a bow and arrow. He uses his homemade canoe to catch fish in a local river. The school custodian writes editorials for NEA, publishes poetry, and was named Illinois Education Association's ESP of the Year.
Dave Arnold may be the most famous custodian in the United States who most people have never heard of.
(snip)
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