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Oh wow. It's difficult to know where to start a response to this article.

First, in an ideal world, a professionally trained, dedicated teacher would probably do a decent job teaching the topic such as history, math, grammar, literature. The problem is, we don't live in an ideal world. Some teachers are teachers, not because they are dedicated to the education of children or youth, but because they saw it as an flexible profession which has union-protected benefits and lots of days off. Then there are the teachers who are required to teach out of their majors--the math teacher is assigned to tackle science problem. Now add into the mix the fact that most teachers, dedicated or not, spend a huge part of their instruction time just trying to keep order in their classrooms or doing district paperwork and tests. Include the problem of dumbing down the textbooks and curriculum to be "inclusive" and the education fad of putting all types of kids together regardless of their levels of achievement. Then factor in the social pressure among teachers not to make each other look bad by being seens as a much better teacher than the average teacher. You then have a situation in public education where it is nearly impossible for that professional to teach to his or her full ability.

The argument on socialization also falls flat. What public education teaches is not socialization so much as socialism. It teaches group think, often punishes individual initiative, and saddles motivated students with the onerous task of carrying unmotivated team members on their backs or suffering the consequences of a lower group grade. That type of socialization does not create Nobel Prize winners, entrepreneurs or statesmen. It does produce willing union members, more teachers and other types who want to have someone else give them the orders and will guarantee payment of their wages regardless of their contribution to the overall health of their employer.

The writer discounts the power of knowledge in the public hands nowadays. What politically-correct textbook can stand up to the internet in terms of current information and availability of contrary opinions with which to educate thinking? What kid doesn't learn better with hands-on experience and immediate one-to-one teaching during that experience, compared to a group project where the kids are to "teach each other"? A motivated home school teacher can find almost anything needed to teach a child more effectively than public school experiments which pass for teaching today.

I don't denigrate anyone's choice of public, private, homeschooling or a mixture of each, but every choice requires diligence by the parent, whether finding the best homeschooling opportunities, or monitoring the abuses of public education, or ensuring that private schools toe the mark. It's a big job for the parents to be involved in their childrens' education whatever way they choose to go and if some want the job to be fulltime at home, go for it. My kids had public education, then charter school education which combined homeschooling with distance and on-site learning.

This custodian is merely spouting the union line and showing his ignorance in the process.