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The Case Against Homeschooling
Teacher, Revised ^ | May 30, 2009 | Jesse Scaccia

Posted on 05/31/2009 1:48:40 PM PDT by aberaussie

Homeschooling: great for self-aggrandizing, society-phobic mother…… but not quite so good for the kid.

Here are my top ten reasons why homeschooling parents are doing the wrong thing:

10. “You were totally home schooled” is an insult college kids use when mocking the geeky kid in the dorm (whether or not the offender was home schooled or not). And… say what you will… but it doesn’t feel nice to be considered an outsider, a natural outcropping of being homeschooled.

9. Call me old-fashioned, but a students’ classroom shouldn’t also be where they eat Fruit Loops and meat loaf (not at the same time I hope). It also shouldn’t be where the family gathers to watch American Idol or to play Wii. Students–from little ones to teens–deserve a learning-focused place to study. In modern society, we call them schools.

8. Homeschooling is selfish. According to this article in USA Today, students who get homeschooled are increasingly from wealthy and well-educated families. To take these (I’m assuming) high achieving students out of our schools is a disservice to our less fortunate public school kids. Poorer students with less literate parents are more reliant on peer support and motivation, and they greatly benefit from the focus and commitment of their richer and higher achieving classmates.

7. God hates homeschooling. The study, done by the National Center for Education Statistics, notes that the most common reason parents gave as the most important was a desire to provide religious or moral instruction. To the homeschooling Believers out there, didn’t God say “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”? Didn’t he command, “Ye shall be witnesses unto me”? From my side, to take your faithful children out of schools is to miss an opportunity to spread the grace, power and beauty of the Lord to the common people. (Personally I’m agnostic, but I’m just saying…)

6. Homeschooling parent/teachers are arrogant to the point of lunacy. For real! My qualifications to teach English include a double major in English and education, two master’s degrees (education and journalism), a student teaching semester and multiple internship terms, real world experience as a writer, and years in the classroom dealing with different learning styles. So, first of all, homeschooling parent, you think you can teach English as well as me? Well, maybe you can. I’ll give you that. But there’s no way that you can teach English as well as me, and biology as well as a trained professional, and history… and Spanish… and art… and counsel for college as well as a school’s guidance counselor… and… and…

5. As a teacher, homeschooling kind of pisses me off. (That’s good enough for #5.)

4. Homeschooling could breed intolerance, and maybe even racism. Unless the student is being homeschooled at the MTV Real World house, there’s probably only one race/sexuality/background in the room. How can a young person learn to appreciate other cultures if he or she doesn’t live among them?

3. And don’t give me this “they still participate in activities with public school kids” garbage. Socialization in our grand multi-cultural experiment we call America is a process that takes more than an hour a day, a few times a week. Homeschooling, undoubtedly, leaves the child unprepared socially.

2. Homeschooling parents are arrogant, Part 2. According to Henry Cate, who runs the Why Homeschool blog, many highly educated, high-income parents are “probably people who are a little bit more comfortable in taking risks” in choosing a college or line of work. “The attributes that facilitate that might also facilitate them being more comfortable with home-schooling.”

More comfortable taking risks with their child’s education? Gamble on, I don’t know, the Superbowl, not your child’s future.

1. And finally… have you met someone homeschooled? Not to hate, but they do tend to be pretty geeky***.

*** Please see the comments for thoughts on the word ‘geeky.’ But, in general, to be geeky connotes a certain inability to integrate and communicate in diverse social situations. Which, I would argue, is a likely result of being educated in an environment without peers. It’s hard to get by in such a diverse world as ours! And the more people you can hang out with the more likely you are to succeed, both in work life and real life.

One last note, to those homeschooling parents out there: it’s clear from the number and passion of your responses that TeacherRevised is missing an important voice in the teaching community. If any of you are interesting in writing for us, send me an email: jessescaccia@gmail.com. I would love to have you as part of our conversation.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: antinea; education; homeschool; homeschooling; school
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To: aberaussie

My niece and nephew were both home schooled. He graduated with a masters last year from UCI and has decided to go ahead and get his law degree. She is working toward her medical degree, neither is unadjusted or “geeky”... what they both are, is well adjusted, clean cut young adults.


221 posted on 06/01/2009 10:59:18 AM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
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To: MrB
The AVERAGE homeschooler is in the 85th percentile academically. This is considered “the academic elite”, and it’s something this person could never hope to achieve.

but but but... their SOOO GEEEEEkyyyy!!!

I mean just because they are smart and well educated... How will they POSSIBLY be able to handle the real world with nothing but brains and the ability to learn?
222 posted on 06/01/2009 11:05:37 AM PDT by TalonDJ
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To: TalonDJ

Don’t forget the strong character, work ethic, and Biblical foundation of right and wrong...

why... they might not be “sex positive” or know who the latest American Idol winner was!


223 posted on 06/01/2009 11:07:27 AM PDT by MrB (Go Galt now, save Bowman for later)
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To: aberaussie
10. “You were totally home schooled” is an insult college kids use when mocking the geeky kid in the dorm

So I should make a critically important education decision for my children based on the opinions of immature college kids, most of whom cannot find Germany on a world map, diagram a sentence, or solve a proof in Geometry? How silly is that?

9. Call me old-fashioned, but a students’ classroom shouldn’t also be where they eat Fruit Loops and meat loaf (not at the same time I hope). It also shouldn’t be where the family gathers to watch American Idol or to play Wii. Students–from little ones to teens–deserve a learning-focused place to study.

So this self-important teacher never assigns homework, and assumes her students never study for exams at home? More silliness, and perhaps proof that Jesse flunked Logic 101 in his college career.

7. God hates homeschooling.

The same God who commanded the Israelites to teach their children all day long, sitting, lying down, walking, etc.? That's silly, too.

(Personally I’m agnostic, but I’m just saying…)

Agnostic? Listen, there are two possibilities: God is or God isn't. If God is, then the agnostic is wrong, because God has defined Himself and his intentions clearly. If God isn't, then the agnostic is wrong.

There is more to criticize, but I'm bored with it. Jesse is wrong on all counts.

224 posted on 06/01/2009 11:31:34 AM PDT by savedbygrace (You are only leading if someone follows. Otherwise, you just wandered off... [Smokin' Joe])
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To: aberaussie
10. “You were totally home schooled” is an insult college kids use when mocking the geeky kid in the dorm (whether or not the offender was home schooled or not). And… say what you will… but it doesn’t feel nice to be considered an outsider, a natural outcropping of being homeschooled.

a. Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.” (I have always considered “geek” and “nerd” synonyms. If you consider yourself one but not the other, I apologize for lumping you in with those other people.)

b. I’ve seen the average college kid. I’ve been the average college kid. I’d prefer it if my kids were not like the average college kid.

c. Incompetents like to bring people down to their level with insults that discourage achievement. “You were totally home schooled” is an insult college kids use when mocking the geeky studious kid in the dorm (especially the one who also happens to be a Christian and doesn’t go along with the immorality that is encouraged.) And you wonder why we don’t give you our kids without a fight. The teachers are just as bad as the kids.

9. Call me old-fashioned, but a students’ classroom shouldn’t also be where they eat Fruit Loops and meat loaf (not at the same time I hope). It also shouldn’t be where the family gathers to watch American Idol or to play Wii. Students–from little ones to teens–deserve a learning-focused place to study. In modern society, we call them schools.

“We call them schools,” also known as failure factories and indoctrination mills.

8. Homeschooling is selfish. According to this article in USA Today, students who get homeschooled are increasingly from wealthy and well-educated families. To take these (I’m assuming) high achieving students out of our schools is a disservice to our less fortunate public school kids. Poorer students with less literate parents are more reliant on peer support and motivation, and they greatly benefit from the focus and commitment of their richer and higher achieving classmates.

7. God hates homeschooling. The study, done by the National Center for Education Statistics, notes that the most common reason parents gave as the most important was a desire to provide religious or moral instruction. To the homeschooling Believers out there, didn’t God say “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”? Didn’t he command, “Ye shall be witnesses unto me”? From my side, to take your faithful children out of schools is to miss an opportunity to spread the grace, power and beauty of the Lord to the common people. (Personally I’m agnostic, but I’m just saying…)

I always love being lectured on the Bible by agnostics who know one or two verses (out of context, of course.) The disciples were adults who had three years of training before being put in a leadership position. How much preparation should we allow for our kids before we subject them to brainwashing by openly hostile teachers such as this one.

 

6. Homeschooling parent/teachers are arrogant to the point of lunacy. For real! My qualifications to teach English include a double major in English and education, two master’s degrees (education and journalism), a student teaching semester and multiple internship terms, real world experience as a writer, and years in the classroom dealing with different learning styles. So, first of all, homeschooling parent, you think you can teach English as well as me? Well, maybe you can. I’ll give you that. But there’s no way that you can teach English as well as me, and biology as well as a trained professional, and history… and Spanish… and art… and counsel for college as well as a school’s guidance counselor… and… and…

a.      Our kids all learned to read at home. They all read well. What’s the percentage of kids you taught who can say the same?

b.      If schools actually educated instead of wasting time on the 'gospel according to Algore' our kids might go to public schools.

c.       I understand that the teacher who wrote this has multiple degrees. That kind of stupid doesn’t come naturally – it takes a lot of education to get that way.

 

5. As a teacher, homeschooling kind of pisses me off. (That’s good enough for #5.)

a.      Have you ever painted your house? How did that make the contractors in your town feel?

b.      If you did a better job on the house than the contractor could, how would that make him feel? Would you care how he felt?

4. Homeschooling could breed intolerance, and maybe even racism. Unless the student is being homeschooled at the MTV Real World house, there’s probably only one race/sexuality/background in the room. How can a young person learn to appreciate other cultures if he or she doesn’t live among them?

My oldest son (the only one of six in public schools) came home with a couple of racist jokes he learned in that bastion of tolerance and inclusivity. He learned quick that dad doesn’t put up with that crap.

3. And don’t give me this “they still participate in activities with public school kids” garbage. Socialization in our grand multi-cultural experiment we call America is a process that takes more than an hour a day, a few times a week. Homeschooling, undoubtedly, leaves the child unprepared socially.

Do you want kids to grow up to act like adults or kids? Who are they more likely to learn that from? My kids probably aren’t experts at making gross noises and they probably can’t use four-letter words in context in conversation. I’m sure they will get over it.

2. Homeschooling parents are arrogant, Part 2. According to Henry Cate, who runs the Why Homeschool blog, many highly educated, high-income parents are “probably people who are a little bit more comfortable in taking risks” in choosing a college or line of work. “The attributes that facilitate that might also facilitate them being more comfortable with home-schooling.”

More comfortable taking risks with their child’s education? Gamble on, I don’t know, the Superbowl, not your child’s future.

a.      I’ve seen what’s behind the public school door. I’ll gamble on door #2. (How long have our schools been experimentation factories for every leftist crackpot educational theory

1. And finally… have you met someone homeschooled? Not to hate, but they do tend to be pretty geeky***.

Not to hate?

225 posted on 06/01/2009 9:13:01 PM PDT by Gil4
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To: aberaussie
Ok aberaussie, fess up.

You wrote this as satire, right?

Surely nobody could be this stupid, and be for real.

Ummmm, well, on second thought .....

226 posted on 06/02/2009 9:49:10 AM PDT by Col Freeper (FR is a smorgasbord of Conservative thoughts and ideas - dig in and enjoy it to its fullest!)
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To: Col Freeper
Ok aberaussie, fess up. You wrote this as satire, right?

No, I write better than that...I hope. ;-)

Check out the blog. The blog owner called the writer an idiot. Warmed my heart.

227 posted on 06/02/2009 9:55:57 AM PDT by aberaussie
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To: aberaussie
Check out the blog.

Wow, I guess you were telling the truth. Looks like my second thought was correct after all ..... there really is someone that stupid. Sad to see.

228 posted on 06/02/2009 1:55:37 PM PDT by Col Freeper (FR is a smorgasbord of Conservative thoughts and ideas - dig in and enjoy it to its fullest!)
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To: aberaussie

I thought this HAD to be satire. Then, I went to the website. Ironically, in another of her posts she admits she doesn’t know much about homeschooling.


229 posted on 06/02/2009 2:08:04 PM PDT by FourPeas (Why does Professor Presbury's wolfhound, Roy, endeavour to bite him?)
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To: aberaussie

Please tell me this is a spoof.


230 posted on 06/02/2009 2:12:10 PM PDT by Theo (Global warming "scientists." Pro-evolution "scientists." They're both wrong.)
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To: GeronL
government schools need to be banned.

Then we would wind up with millions of illiterates.

The majority of parents can't teach anything.

We would wind up with millions of people making posts without capitalization, like you.

Wouldn't that suck?

231 posted on 06/02/2009 2:17:35 PM PDT by humblegunner
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To: humblegunner
Then we would wind up with millions of illiterates.

So nothing would be changed from how it is now, then?

232 posted on 06/02/2009 4:03:29 PM PDT by JenB
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To: JenB
So nothing would be changed from how it is now, then?

It would be much worse.

Everyone except the whiny mommas-kids would be guaranteed illiteracy.

233 posted on 06/02/2009 4:07:29 PM PDT by humblegunner
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To: Clintonfatigued; aberaussie; fieldmarshaldj; BillyBoy; rabscuttle385

Wow aside perhaps from #3 (socialization, which can be gotten elsewhere) the reasons given are all BS, written by some teachers union hack.

Contrast with CF’s good reasons to avoid public school.


234 posted on 06/03/2009 5:48:46 PM PDT by Impy (RED=COMMUNIST, NOT REPUBLICAN)
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