Posted on 05/22/2020 5:38:56 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes
Across the US, at least 55 million US students are learning at home since schools closed to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Even prior to the pandemic, two Harvard Law School professors expressed their concerns about homeschooling due to the risks for child abuse and low-quality education.
Calls to child abuse hotlines have declined dramatically since schools closed, demonstrating that there are fewer people assessing risks among children.
After much deliberation, most schools across the US made the tough decision in March to close their doors and move to a remote learning platform to help stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Despite the overwhelming consensus to shut down, James Dwyer, a visiting professor at Harvard Law School — who co-authored a book on the history of homeschooling and its shortcomings — doesn't think that was the right choice, since it could inevitably lead to children falling behind academically and potentially enduring abuse from adults in the home.
Homeschooling can foster an environment for abuse. A 2014 study found that 47% of school-age victims had been homeschooled and 29% had never been enrolled in school.
"I am not convinced schools should ever have closed," Dwyer told Insider. "Given what we know about relative vulnerability to the coronavirus, the shutdown decision arguably amounted to a prioritizing of the welfare of certain adults over the welfare of children."
Dwyer was referring to the fact that children are less likely than adults to develop the coronavirus and are also likely to have a low transmission rate in the classroom. He said that he thinks schools should reopen as soon as possible.
About 3% of US children were homeschooled before the coronavirus outbreak, a figure that's now nearly universal. In 2019, long before parents were compelled to turn into teachers essentially overnight, Dwyer co-authored...
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
So true. Real homeschooling is parent-led.
What's happening now is distance learning or public-school-at-home: The school dictates to the parents and children; teachers tell them what to do, when to do it.
In real homeschooling, families have more control over their own schedule.
.witness Sweden, the non-thinking conservative's Coronavirus poster child country. "they didn't lock down...they didn't destroy their economy and kids stayed in school...we shoulda done what THEY did."
Funny - isn't it? - how people believe that shutting down a public school building is taking away someone's freedom.
With public school, the state dictates what, when, and how the students will learn. If you don't pay your school taxes, the town/county/state can take your house.
If your child doesn't attend school, you face truancy charges and possible jail time. That doesn't sound like freedom to me. LOL.
Hit piece notwithstanding, shutting down the schools and sending the kids home was pure idiocy. Almost no children and very few teachers would be considered high-risk.
I’ve been through that system and wouldn’t wish it on anyone. It’s why I homeschool mine.
“I’m not sure how nessarcy schools are in the digital age.”
Apparently, not quite as nessarcy as previously thought.
Schools are where kids catch everything.
No complaint from me about gov’t shutting down public schools (and anything else run by gov’t).
Just wish we’d get a refund on the school taxes.
Thank you.
It is NOT homeschooling. It is gov’t schooling at home.
I see what you mean.
Dwyer is the same lunatic who recently claimed that the “reason parent-child relationships exist is because the state confers legal parenthood.” If you skim his other writing, you can see more about his views on family law. Like the idea that parental rights should be entirely disregarded and that there should be no legal preference for biological parents to raise their own children. Basically, that the state should be able to take children from their parents and assign them to others based on a court’s determination of the child’s “best interest” without regard to the rights of the parents.
Fortunately, Harvard Law grads rarely go on to practice family law, so hopefully the damage done by this clown will be limited.
Thanks for the info. Interesting how the news article didn’t mention any of that other stuff, probably because most people would reject his ideas then.
I experienced many harmful abuses thru public school. I dropped out, went to college. Got college degree, married and had Child. I home schooled her in secret. She then attended College as I did. She is now a college professor and a mom of 2 girls that we are Home Schooling!!!
The very best way to go! Learning that learning is a gift of Life!
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