A Harvard homeschool expert says he's 'not convinced schools should ever have closed'

MSN / Insider ^ | May 22, 2020 | Eleanor Goldberg Fox

[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...

[Tired of Taxes]

Another hit piece. They must be scared.

[Tired of Taxes]

FYI - You might find this one interesting.

[BenLurkin]

“Expert”

“Harvard”

[BookmanTheJanitor]

“Harvard homeschool expert”?? Bwahahaha...now I’ve heard of everything.

[circlecity]

I’m not sure how nessarcy schools are in the digital age.

[Lurker]

“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.”

You mean like the Chicago Public School system?

L

[GnuThere]

If nothing else, the COVID panic has exposed for parents how many public schools are doing nothing more than babysitting services, once they look at their kids’ “homework” which takes 20 minutes a day.

[lgjhn23]

Another “unexpected consequence” to their “Plan B” DemoVirus release. Libs are dumber than a box of rocks....no insult to rocks intended.

[Secret Agent Man]

Then how would the male and female teachers molest the students?

[lastchance]

They are very scared. Not only that. I suppose that a majority of the abuse cases did not start when schools shut down but were happening all along and the teachers and other school personnel did not have a clue.

[lee martell]

In the case of remote teaching, there is little proof that the kids are doing their own homework. Today’s students probably know how to game the system with fake data if they want to. When I was a teacher’s aide for problem students, I learned to resist the temptation of completing the assignment for them, just so they wouldn’t fall further behind. Sometimes, you have to let them fail due to their own lack of effort.

[stinkerpot65]

Evil scum Democrats are getting worried.

[FreedomVsControl]

“A 2014 study found that 47% of school-age victims had been homeschooled”

What utter garbage. Slander, disguised as “academic research.”

[shanover]

It is like Nazis saying we will walk you to the showers.

[Arcadian Empire]

The lying war against homeschooling continues.

Parents are demonized as dangers.

Government indoctrination camps are portrayed as sanctuaries of enlightenment.

[Freee-dame]

My grandchildren spend about four hours each day on their schoolwork. Their teachers are available the whole time to answer questions by email. They have one or two zoom type meetings each day with the whole class.

A Catholic school nearby uses a Zoom type classroom with the teacher and the kids working together the whole school day.

Some places teachers may be doing very little but in some places teachers are doing a great deal.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Millions of parents discover their kids can't figure out new words because they don't know phonics, and they can't do simple arithmetic calculations because of the frustrating stunt system known as Common Core Math.

In other words: what they got from their mediocre and expensive public school was illiterate, innumerate children who don't know up from down, right from wrong or boys from girls.

But the parents are onto it now.

[GnuThere]

That sounds pretty good.
I get a feeling the quality is highly variable.

[Mogger]

Real homeschooling is when you buy or create your own curriculum.

Most of what is going on now is "distance learning", using the public school crap.

[DoodleBob]

It's not a hit piece...it's a strategic trial balloon to split conservatives.

We've seen plenty of Harvard anti-HSers yammer on during the lockdown. This was, in part, because a massive anti-homeschooling conference was scheduled to be held at Harvard in March but that got postponed. Their rounds were locked and loaded but they went off while the nation was plunged into forced homeschooling.

Then a funny thing happened on the way...many parents realized their kids were being taught crap at school. Then the frazzled newbie HSing parents got help from - yep - homeschoolers. You know...those freaks according to the NEA and MSM.

Now, a yuge portion of the nation no longer thinks homeschoolers are a bunch of religious cultists who teach their kids nonsense. To be sure, many parents will happily surrender their kids to public school but a bigly number of parents won't be swayed by the anti-homeschooling propaganda.

However....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."

And, to be sure, Sweden kept kids through the age of 16 in school, which was a smart move. Indeed, this is the crux of Mr Dwyer's thesis:"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."

And there it is...keep the schools open. But does anyone think it'll be business as usual? Witness France...

...and South Korea...

Perhaps the state will mandate that the kids must get immunized and have a special contact tracing app installed.

The non-thinking conservative who didn't research what's really the backstory on Sweden is mentally locked in on opening up the economy and letting the kids become Stasi.