Posted on 12/09/2002 11:24:05 AM PST by hsmomx3
Public school as a social environment is completely non-typical of any social environment a student is likely to find him/herself in for the rest of their lives. It is a very un-natural social environment, conducive to bringing out the worst, rather than the best, in human social behaviors.
In contrast, working alone or with a very small group of two or three or four others on a project for long periods of time, with occasional instruction or supervision from one's superior, is precisely what the social environment of the workplace is for a majority of adults, and that is precisely the type of environment that is created in a typical homeschool. The modeling of parental responsibility and nurture that is inherent in homeschooling is also important for the student's anticipated future adult life.
It isn't the homeschooled kids who are missing out socially, but the ones being warehoused in public schools.
2. Isolate the student from other social/ethnic groups
Outside of the classroom and maybe the locker room, there really is very little mixing between these groups in most public schools. The truth is, most kids form cliques with other kids of their own kind -- "birds of a feather flock together".
Cross-cultural experience can and should be an important part of the education of students. But there are more effective ways to promote this, such as travel, short-term mission trips, pen-pals, etc. All of these alternatives are things that are done by individual students, not entire classes. A good homeschooling family can easilly work out a program to provide far more effective and broader cross-cultural experiences than can any public school.
3. Deny students the full range of curriculum experiences and materials
Actually, it is public schools that are constrained by a very limited curriculum and materials. Homeschoolers are free to study a broad range of subjects, custom-tailored to each student's interests and level of achievement. Homeschoolers can and do make extensive use of the public library and the Internet, to a far greater degree than the average public school does. Only in the area of the laboratory sciences might some public schools have an advantage, and then only at the High School level. Homeschoolers can easily overcome this disadvantage with a little bit of pooled effort. And the disadvantage in lab work can also be more than offset with increased opportunities for field work.
4. Provide education by non-certified and unqualified persons
This one is a real joke. In my observation, just about every parent that is motivated enough to undertake the challenge is very well educated. In contrast, I seem to recall when I was in college that the Education majors didn't exactly have the reputation as being the best and the brightest. It was generally assumed that unless you were a really exceptional person who just happened to really want to teach, you majored in education because all of the other majors were too hard.
5. Create an additional burden on school administrators whose duties include the enforcement of compulsory school attendance laws
Last I checked, they were supposed to be called "public servants." Last I checked, it wasn't supposed to be the case that the public was required to make life easier for the bureaucrats.
Besides, this responsibility only becomes a "burden" to these administrators when they go far beyond the letter of the law and take it upon themselves to not merely verify that the law is being fulfilled, but to try to impose their biased, bigoted, self-serving interpretation of the law to further their own agenda. That does indeed take a whole lot of burdensome effort.
6. Not permit effective assessment of academic standards of quality
If there are standardized tests in place, there is no reason why homeschoolers cannot be asked to take them at a proctored examination facility. But testing is just one of many methods of assessing academic quality. By most of these, homeschoolers stack up very well against public schools.
7. Violate health and safety standards
Taken to its logical conclusion, what they are saying is that homes violate health and safety standards, and therefore all children should be removed from all homes for their own health and safety, and raised by the state in government institutions. If they are not willing to come right out and say that this is really what they believe and advocate, then they should shut up.
Oh, and by the way, in how many Columbine-like school shootings have homeschoolers died?
8. Not provide accurate diagnosis and planning for meeting the needs of children of special talents, learning difficulties and other conditions requiring atypical educational programs
The very paradigm of public school education is based upon assembly-line uniformity and conformity. Children seated in a classroom in rigid columns and rows. Rigid time schedules. Rigid curricula. The whole system is designed around the average majority, and is distinctly unfriendly to any exceptional children, including the exceptionally bright, the exceptionally dumb, and any and all exceptionally disabled. IT IS ONLY BECAUSE OF PUBLIC SCHOOLING'S CONFORMIST PARADIGM THAT "SPECIAL NEEDS" CHILDREN ARE A PROBLEM AT ALL.
Homeschool education is by definition individualized instruction. Individualized instruction is exactly what these children need, and it is exactly what public schools are least able to provide.
Here's the problem in a nutshell: the public schools think they are responsible for all children -- or they want to be. They want to supercede parental rights whenever possible.
I can't think of a situation that would persuade me to ever enroll my children in public school.
A prudent concern. You'll have to know your neighbors. We haven't had any trouble, but my wife generally keeps them inside until one or two.
I told a friend of mine, who has a degree in child psychology and is a member of my church, point blank when she brought up the "socialization" issue, "I believe that "socialization" is over-rated.
Absolutely. They have it upside down. Homeschooled children are quite capable of interacting with people of all ages, not just their peers. Also, HS children do not suffer the negative peer influences of institutional schooling.
The socialization between a mother and her children is the most important relationship.
Absolutely.
We have church youth activities that will fill in any needs for intereaction with other children. I also plan to look for sports activities which will also provide "socialization."
Between sports, dance, gymnastics, choir, piano and other church activities my daughter gets plenty of "socialization" with her peers.
After mulling it over for about a year, now she is considering it.
Go for it. I can't recommend it highly enough. You might want to check in on the daily homeschool thread for more info.
Attendance in government schools is an excellent way to prepare a child for surviving in a prison or other similar environment.
That's not the reason why government schools were created. Learn The Underground History of American Education here.
Praised by critics across the nation, The Graves of Academe is Richard Mitchell’s angry and brilliant tour through America’s bloated public school system—whose mangled, self-serving language and policies would make Orwell wince. Stamped with vintage Mitchell wit and laced with stinging examples from The Underground Grammarian, The Graves of Academe pinpoints the historic sources of the mind-boggling "educationist" bureaucracy and reveals why today’s schools are riddled not only with illiterate students but with illiterate teachers and administrators as well.
Peter Hoaglund - Nebraska Senator and Humanist member of the Nebraska Board of Education said this in 1983 … Fundamentalists have no right to indoctrinate their children in their beliefs. We are preparing their children for the year 2000 and life in a global one-world society and those children will not fit in!
They often do anyways.
Hey, I'm on your side. I was refering to the survey that showed a lot of kids didn't know where the ocean was but knew where this tv series was filmed. CD
1. Deprive the child of important social experiences
Guilty as charged--I am denying my child the opportunity to see drugs being bought in the school hallway, kids being beat up in the bathrooms, engaging in grafitti and vadalism and let's don't forget the nifty new words they could be learning every week but aren't.
2. Isolate the student from other social/ethnic groups
Guilty as charged! I'm not interested in my kids hanging out with gang members, future convicts, budding satanists, or members of the gay/straight aliance.
3. Deny students the full range of curriculum experiences and materials
Yeah, we don't demonstrate with PETA or have our textbooks and supplies donated by Planned Parenthood.
4. Provide education by non-certified and unqualified persons
I don't line them up according to height or threaten to take away their recess, therefore I am unqualified. I'm qualified to carry them for 9 months and bring them into the world, but after that, I should hand them over to someone who really knows what they're doing, huh?
5. Create an additional burden on school administrators whose duties include the enforcement of compulsory school attendance laws
You say we're creating a burden on school administrators whose duties include the enforcement of compulsory school attendance laws, huh? Well, what are YOU doing out roaming the neighborhood during the day instead of at school where you belong? I mean, don't YOU have a compulsory school attendance of your own? If not, you should.
6. Not permit effective assessment of academic standards of quality
Yes, but here's a little secret that we know and you don't: in REAL life, employers don't give you a whole week solely devoted to sitting in a chair coloring in little circles in a thick booklet. They expect you to actually be doing your job!
7. Violate health and safety standards
This is true. I don't know a single homeschooler who considers catsup a vegetable.
8. Not provide accurate diagnosis and planning for meeting the needs of children of special talents, learning difficulties and other conditions requiring atypical educational programs
Maybe not, but we don't treat our kids like cattle, herding them as a group from room to room, either. At least we have the sense to realize that they are individuals and understand that whether they are gifted, normal, or special needs that they have their own learning style which probably isn't the one used by most public schools!
. . . . Ahhhhhhhh! That was fun! Thanks!
Sorry!
Agreed. Socrates opposed even the professionalization of teaching because he who pays the piper calls the tune. (Not his exact words 8-)
I'm inclined to agree with him, and I think there is plenty of historical evidence to support his contention.
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