An INSANE situation up in Waltham, Massachusetts

Conservative Alerts.Com ^ | Chuck Muth

[jerrymdss]

Everyone has their secret agenda -- and its not always to be good of their community. Invididual freedom's and rights taken to the other extreme is chaos and anarchy. I agree with the other gentleman, its like taking a test for a driver's license -- you dont just take everyone's word. We are, if you do not know this by now, a nation of laws. Without them, total chaos and self interests impose on the rights of others. Take the test.

[webber]

If home schoolers are mandated to take a Gov't education test, then I think those questions AND THE CORRECT ANSWERS ACCORDING TO THEIR STANDARDS that are asked should be made available to the parents and to the public so that liberal pinkos won't skew the questions so that if you don't answer the questions in the PC manner you flunk. otherwise, it would be of no value. The test questions should be highly suspected and scrutinized as to their real value in the education of children. "How do you properly put on condom on a broomstick" is not relevant in public schools, but it's taught.

[appalachian_dweller]

Bump for later reference...

[RobRoy]

This reminds me of an old Twilight Zone episode;

It's the near future and the parents are very concerned about how their son is going to do on the government mandated intelligence test, which all children take at his age. The boy seems very bright and he tries to calm his parents by saying he'll do fine.

The day comes, and the first step of the test is that he is administered a drug that ensures he will answer every question to the best of his ability.

Cut to the parents at home several hours later - deeply concerned about their sons progress. The phone rings. They get a "vid message" as follows: "We regret to inform you that your son surpassed the maximum allowable intelligence factor. Where would you like the remains sent."

[Saundra Duffy]

This kind of thing makes me so mad I could scream!
S C R E A M !!!

[dark_lord]

If home schoolers are mandated to take a Gov't education test, then I think those questions AND THE CORRECT ANSWERS ACCORDING TO THEIR STANDARDS that are asked should be made available to the parents and to the public

Sure. And since most states are now applying standardized tests to all their students, the same tests can be used. Heck, people use those test results to rate schools so they can determine which school districts they want to move into. This is not new. And those tests, by and large, are not PC weird at all. Just typical math, english, science, etc. Many states now let you download sample copies of the exams so you can see for yourself. I would strongly object if the homeschoolers where to be give "special" tests instead of the standard 3rd, 5th, 8th grade etc. exams. Otherwise, what the heck is the issue?

[CaptainJustice]

It's not about the tests anymore .... it's about the freedom to live your life away from a government intervention. I'm sure those kids can ace the tests.

Well we'll see how good your assurances are when they try to get jobs or go to college. "Well, you havent proven that you have a minimum amount of knowledge to attend here, but your parents assure me you're smart enough, so have fun!"

Please. Take the tests. There has to be some standards, otherwise its just anarchy.

[George from New England]

"The test questions should be highly suspected and scrutinized as to their real value in the education of children."

Yes. And there will be questions about dinosaurs and evolution in the test that these kids will answer differently than the PC crowd expects.

[The Californian]

I've had it with these nut cases. Do you know that society has an interest in everyone vacinating their children? Can you handle that?

Actually, no. If you want to vaccinate your child, why should you care that my children are not? It should be a matter of irrelevance to you since your children "can't" get that disease. Does it matter if the vaccine makes my children deathly ill???? To the gov't, no, not until some "nut cases" took action. Does it matter if vaccines may cause autism??? No, there are not enough cases to bother about.

Also education. Is that too oppressive? Just take the standardized tests and shut up! But no, people want to thumb their noses at society, the society that provides safety and decent neighbors, and police and fire departments...

Just who decides what is on the "standardized" tests? The government who had such a great interest in your children (we won't even go there) or the parent who has a vested interest in the education of their child.

My kids were home-schooled, and voluntarily took all standardized tests - HOWEVER, I do NOT believe the government has a right to remove children from the custody of their parents over a test. Do you honestly think there are no "bad" public school teachers. There are, and we manage to cook along.

If you don't want to follow home-school threads, there is a solution. It is a little red X in the corner of your screen.

[cajun-jack]

but ... but..but..didn't sinator kennedy write the ed. bill? doesn't he know what is best for America's children?? how could we, as mere serfs, not trust swimming teddy to do what is best for us???????????

[headsonpikes]

The function of the public school is to identify intelligence, and then either subvert or destroy it.

I really don't know why people consider educrats incompetent.

It looks like they deserve gold stars all around, to me.

[Restorer]

That said, it would be better for the kids if their parents side stepped the issue and had them independently tested/certified (what thousands of other homeshoolers do every year).

Nail on the head.

I don't agree with their total opposition to their kids taking a simple test, but if they object to the state's test, have an independent, certified teacher rate the children's level.

This is a good idea anyway for homeschoolers. We're just finishing my daughter's second year, and she's presently covering about two grades a year.

[dark_lord]

I strongly object to homeschoolers being forced to test at all. The government does NOT own my children and does NOT fund my school.

Have fun getting your kids into college. "Hey, my kids don't need to take the SAT or ACT!!! I swear they're well educated!" Yeah, good luck with that.

The problem is that there are some small number of home schoolers who are so paranoid about leftists and the social corruption in our society that they are willing to say: If it ain't in the Bible, it is wrong! And if it is the Bible, it is redundant. Therefore, the only book needed to teach from and learn is the Bible!

Which might have worked just fine in 1803, but is a great way of raising kids who are going to be a drain on the tax dollars of everyone else. Now my personal experience with homeschooling (and my kids are homeschooled) is that homeschooled kids are in general way ahead of public school kids.

[However, once they hit high school it is nice to be able to take advantage of the Honors classes, and the fully loaded science labs where the teachers have Masters degrees in the subjects they teach. I know darn sure my wife is not going to be teaching quantum physics, calculus, and AP biology, AP english, and AP chemistry when my kids hit 12th grade.]

[Marie]

In this country all citizens are to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Our government isn't supposed to assume you're guilty without evidence.

Let's say that the police come into your house and search for drugs. You haven't done anything to provoke the search, but they tell you that if you don't cooperate, they'll assume you're a drug dealer and throw you in jail. That's what they do with HS families. Take this test and prove you're innocent. Otherwise, you're guilty.

The other problem is how the test results are dealt with. Yes, they test in schools, but they are mostly used for statistical purposes. If 5% fail, it's an acceptable number. They don't remove these children from the school and put them in a "foster school". If you only have two children and one doesn't test well, they attack your PARENTING, your family, your home, you're very way of life.

[Marie]

In this country all citizens are to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Our government isn't supposed to assume you're guilty without evidence.

Let's say that the police come into your house and search for drugs. You haven't done anything to provoke the search, but they tell you that if you don't cooperate, they'll assume you're a drug dealer and throw you in jail. That's what they do with HS families. Take this test and prove you're innocent. Otherwise, you're guilty.

The other problem is how the test results are dealt with. Yes, they test in schools, but they are mostly used for statistical purposes. If 5% fail, it's an acceptable number. They don't remove these children from the school and put them in a "foster school". If you only have two children and one doesn't test well, they attack your PARENTING, your family, your home, you're very way of life.