Let's Restrict Home Schooling

[stephanie]

Here's a progressive point of view...

With varying degrees of red-tape, home schooling is allowed in each and every one of our 50 states.

Obviusly there were and are political reasons for this. Lots of home-schooling parents run with the creationists. Creationists are easily led, and they vote.

But as to other reasons for this blanket surrender to home school advocates- I for one, have never understood why.


Of course I know that our public school systems are plagued by problems, but I have to think that through time- even now- our public schools have nurtured tens of millions of solid citizens. And surely, our private schools have nurtured and produced millions more of our best people.

I'm not blind to the fact that many solid citizens have been home-schooled. I've even heard of homeschoolers winning science fairs, and being accepted to prestigious colleges. Because I admit that home schooling works in some cases, I don't view myself as a bigot in that regard.

Still, when I look at the bigger picture, I am far from assured that the blanket legality of home-schooling serves society too well.

I'm troubled by the fact that a significant percentage of home schooling parents choose this option because of an overriding feeling that they want their children to pursue curricula from theology or received wisdom rather than a scientific perspective.

I wonder how many of these types of home-schooled kids take the assumptions of say, 6,500 year-old earths and other lack of respect for scientific inquiry into adulthood. Will these people be on equal preparatory footing for jobs where scientific inquisitiveness, technical insight or critical thinking skills are far more necessary than rote recitation?

I'm also troubled, frankly, by parents who find the world overly complex, and want to keep their students at home in the service of simplicity and protectiveness.

I'm equally troubled by the fact that a non-trivial number of homeschoolers are taught in that way because their parents are overly rugged individualists who lack the impulse or skills to mix in as collaborative members of everyday society.

Well, the world is overly complex. Lots of different types of people, of cultural forces. Hiding off somewhere and teaching your kids away from the influence of a socially formative school environment can make it harder for your children to learn about the give-and-take of life in our present-day culture.

Listen, I am not advocating that home-schooling should be outlawed. Of course there should be exemptions- where the child is in physical danger in their public school, when the child is physically immobile, where the family lives in a remote geographical area. In these cases- and when a parent professionally trained as a qualified educator is available- sure, home schooling would be OK.

But as to the homeschooler subjected to beliefs that run counter to scientific inquiry and the principles in which knowledge is pursued and attained- I say send them to school and let the parents devote some of their off-hours to teaching what they feel their kids should know. One such scenario: kid comes home and tells her parent that "today our teacher said the universe is 14.5 billion years old, but we learned in Sunday School God created the world 6,500 years ago.."

Then, and only then, is the most appropriate time for the parent to get involved.


I was surprised at some of the comments to this drivel..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/russel...o_b_49013.html

[5stringJeff]

I'm not surprised, unfortunately. But I can't help but sit and shake my head. Parents have the primary responsibility for educating their children, not the state.

[Birdzeye]

I believe that it was conservatives who began the home-schooling movement, but that other parents have become home schoolers for other than political reasons.

I don't particularly like the idea of parents shielding their children from ideas that are contrary to their religious beliefs (such as the theory of evolution); my opinion is that children should not be kept ignorant of other ideas. However, parents have the right to raise their kids as they see fit, even if I don't like how they're doing it.

My only reservation about home schooling is the qualifications of the parents to do the teaching job. No, I don't believe that you need a degree in education to teach your kids, but I fear that some parents simply aren't up to the job. I know I could do fine at teaching math and science, but I'd be useless at teaching literature (not my favorite subject when I was in school).

Oh, and I personally know a few moms who have home schooled their kids. As far as I can tell, they did a pretty good job. One mom's son got his GED at age 16 and then enrolled in the local community college to study engineering.

[Hobbit]

This is disgusting. As the government school system gets worse and more ideological and fanatical in its indoctrination, people keep trying to find more ways to force innocent children to be subjected to the abject Hell of government schools. I went to a government school from 7th grade on, and despite the fact that my parents had no way to both feed my sister and me and send us to private school, it's something they have regretted having to do ever since. Government schools are run by teachers unions, the single greatest threat to the future prosperity of this country. If I had two buttons in front of me, one that would eliminate Islamic terrorists forever and one that would eliminate teachers' unions forever, I'd hit the latter.

[Birdzeye]

This is disgusting. As the government school system gets worse and more ideological and fanatical in its indoctrination, people keep trying to find more ways to force innocent children to be subjected to the abject Hell of government schools. I went to a government school from 7th grade on, and despite the fact that my parents had no way to both feed my sister and me and send us to private school, it's something they have regretted having to do ever since. Government schools are run by teachers unions, the single greatest threat to the future prosperity of this country. If I had two buttons in front of me, one that would eliminate Islamic terrorists forever and one that would eliminate teachers' unions forever, I'd hit the latter.

And what would you put in its place, for those who are incapable of home schooling their kids themselves and who can't afford to pay tuition? Illiteracy is a big time handicap in this society of ours.

[Doniston]

And what would you put in its place, for those who are incapable of home schooling their kids themselves and who can't afford to pay tuition? Illiteracy is a big time handicap in this society of ours.

Unfortunately, here in California, Home schooling is more often used for incooregable kids, who can't behave in schools. Something like a lax house arrest.

[Hobbit]

And what would you put in its place, for those who are incapable of home schooling their kids themselves and who can't afford to pay tuition? Illiteracy is a big time handicap in this society of ours.

Vouchers? School choice? Hell, independant study would be better than what we have now.

[Birdzeye]

Vouchers? School choice? Hell, independant study would be better than what we have now.

Vouchers would only work if they covered the entire cost of tuition; otherwise, it would be impossible for families of limited means to get their kids educated. Our society has decided that it's important for its citizens to be literate; that's why we have MANDATORY education laws. No way that can happen if parents get a $3K voucher but still have to cough up another $20K for each kid.

[Hobbit]

Vouchers would only work if they covered the entire cost of tuition; otherwise, it would be impossible for families of limited means to get their kids educated. Our society has decided that it's important for its citizens to be literate; that's why we have MANDATORY education laws. No way that can happen if parents get a $3K voucher but still have to cough up another $20K for each kid.

You're assuming that I wasn't talking about the entire tuition (which I think would be appropriate). In fact, let's just forget private school altogether for a second. Why can't I pick which government school to send my kids to? If we just allowed people to pick which government school to send the kids to, those schools would have to compete for funding, and would thus improve or get shut down.

What's funny is that every time somebody brings up vouchers, somebody else talks about how much it will hurt the poor, when it's the poor who are the most in favor of it, since there's no way they can afford to send their children to a different school without help. Just check out my thread on how well it's working in D.C.

[Birdzeye]

You're assuming that I wasn't talking about the entire tuition (which I think would be appropriate). In fact, let's just forget private school altogether for a second. Why can't I pick which government school to send my kids to? If we just allowed people to pick which government school to send the kids to, those schools would have to compete for funding, and would thus improve or get shut down.

What's funny is that every time somebody brings up vouchers, somebody else talks about how much it will hurt the poor, when it's the poor who are the most in favor of it, since there's no way they can afford to send their children to a different school without help. Just check out my thread on how well it's working in D.C.

OK, now I understand where you're coming from. I was under the impression you wanted to abolish public schools, which I don't believe is realistic.

[Hobbit]

OK, now I understand where you're coming from. I was under the impression you wanted to abolish public schools, which I don't believe is realistic.

Oh, I do, but one step at a time, and not in such a way that education will go back to being a rare commodity. I believe in government subsidized education, just not government controlled education.

[5stringJeff]

I believe that it was conservatives who began the home-schooling movement, but that other parents have become home schoolers for other than political reasons.

I don't particularly like the idea of parents shielding their children from ideas that are contrary to their religious beliefs (such as the theory of evolution); my opinion is that children should not be kept ignorant of other ideas. However, parents have the right to raise their kids as they see fit, even if I don't like how they're doing it.

I guess this depends on your POV. My children are being raised, and will continue to be raised, with a Christian worldview, to include things like creationism, pro-life views, etc. etc. That doesn't mean ignoring the opposing viewpoints, it means showing what those alternate viewpoints are, comparing the two, and showing why the alternates are incorrect and the Christian worldview is correct. And that will occur regardless of whether my kids are in public or private school.

[Bulldog]

Oh, I do, but one step at a time, and not in such a way that education will go back to being a rare commodity. I believe in government subsidized education, just not government controlled education.

Bulldog.

[Hagbard Celine]

This is disgusting. As the government school system gets worse and more ideological and fanatical in its indoctrination, people keep trying to find more ways to force innocent children to be subjected to the abject Hell of government schools. I went to a government school from 7th grade on, and despite the fact that my parents had no way to both feed my sister and me and send us to private school, it's something they have regretted having to do ever since. Government schools are run by teachers unions, the single greatest threat to the future prosperity of this country. If I had two buttons in front of me, one that would eliminate Islamic terrorists forever and one that would eliminate teachers' unions forever, I'd hit the latter.

The public school system is NOT fanatically indoctrinating people. What you're doing is known in psychology as "projection." I know that what you want is for schools to teach Bible lessons and lead school prayer sessions, teaching kids creationism (id) and replacing pep rallies with ritualized recitations of the pledge of allegiance and "God Bless America."

The thing you fail to realize is that YOUR view of what schools should be IS fanatical indoctrination. Teaching science in science class (I assume your frothing is over the teaching of evolution) is NOT indoctrination. If you want your kids (if you ever have them) to learn Bible stories instead of biology, geology and history, I recommend that you send them to Christian school. Every community has Christian schools. You shouldn't have a hard time finding one.

In the meantime, the public school system will continue to imbibe the nation's future-leading-minds with the secular education they need to function normally in society. And the Bible fables we all learned as kids will continue to be taught to them in Sunday school--just as they were taught to us.

[Birdzeye]

I guess this depends on your POV. My children are being raised, and will continue to be raised, with a Christian worldview, to include things like creationism, pro-life views, etc. etc. That doesn't mean ignoring the opposing viewpoints, it means showing what those alternate viewpoints are, comparing the two, and showing why the alternates are incorrect and the Christian worldview is correct. And that will occur regardless of whether my kids are in public or private school.

And I consider that commendable, even if I may disagree with you on some points and issues. At least you're not shielding your kids from the reality that others see things differently, while you try to instill your values in them.