'Lineage'
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
serial:
I haev nothing but pity for the kids who grow up in small-town Kansas, learning bad science about evolution, and then arrive at college ready to major in biology, only to find they may need remedial classes.
Then they should have been homeschooled to avoid the bad science, or find a university that keeps teaching it.
I don't think homeschooling will harm the child any more than public schooling won't.
I really don't believe that's an even bet. Actually, I don't think smart kids suffer too much from mediocre schools. I think they'll excel anyway, and they'll get happy teacher attention. (Bad schools are another story. Mediocre students in mediocre schools is also another story.)
Am I prepared to sacrifice my child's education to prop up the education of the country as a whole?
Well, I'm not advocating that. Emmett went to a private kindergarten and I can imagine making that choice again. I'm just saying on two different fronts I dislike home schooling. One, I think it overvalues one-on-one parenting. Two, I think public education the most valuable tool for maintaining a viable democracy.
eta: Ooops. Public education being the valuable tool.
Is there a place for people without children in them to help fix the public schools?
Oh god yes. My co-worker, a gay black man my age, who does not have children, works many many hours with two foster children as their Big Brother, but also as a liason with their school. Aside from that, I simply dislike the attitude of people who don't have children who vote against taxes which support schools primarily because they have an "I don't benefit from it so why should I pay" attitude.
works many many hours with two foster children as their Big Brother
Founded by my great-great uncle, Irving Westheimer.
Aside from that, I simply dislike the attitude of people who don't have children who vote against taxes which support schools primarily because they have an "I don't benefit from it so why should I pay" attitude.
Speaking as a childless person, wrod. How can I say I don't benefit from better funded schools? After all, the people who will be providing various services for me in my decripitude will be going through those schools.
I really don't believe that's an even bet.
I think a parent can make it better than even, with rigourous attention to detail -- in favour of homeschooling. I'm not saying all or most do, but that's a parental failing, not a failing of the premise.
Oh god yes.
Does the empatic nature of this response imply that a parent with homeschooling will be received with as much respect for their opinions as someone who's "put their money where their mouth is"? In places, perhaps, where they aren't so excited about gay black Big Brothers?
Speaking as a childless person, wrod. How can I say I don't benefit from better funded schools? After all, the people who will be providing various services for me in my decripitude will be going through those schools.
Plus, it keeps the kids offa my lawn.
that does not sound workplace appropriate.
Well, I'm alone in my office today, so it's not like I'm playing Sex Bomb over the intercom for the entire office to hear... although now I really, really want to.
I don't think smart kids suffer too much from mediocre schools. I think they'll excel anyway, and they'll get happy teacher attention.
I think that REALLY depends on the kid. And the teacher. I had some mediocre teachers, including one who told my parents how happy she was to have me in class, since she didn't have to pay any attention to me.
Am I prepared to sacrifice my child's education to prop up the education of the country as a whole?I'm not. I live in a town with a decent public school system, but my loyalty lies with my kids. If our schools were to go down hill or change in some way that I couldn't fight, but that I found unsuitable for my children, I wouldn't necessarily move, to keep my child in public school
I don't think there's a one-true-way with schooling, any more than there is with parenting (including sahm-ness, daycare, extended family care).
Is there a place for people without children in them to help fix the public schools?Yes, there are fewer opportunities for non-parents or parents of matriculated students, but they're there. Most school committee meetings are open to the public, and there is a time for the public to comment on the matters at hand. Also, any financial sort of vote a person makes at the polls (re property taxes, etc.) affects the public schools.
As for the religious whackjobs -- if your agenda is (mostly) the one in charge, well, of course keep your kids in public education. But if they were being taught creationism, racism, sexism or homophobia, and you couldn't get the school to stop (or decided that's fine for those who're okay with the values, but not your kids), why not homeschool? I'm sure that's what it looks like to the "whackjobs."
Yes. There will be topics I will not want the schools to broach with my children. There may be topics I would be okay, in theory, with the school handling, but I may not like how our particular schools do it. There will probably be subjects I wish the schools would address, that they'll fail to. All schools are institutions, not custom built to our children, and the kind of input you have in a public school is different than what you might find in a private school.