People here are 1) suprised when a 6-8 hour project they didn't tell me was a rush until after 5:00 on Friday isn't done yet, and 2) expecting me to care.

Did you laugh at them, Lee?

Yes, but since I am also hiding in my office pretending they don't exist, there may be a flaw in my logic as well.

Oh well.

But, but... Aimee, you're messing with my plan to move to California and teach Algebra to Emma!

If only I had a magic clicky thing what puts the rest of the universe on pause.

Yeah, at first you're using it to catch up on email and get the last box of Cap'n Crunch, but next thing you know the missiles are on their way and you have to freeze everyone and spend the rest of your life alone.

At night, the ice weasels come.

Not going to enter into the home school vs public school debate here just because I see it as primarily a pragmatic issue, not a moral one.

I think it largely is a moral question.

I agree that good public school are the lifeblood of a healthy democracy. Look how beautifully the voters being manipulated by half-truths and unconstitutional behavior at the moment-- in my paranoid moments I'd almost think the current administration is intentionally weakening public education.

Of course there are exceptions and of course you need to do whats best for your child... but sometimes what is best for your child is supplementing certain school defficiencies at home in order for them to participate in the culture and for informed concerned parents to remain engaged in defense/maintenance/support of public education.

My children are hypothetical, but I am a New Yorker and many (though not ALL for pete's sake) of our public schools are really struggling. This is something I don't take lightly.

I look at all the time and money parents spend on their children's private schools. Some are making the choice to direct those energies to the public good -- and I think that largely is a moral decision to build a strong society.

But, but... Aimee, you're messing with my plan to move to California and teach Algebra to Emma!

You've got some time. Get yer fanny in gear!

I agree that good public school are the lifeblood of a healthy democracy. Look how beautifully the voters being manipulated by half-truths and unconstitutional behavior at the moment

Point of order -- people have been stupid, easily misled, and willingly manipulated for as long as we've had democracy, and a lot longer. Demagoguery is not a new word.

Also, taken historically, if we could quantify education as N number of kids learning S number of skills and X number of other things (perspectives, facts, exposure to new ideas both practical and impractical), I bet that we still come out winning at this late date. Lots more people in the 18th-19th C signed their legal papers by making an X, because they couldn't write their names, than do now.

I agree that good public school are the lifeblood of a healthy democracy.

Can homeschooling destroy democracy? Even though we know it will always be a minority position?

I know that bad public schools could, but that's not the same thing.

I agree that good public school are the lifeblood of a healthy democracy.

Yup. The question is, what do you do when you're living in an area that doesn't value public schools?

For instance, when I lived in Massachusetts during the post-Reagan crash, some towns closed the schools in *April* rather than pass a school bond. The answer? "I know this is bad for the schools, but our taxes are too high."

Believe me, parents campaigned and held signs and sent out flyers. The town as a whole responded, "Education isn't that important to us."

That's when you say Screw this, I'm taking care of my kid, and I consider that a completely moral response.

I think it largely is a moral question.

I'm wondering how I sit with this. I have some notion of "social virtue" that's different from "personal morality" - and the latter has the higher rung on my set of choices. But the social virtue is not unconsidered or unweighted.

And for many people that distinction would be useless anyway since their politics are personal and vice versa.

Point of order -- people have been stupid, easily misled, and willingly manipulated for as long as we've had democracy, and a lot longer. Demagoguery is not a new word.

Sure. And it's easier to mislead uneducated people. The more we neglect the schools the more sheeplike the populace.

Also, taken historically, if we could quantify education as N number of kids learning S number of skills and X number of other things (perspectives, facts, exposure to new ideas both practical and impractical), I bet that we still come out winning at this late date. Lots more people in the 18th-19th C signed their legal papers by making an X, because they couldn't write their names, than do now.

And they could make a living, not so much the case today. Education is even more important now -- toss that adjustment in too.

That's when you say Screw this, I'm taking care of my kid, and I consider that a completely moral response.

Yes. It's still judged on a moral continuum though-- I can't agree that schooling decisions are purely pragmatic.

I'm wondering how I sit with this. I have some notion of "social virtue" that's different from "personal morality" - and the latter has the higher rung on my set of choices. But the social virtue is not unconsidered or unweighted.

Personal morality outside of my nears and dears is of little interest to me short of illegal behavior that harms others. Marry six women or a goat as long as they're all consenting adults. Social virtue of others is of far more concern to me.