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Saturday, August 20, 2005

NEA: Home Schools Run By Well-Meaning Amateurs

NEA: Home Schools Run By Well-Meaning Amateurs
This article is funny. The author is so condescending, acting as if regular parents are stupid. He uses the analogy that you wouldn't do all your own home repair jobs or all the repairs on your cars (Jef would, if they didn't have stinkin' computers in them!). We would. I know other people who would. We certainly wouldn't trust people who had a 25% failure rate to do the job for us.
Jef says that kind of condescension explains the lack of educational reform. If any one of those professions (which happen to be non-government jobs) Mr. Arnold lists had the failure rate (25%?) that public education has, they would be out of a job.
This condescension irks me, yes, but also makes me sad. It is this way of thinking that hurts kids out there. Parents are made to believe they are incapable of teaching their kids, so they send them to a school where their children are given 1/20 of the teacher's attention (if it is a really good school, otherwise the teacher to student ratio is much higher). My children receive one-on-one attention from both Jef & I, especially when they are having a problem.
My children will also be able to correctly identify points in American history that led us to today. If you ask them who John Hancock was, or what Ben Franklin did, they will be able to tell you! They will also be able to tell you who Arlen Specter is, etc.
Oh, and most importantly, by the time they graduate, they'll be able to read, write coherently, and do math!!!! Can't say that for the public schools!
Ok, I am off my rant. Thanks for listening. Going to play "Sorry!" and eat pancakes & sausages and drink coffee (black - back to being good). :o) Have a good day!

2 Comments:

  • At 5:52 AM, Anonymous said…

    I understand your rant, Sonja, But I've seen homeschooled kids that never actually do anything-like one family wasn't going to have school until the house was spotless. I have also witnessed a seperatist mentality with homeschool parents that is not right-these kids do not get to do anything with other kids. I think there is a balance, not all kids that go to public school are stupid and uneducated-I'm not, my friends aren't. Parents need to be involved in a child's education no matter where they go to school.
    Vickie

     
  • At 8:11 AM, Sonja Minch said…

    I completely agree, Vickie. Parents *should* be involved in their child(ren)'s education, no matter where they go to school.
    I didn't mean to sound like I was saying public school kids are stupid. I don't think that at all. But the author of this article seems to view homeschoolers & parents in general as being, well, for lack of a better word - stupid. He even says, "Don't most parents have a tough enough job teaching their children social (I thought schools were supposed to do this?), disciplinary and behavorial skills?" Like parents are incapable of doing more than two or three things at a time.
    I guess what got to me most from this article was the condescending attitude toward parents and the underlying theme that children are a burden, rather than a blessing.
    You're right, there are homeschoolers out there that don't do anything. There are also homeschoolers who do separate their children. However, the more popular homeschooling becomes, the more I see people creating groups and co-ops to allow their children to interact & to provide an accountablity factor to educating your children.
    I guess I get sad when I see the media portraying kids as being a burden. They seem to do that a lot nowadays. I even had someone tell me I should send my kids to public school to "make it easier on myself." grr..
    thanks for writing back, Vickie. :) I like your comments. Sorry this response was so long & rambling. :)

     

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