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!