Formal education is supplementary education
The first step towards educational independence is to realize that formal education is supplementary education, not primary education.It should be a part of your overall learning strategy, but it should not be the only strategy used to learn.
I laugh at homeschoolers, the poor kids who's parents are afraid of public education or have lost faith in it as an institution. The reason I laugh is because these parents think they alone can educationally prepare their kids for the 21st century, and that they alone can teach to their kids what 70 different teachers from K-12 will fail to do. Get real!
After watching Wifeswap tonight, I realized there are three reasons parents homeschool their kids:
- One or more parents are so wrapped up in family they don't want the kids to leave in the daytime. The lady on Wifeswap did not know what to do with herself when the kids went to school in the day. She actually made cardboard cutouts of the kids, dressed the cutouts in the kids' shirts, and sat them at the table to play cards. It was sad. It was obvious those kids were better off going to public school than staying home with Mom.
- The parents want to indoctrinate their kids to be religious soldiers. Sunday school and church is not enough, they fear the devil daily. This is even sadder.
- One or both parents had bad experiences in public schools themselves, and they believe what they hear in the mass media about innefective and dangerous schools. This is probably the biggest reason more than the other two, and it is the saddest of all. These parents are not smart enough to realize the media gets rich off scaring people in every way. These parents are also not wise enough to realize their kids may have better school experiences than they did as kids.
One last sad item from Wifeswap was the Dad asking his kid how the first day of homeschooling went, and the kid said it was like vacation since he only did two math problems in two minutes and was done for the day.
Oh yeah, that'll keep America on top.
posted by Ideas2NoEnd @ 10:35 PM
3 Comments:
It may help to check out quite a few homeschooing blogs, since many of them carry reason #4508 for homeschooling.
There are both good and bad reasons for homeschooling. Those who undertake it for good reasons and practice it well shouldn't need to rely on supplemental public schooling in order to get a rounded education. Many, for example, involve themselves in skill sharing initiatives between HE families, or work experience, or clubs, and adult ed classes to join, and yes...the accumulated wisdom of the internet.
Also...who is to say what is a well rounded education? There is so much information out there now that none of us can hope to cover all of it. Why should some children not become specialists in a field from an early age if it is clear that this is what they want to do.
I'm concerned that you're basing all of your information about homeschooling off a show called "wifeswap"... & Yes, I've suffered through the show! What's even scarier is that it seems you're basing this whole premise off of one episode...
It's ridiculous.
Have you ever met any adults who were homeschooled as children? You really can't argue with most results that homeschooling families achieve.
Sure there are the extreme cases... but you'll find that in publically educated kids as well.
You might want to do a bit more research on homeschooling... and not from "reality" (choke) TV.
I'm a homeschool graduate. I am SOO grateful that I was homeschooled, wouldn't want it any other way. I fully intend to homeschool my children.
AND *shock* I agree with your three reasons...only I would reword them a little bit.
1. One or more parents are so wrapped up in family (Love their family so much) they don't want the kids to leave in the daytime (they ENJOY being with their kids and their kids enjoy being with them)... (As others mentioned here -and I'm sure you would agree- you can't use one episode of 'Wife Swap' to evaluate the entire homeschooling world.)
2. The parents want to indoctrinate (train their children) their kids to be religious (spiritual) soldiers. Sunday school and church is not enough... This is even sadder (try 'happier').
3. One or both parents had bad experiences in public schools themselves, and they believe what they hear in the mass media (or what they saw, experienced, understood...) about innefective and dangerous schools. This is probably the biggest reason more than the other two (for most that I know, and that's a lot, this is actually not the biggest reason. reasons 1 and 2 tend to hold much more weight)... These parents are not smart enough to realize the media gets rich off scaring people in every way (you'd be suprised to know how many of these people don't even have a TV). These parents are also not wise enough to realize their kids may have better school experiences than they did as kids. (Hmm, I'd say quite the opposite. Again, speaking from experience. Being homeschooled can be -and often is- a VERY positive experience! So it could be that these parents are actually wiser to realize that their kids will receive an even better education!)
But hey, I'm not the end all and know all. go to your local homeschooling convention and see for yourself!
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