Don’t you think that if cloistered homeschooling were the norm that science would find that parents would predominantly occupy the role of peers in such a study?
That’s exactly what these parents are doing: occupying (or at least trying to) the role of the peers. The problem is that parents can’t simply prepare their kids for the future based on their outdated view of what is “in”, as the society is constantly evolving; ABBA is really not hip anymore. The communists tried this in economics with their 5-year plan, and we all know how that ended.
Public schools routinely use dated material in order to teach kids. “Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land” was a staple decades after its production. I don’t accept that the public bureaucracy is innately better positioned to provide up-to-date instruction; in terms of social instruction the teaching of the parents is likely to be better for society than that of peers (as with peer pressure to start smoking--no offense, George--I don’t support state intervention regarding your smoking).
Though perhaps parents who require their children to listen to ABBA should be jailed. I might make an exception for that one.
Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land? Who is talking about math? Who here among us remembers all the trigonometric functions with their sines and cosines? (Except perhaps for Occam and Jackson .) Sine and cosine are irrelevant to a child, interaction with his/her friends (friends he/she chooses!) is not. Even though we might think otherwise, children are people. Kids are little people who have their own little society, even though for some of them it’ll mean they will (unfortunately) learn how to smoke. But you take that away from them, and you’re taking freedom from them. If all kids were home-schooled and actually did follow their parents “wisdom” for the rest of their lives, cultural evolution would cease to exist. Not that there is a chance of that ever happening, but just the thought of it makes me pretty ill.
I question the competance of most parents to teach the subject matter at an adequate level for kids past about 6-8th grade. We replaced home-schooling, on average, with public schooling for lots of social, historical, and economic reasons, and not all of them good ones, but generally speaking this has opened up better education to a much wider segmenbt of the population. Also, we live in a much more scientifically and technologically complex environment, and the education in biblical and classical literacy and basic mathematics that made up most of the primary and secondary curriculum before the 20th century is not adequate these days. I think we complain a lot about our public schools because we always want to make things better, but I think they’re a damn site better than most of the historical or contemporary alternatives that most people can afford. I would be happy to teach literature and biology through to college level for my daughter, but I’d be a lousy algebra and physics and Spanish and .... teacher. No one person has the knowledge to teach the variety of subjects in adequate depth to compete with a educational institution, and while the very bright kids might get by by learning to teach themselves what they need to know as tghey go along, I doubt this is sufficient for most.
I am less concerned in general about the ideological reasons for wanting to home school, though most of the time in my statistically emaningless experience it represents a fear of exposure to “bad” ideas, which I don’t think is such a good thing. I think it is certainly possible for individual kids to get along fine when home-schooled, provided they get the kind of social learning opportunities Bryan referred to, but I just don’t see it as such a great thing in general. It seems motivated, as I said, by ideological xenophobia or by an overestimation of one’s own abilities and underestimation of the public school system’s abilities to educate. I wouldn’t make it illegal, but I do think it’s better for the kids if the public has some say in the content and measurement of progress of kids exempted from the school system.
I question the competance of most parents to teach the subject matter at an adequate level for kids past about 6-8th grade. We replaced home-schooling, on average, with public schooling for lots of social, historical, and economic reasons, and not all of them good ones, but generally speaking this has opened up better education to a much wider segmenbt of the population.
That increases the qualifications of the average prospective homeschooling parent. of course. Most homeschoolers don’t teach through high school level, I suspect. That probably has to do with their own perception that greater specific expertise is required. A couple I know got their son directly into a college-high school cooperative program so that most of his high schooling constituted college credit as well. Make that two couples I know. The other student was a girl.
Also, we live in a much more scientifically and technologically complex environment, and the education in biblical and classical literacy and basic mathematics that made up most of the primary and secondary curriculum before the 20th century is not adequate these days.
I think we complain a lot about our public schools because we always want to make things better, but I think they’re a damn site better than most of the historical or contemporary alternatives that most people can afford. I would be happy to teach literature and biology through to college level for my daughter, but I’d be a lousy algebra and physics and Spanish and .... teacher. No one person has the knowledge to teach the variety of subjects in adequate depth to compete with a educational institution, and while the very bright kids might get by by learning to teach themselves what they need to know as tghey go along, I doubt this is sufficient for most.
You seem to be turning a blind eye to many of the dynamics that result in poor public education (including social cliques and teacher apathy). One of the biggest single factors in successful education is parental engagement. That factor tends to be present in homeschooling scenarios. In particular, it should pose a concern that even a highly qualified parent would be forced by the state to accede to some form of accreditation requirement simply to keep his child from (for example) a poor public school. Nanny-staters won’t mind, I expect, but the implications for human freedom should be obvious. Don’t want the gummint listening to you on the phone, but it’s ok to pressure society into accepting government education (with the threat of force ultimately behind the dictum).
I find it curious that one reason a parent would home-school is that both the parent and the child “enjoy it”. Why should a parent enjoy his/her child’s education? I surely enjoyed, in the sense that I felt proud, of both of my children’s accomplishments, but beyond that, I’m not sure what this phrase actually means. If what is meant is that the parent enjoys spending so much time with the child, then I would question the motives of the parent. Why does this parent not want to instead enjoy time with his/her peers, either at work, volunteering, or going to school him/herself? After all, it is part of a parent’s job to prepare his/ her child for life in every way, and that includes eventual life without the parent. This is best done, in my opinion, by introducing children to the extra-family world and then gradually helping them forge strong bonds with peers, who will, after all, eventually be the child’s entire world. And there is much to be said for toughening up children by allowing them small doses of frustration along the way. They will learn to solve their own problems creatively if they don’t always have a parent to lean on. We parents must be careful not to mix up our own needs for friendship and love with those of our children.
I enjoyed educating my children, I don’t know why you would find that so odd! We frequented museums, art shows, the various aquariums and book stores. We had adventures in most of the large parks within a days drive of home to experience and learn about nature. We also got a lot of exercise that way. By the way, my children also went to a school. In my profession, I have seen both sides of the home schooling--where the child’s only reading and learning came from the bible, and some parents who have done such a great job, I am in awe of their methods. I also took care of a home schooled 10 year old who still did not know how to read (for no discernible reason except parental laziness--we reported that parent). I don’t think a wholesale ban on home schooling would be a good idea, however I believe that better oversight would go a long, long way(like our educational system has the money for that too!).
I also took care of a home schooled 10 year old who still did not know how to read (for no discernible reason except parental laziness--we reported that parent).
This is the sort of thing that concerns me with home schooling—this and the potential for indoctrination into absurd forms of religious belief. People should have regular contact with the outside world. Good home schoolers can provide a fine education, but there is no oversight or regulation in most cases, so the potential for silent abuse of the system is very real. Yes, public schools can also fail us, but there is at least regulation of public schools.
If home schooled kids were obligated to meet with some sort of education counsellor regularly (say, a few times a year) just to check up on the basics, that would go a long way to avoiding the worst sorts of abuses.
.) Sine and cosine are irrelevant to a child, interaction with his/her friends (friends he/she chooses!) is not. Even though we might think otherwise, children are people. Kids are little people who have their own little society, even though for some of them it’ll mean they will (unfortunately) learn how to smoke. But you take that away from them, and you’re taking freedom from them. If all kids were home-schooled and actually did follow their parents “wisdom” for the rest of their lives, cultural evolution would cease to exist. Not that there is a chance of that ever happening, but just the thought of it makes me pretty ill.
