10 reasons to ban homeschooling. Call your Reps now!

[Warren]

Why Public Schooling Is Better Than Homeschooling

* Most parents were educated in the under-funded public
school system, and so are not smart enough to homeschool
their own children.

* Children who receive one-on-one homeschooling will
learn more than others, giving them an unfair advantage
in the marketplace. This is undemocratic.

* How can children learn to defend themselves unless
they have to fight off bullies on a daily basis?

* Ridicule from other children is important to the socialization process.

* Children in public schools can get more practice
"Just Saying No" to drugs, cigarettes and alcohol.

* Fluorescent lighting may have significant health
benefits.

* Publicly asking permission to go to the bathroom
teaches young people their place in society.

* The fashion industry depends upon the peer pressure
that only public schools can generate.

* Public schools foster cultural literacy, passing on
important traditions like the singing of "Jingle Bells,
Batman smells, Robin laid an egg..."

* Homeschooled children may not learn important office
career skills, like how to sit still for six hours straight.

[Mabs2]

Don't the first two contradict eachother? >_>

[jefnvk]

I must have gottne stuck at a very good public school, the way some people talk.  The few homeschooled people I knew were nowhere near the academic level that the public school kids were.

[crt360]

Some of those are actually pretty good reasons.  I'm sure some people like it, but if I had to be a kid again there is no way I'd be home schooled.  I probably would have received my education in juvenile detention after being provoked into participation in family violence.  I tip my hat to the families that can successfully pull it off, especially the kids who endure it and figure out how to adjust to later social/academic environments.  

Public school wasn't perfect, but most of us learned a lot more than we ever needed to know.  Unfortunately, the few kids who slip through the cracks in public schools, and who might benefit from an alternative, don't seem to have much option in the form of home schooling.

[Lee]

Home schooling is fine ...assuming the parents are competent teachers and fairly "normal" people.  The kid is pretty much screwed if they aren't.   My kids attend a great public school...and I supplement their learning the other half of the day.  I like the fact that they are exposed to many types of people, as they will be dealing with them later in life.

[trapperjohn]

as an engineering professor who gets to see the results of public school and homeschooling, and as a man who is married to someoen taht was homeschooled I can tell you it works. I can also tell you that for the most part public education is broken.

[Winston Smith]

Im in public high school right now, and I DO NOT, repeat DO NOT want to be homeschooled. At least for high school, I'm sure it would destroy the natural separation that needs to go on between child and parent.

I have not asked to use the restroom in about 6 years. Something about it irks me, probably the complete lack of dignity in asking permission to relieve one's self. Sorry, I go to the bathroom when I want to.

[Perd Hapley]

Don't the first two contradict each other?

Actually, the first one is a non-sequitir, and just as tongue-in-cheek as the rest of them.  'Cause, like, it says that people who are public-schooled are dumb.  Get it?

Is schooled a real verb?  I suppose one should say "home-taught."

[Phantom Warrior]

I'm not sure if I should take this seriously or not.    With gems like, "The fashion industry depends upon the peer pressure that only public schools can generate.", I'm pretty sure it's mostly a joke.  

But I'll bite, at least to get into the discussion.  I was homeschooled and I'm very much in support of it.  Point by point...


-Most parents were educated in the under-funded public
school system, and so are not smart enough to homeschool
their own children.

True, in some cases.  And it takes a determined, disciplined person to sit down with their child and actually get them to learn something every day.  The parent should make a careful decision on whether they are qualified to homeschool their children.  I was lucky enough to have a very good mother as my teacher.


-Children who receive one-on-one homeschooling will
learn more than others, giving them an unfair advantage
in the marketplace. This is undemocratic.

Sarcasm or plain anti-American thought.  Sadly, I'm not sure.


-How can children learn to defend themselves unless
they have to fight off bullies on a daily basis?

Adversity does build character.  But a well-adjusted, well-parented kid will more likely be confident enough to stand up for themself than a kid who's been raised in the school system, with limited individual attention, and has been told "Both people in a fight will be punished, no matter who started it."  


-Ridicule from other children is important to the socialization process.

My sarcasm sense is tingling.  Yeah, ridicule is really good for raising confident, empowered, self-motivating young people.  Try again.


-Children in public schools can get more practice
"Just Saying No" to drugs, cigarettes and alcohol.


Again, someone with actual self-esteem is going to have a better chance of saying "No" than someone who has been ignored all their life and will do anything for other people's affection.


-Fluorescent lighting may have significant health
benefits.


I almost laughed at that one.  O wait, I didn't...


- Publicly asking permission to go to the bathroom
teaches young people their place in society.

Uhhh, bad joke or "Bite me."


- The fashion industry depends upon the peer pressure
that only public schools can generate.

But I thought we wanted kids to NOT cave to peer pressure when it came to drugs.  How will we ever do both at the same time?


- Public schools foster cultural literacy, passing on
important traditions like the singing of "Jingle Bells,
Batman smells, Robin laid an egg..."

*sigh*  Ok, the joke's on me.  This is a joke.


- Homeschooled children may not learn important office
career skills, like how to sit still for six hours straight.

But kids who go to public school, aren't really disciplined, and get to change classes every 50 minutes, with lunch and recess thrown in, will....


Ok, by about "Batman smells..." I started to smell something too.  This is pretty much a damning indictment of public schools.  One or two legitimate points.  Which I will address.
Unqualified parents, already covered.
Socialization and growing up.  I think there is something to be said for sending kids to high school.  At some point you have to release them into the real world.  Better to give them a few years while they are still living at home than to send them off to the college drugs and alcohol and sex scene at the same time that they are adjusting to school with other kids AND living away from home.  Plus, even less parents are really qualified or able to do a good job teaching high school level classes.  Esp math and science stuff (unless your dad is an engineer or something).
Unfortunately, I think there is a lot to be said for homeschooling in the early years.  A lot of kids develop bad habits then and never break them.  Keeping your kids at home for a few extra years allows you to help work on manners, honesty, consideration for others, and all those other little things that many kids don't pick up at public schools.  Plus, sitting down and reading with your child and addressing their specific weaknesses and helping them research their questions is, in my opinion, a lot better than throwing them in with 25 other kids.


I guess that's mostly what I have to say.  Here's my story, if you doubt the fundamental soundness of homeschooling.  I was homeschooled through the third grade.  Since then I've always been near the top of my class.  I graduated high school w/ all kinds of neat accolades and am about to graduate college with two Bachelor's degrees (math and CS).  I've never done drugs or alcohol, despite a LOT of opportunities.  Most people consider me well behaved and polite.
It isn't all my parents doing, but I credit them with teaching me a love for learning and always helping me with stuff I didn't understand.  And with teaching me good manners and disciplining me when I needed it.  And with always being 100% supportive of me, all the time.
Homeschooing isn't a magic bullet.  Good parenting is.  Public school kids with good parents can do very well.  But I think there are a lot of advantages to homeschooling your children in the early years and helping them get a leg up on life.  Unless it's extremely poorly done, homeschooling can be (and usually is) a tremendous asset.

[Guest]

I was homeschooled for a year, and I have to say that in terms of quality, my subsequent public high schooling didn't hold a candle.

[Guest]

Homeschooling is only as good as the teacher. I have met some fine parents who would have no problem handling the task up through highschool level. I have also met some parents that I wouldnt trust to mow my lawn. I shudder to think about he future that awaits their poor slack-jawed children.

There are also some legitimate problems with socialization. Kids do need other kids when they are growing up. There are ample opportunities for homeschooled kids to socialize but a lot of parents don't take advantage of them. I have met a few adults who were homeschooled in a situation with strong academics (eccept in the natural sciences) but with HORRID social skills that prohibited them from ever reaching anything beyond low level "worker bee" status.

I had the best of both worlds and was educated at a very small private school. I learned things in the 6th grade that my public school peers didnt learn untill college if at all (like how to use citations in a research paper, believe it or not). My parents didnt have time to school me in everything and they knew that an objective instructor would do a better job anyways. My father was a very accomplished teacher in the public highschool system and eventually in private and corporate environments and he knew better than to homeschool his own son.

Long story short the biggest factor in the development in a childs life is the parents. If a kid has good parents they stand a chance of turning out OK no matter how bad their school is. if the have bad parents they are going to have a much harder time no matter what.

[TarpleyG]

I learned things in the 6th grade that my public school peers didnt learn untill college if at all (like how to use citations in a research paper, believe it or not)

I had the distinct pleasure of being educated in the Plano Independent School District in Plano, TX during the '80s.  That school district was considered one of the top in the country and we were taught things like this early on as well.  I would equate my High School diploma with most 2 year college programs around the country.  I don't think that they still rank way up there though.  Not sure why.

Greg

[Wedge]

My wife is a public school teacher (elementary) and while neither of us would homeschool our kids (maybe private school) she doesn't blame anyone who does, especially public school teachers that have quit to homeschool.  The states are taking away all options for teachers and mandating ridiculous state tests (guess what state I live in...) that some kids just aren't ready for.  We both feel that the schools are pushing kids too hard, too fast and burning them out by 5th grade.  

I wouldn't trade my high school experience for anything.  And that includes all the bad parts.

[Sean Smith]

I think the key thing to bear in mind is that there is a radical amount of variation in how good public schools are.  

I got to review some scholarship applications, which were all from the top 10-20% of a particular public school.  They were all As and Bs, like you'd expect.  But only one person in the entire school had an SAT score over 1,000... and just barely.  

By way of comparison, the high school I went to back in the late 80s was one of the better ones, and 1200+, heck 1400+, scores were commonplace.  And bear in mind that the College Board "re-normalized" the SAT (read: inflated the low scores) in 1995 by about 100 points total.  So for most of the grown-ups in the room, that school had nobody over 900 on the old scale (which was left unchanged from 1942-1994 IIRC).

That's just one metric, and it isn't like SAT scores are wonderfully meaningful, except to give you a rough idea that an A at one school is maybe more like a C or D in another.

It is probably difficult to beat the better public schools with home schooling... conversely, almost anything would beat the mediocre ones, provided the parents aren't utter morons.

[cfabe]

I was lucky and came through an excellent public schooling system. Anymore, though, that's probably the exception rather than the norm. I've known people who went through public schools and somehow still don't know basic grammar. One of my college roommates was homeschooled. He was a well educated in most areas and well adjusted socially. The one area in which he lacked was math, he had to take math050 freshman year. But, he also started college a year early, though I'm not really sure what the advantage to that is. I do know that his family was part of a group of homeschoolers in the area and he took some math and science classes at the local community college.

[Guest]

I was homeschooled, and there is no doubt in my mind that I would have done better, and had more acedemic oportunities had I gone to high school. I will always regret my education. I scored a 34 on the ACT and and am now working my way toward a (free) major in physics, but I still feel the results of my poor math background.

In any case it should be legal. You can screw around and waste your time in highschool, or you can screw around and waste your time homeschooling, in my case, it was far easier to do so homeschooling.

I actually think being homeschooled HELPED me get into college, a diversity thing if you know what I mean.

[SMLE]

I never let school get in the way of my education.

[James Odom]

Home schooling can be a good thing, but not for everyone.  Just as there is a huge variation between public schools, there is a huge variation between parents teaching their kids.  If you have the time and dedication, more power to you.

I think the one HUGE caveat is the socialization, as mentioned previously.  To supplement the education, you've got to have a social group where kids get to interact regularly with other kids.  Be it church, soccer, karate, or whatever, there are some aspects of growing up that can only be learned from a peer group, no matter how much parents want to help.

[spacemanspiff]

i think (hope) there is a misconception here about homeschooling. there are correspondance schools across the states that allow people to study from home. it is necessary in alaska, since not every village is going to have a school, and all the people who live out in the boonies dont want to commute their kids 150 miles to and from school each day.

i was put in such a correspondance schooling from grade 1. i was already reading when i was 4, so i had a good background to start with. the curriculum was almost identical to what other students in my grade had. in fact, i even had some of the same textbooks.
the only thing my mother had to do was administer the tests, but that went away by 6th grade. not what the teachers wanted or actually, even knew, but i was self-sufficiently studying by junior high.

now, thats where i started to go off the wayside. tests became openbook, and i pretty much cheated the rest of the way.
but it didnt help me finish school. i dropped out when i realized i didnt have enough credits to enter my senior year. and they were going to be tough credits too. english, science and math.

now, the good part of home schooling for me, was that i could do as much or as little as i wanted to. if i dragged my feet, i'd finish the school year the same time as everyone else. but if i hustled, i could be done a few months early. and that was only studying 12 hours a week.

it helped that i knew a lot of other kids in the correspondance program. what our parents and teachers didnt know is that we would swap completed semesters worth of courses amongst ourselves.


now, back to the misconception. some parents do take it on themselves to do all the teaching and devise the entire curriculum. i admire the parent that has the patience and the time to devote to doing just this.


okay, does homeschooling of either sort affect how the student evolves socially? yes. that is the toughest part, and unless the parent realizes that the child needs regular contact with other kids, the child will suffer. fortunately, i didnt. like i said, many of my friends were doing the schooling as well.
what i didnt quite learn though, was how to handle the stress of everyday activities. i never had real deadlines to deal with, not like i have had to do in the jobs i've held.
i am best at doing work in short, fast paced sprints. i can complete more in 4 hours of frenzied, intensive work than i can in 8 of laid back work. throughout the week, i probably complete 15 hours of actual work. but in that 15 hours, i do more than 3 other people. and i do it right the first time.

[Warren]

I homeskool my kids and while I am aware of my flaws when it comes to being an educator I'd rather I screw them up than put them into the clutches of a system peopled with lefty loons who peddle all their idiotic and evil socialistic crap to kids.

[kfranz]

Anybody who believes that homeschool or public school is automatically better than the other is either a homeschooled or public schooled idiot.... :-)

Fianna Faíl summed up the idea best though.  Obviously picked up some Twain somewhere....

[jamz]

I homeskool my kids and while I am aware of my flaws when it comes to being an educator.........

That's pretty funny.  


Love, James

[Phantom Warrior]

Phantom,

I thought I recalled that you were going to basic training soon.  Are you going to be an officer?

(I can't PM people so I'll put this whole post in parentheses to represent me whispering so I won't get things off topic.    I'm heading off to Ft. Benning in June and will be enlisted.  I am however, planning to try for OCS within a year or so.  The reasons I chose to go prior-service OCS rather than civilian OCS are too long to get into in this thread.  E-mail me if you have more questions.)

[socalgeek]

* Children in public schools can get more practice
"Just Saying No" to drugs, cigarettes and alcohol.

Haha. That's pretty funny. You haven't been to a public high school lately, have you?

[Antibubba]

Just as there are differences in quality and variety between public school districts, so too is each homeschooling situation.  Homeschooling doesn't necessarily mean that the parent teaches everything.  Homeschooling just means that the kid is not in a "public" or paid private setting.  As Spiff said, there are correspondence and on-line courses, and many parents will hire a tutor in areas where they themselves are weak.  Sometimes a group of families will school their children together, with different parents teaching different subjects.  There's also an "unschooling" movement-I've met a few people who were Unschooled.  interesting.