I am amazed at the gall of some
so-called liberals (mind you “liberal” was the way they described themselves not the label I would have chosen for them). They have decided that parents couldn't possibly be trusted to educate their own children without some sort of government oversight. You know that wonderful government oversight that has made such an astounding
success of the public school system?
First there is the whining that homeschoolers (& private schoolers) are selfish:
Home schooling and private schools both have this characteristic. There is a small subset of families that can afford the money it takes to send their kids to private schools. When this happens, an important part of society withdraws from the public, collective endeavor to educate our children. This can have many implications. Even something as simple as the funding of a class field trip serves as a microcosm of a broad array of effects, many less obvious but probably very important. My daughter attends a school that has a very ambitious yearly field trip for one of the grades, in which the children go away for three days and two nights. It is a little expensive (cost per child) but there is a guarantee that every child can go. Fund raising activities are carried out, and the surplus funds are set aside to subsidize any child whose family can’t afford the fee. Chaperons (parents) pay their own way as necessary so as to not increase the cost of the trip.
Apparently, he is terribly worried that some child might not be able to go on a field trip if enough parents choose to homeschool or send their children to private school. First off, it benefits no one if my children receive a substandard education just so someone else's child can go on a field trip. Secondly, who does he think buys all the JUNK that those school children are selling? I have a carton of cookie dough in my freezer that we purchased from some public school child's fundraiser. We also pay property taxes that benefit the public school system even though we do not benefit from it, and we don't receive any tax cuts because we homeschool (although some people claim homeschoolers do).
At least he admits his child attends an outstanding public school. I wonder IF he would leave his child in a low performing public school for the "greater good". After all, we don't all live in wonderful school districts. Why should I be forced to send my child to a horrible public school system for the "greater good" just because we don't happen to live in a wonderful school district? He goes on to say:
There is a correlation between wealth and ability to invest time and energy into a school via the PTA, as a school volunteer, and even in terms of helping the children at home with their homework, etc. There is a correlation between wealth and educational level, and in turn, there is a correlation between educational level of parents and the educational success of the children.
Hmmmm, these same parents that he doesn't trust to educate their own children are now a valuable commodity to the public school system and are capable of helping their children with their homework. There is something a tad illogical about his argument.
To the extent that home schoolers are also paying taxes but not using the schools, they are actually benefiting the system. But in some cases, they are getting vouchers, but then showing up to use resources set aside for specific schools but not augmented (fiscally) by the presence of that student in that school..
This is why it is so maddening when
VIRTUAL PUBLIC SCHOOLERS call themselves homeschoolers. REAL HOMESCHOOLERS do not receive vouchers, but you can hardly blame Greg for not knowing this when virtual public schoolers insist on referring to themselves as "homeschoolers".
He also asserts that homeschooling parents couldn't possibly provide their children with the same resources public schools do. Apparently, he has never heard of museums, science labs and a host of other sources that provide homeschoolers with the same resources that public schools also utilize.
Then of course he hops on the "abuse" soap box. Obviously, it doesn't occur to him that child abuse laws apply to everyone and that those laws will protect home-schooled children as well as public schooled children.
He then questions the validity of any testing done because "parents" often administer the test. Luckily, I live in a state that didn't require me to spend my money on worthless tests. My son took the ACT at 15, the same way the public school kids do. We registered online, paid our money and he showed up at the testing center. He scored a 28 and gained early admission to college. Greg's demand for oversight is flawed. Who would provide the oversight? The Department of Education that can't even oversee the public schools successfully—not to mention the problems inherent in having the Department of Education oversee the competition. He also doesn't seem to know that private schools DO NOT receive government oversight as they are not mention in his rant against homeschoolers, and his plea that Colleges not accept homeschoolers.
What could work is for people who are concerned about the children in homeschooling situations to work for making home schooling without oversight invalid as a means of obtaining a certified education. Colleges should not accept homeschooling high school certificates or diplomas, for instance, until some of these problems are addressed.
I hope Greg realizes the disservice he would be doing to a LARGE number of children that he claims to be concerned for. According to Greg, Shining Celebi should have been denied a college education because he was homeschooled. This is the kid that scored a 28 on the ACT, is in his second year of a computer science degree and was asked to join Phi Theta Kappa. But according to Greg he shouldn't be allowed to go to college just because he didn't attend a public school?
I am also troubled by the hostile comments concerning Christians and the posters belief that Fundamentalist Christians shouldn't be allowed to teach their children their religious beliefs.
But every time my daughter tells me about some fundie yahoo who happens to be a fellow student, a teacher, whatever, tries to talk her into taking Jesus into her heart: Every time I have to watch colleagues spend time testifying at a school board hearing instead of giving a lecture in a classroom: Every time my wife the teacher comes home with a story about how biology class was totally disrupted for the entire period by students with a list of questions provided by their pastor .. the same list they had the previous week … in an obvious attempt to disrupt and disturb … every time [fill in the blank] I get inspired to do something.
Freedom of Religion as guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States of America seems to mean nothing to them. This guy is beginning to make me wonder if the shrill fundies who maintain their religious beliefs are under attack might be right (and here I have been dismissing them as paranoid).Obviously those of us who cherish our homeschooling freedoms must ban together whether we are Fundamentalist Christians, Free-Thinking Christians, Atheist, Pagans, Jews, Black, White, Married, Single or any of the other diverse families homeschoolers come in to make sure the Greg's of this world do not take away our right to educate our children as we see fit.
Labels: independent homeschooling, Virtual Public School
