On Sun, 22 Sep 1996, snow wrote:
I would agree that parents can do as good or better at _most_ subjects thru about the 3rd or 4th grade, and I do agree that most of todays schools are shit, however there is one area-- social skills--that homeschooling simply can't compete.
From John Holt's "Teach Your Own"
"If there were no other reason to homeschool your children, protecting them from the 'valuable social atmosphere' of the schools would be sufficient." John was a commie liberal BTW. He felt that the schools had a very nasty and artificial social environment with rigid age segregation that bore no resemblance to real life where there are people of wider age ranges. Certainly, most people suffer worse mistreatment from their "peers" at school than they do later in life. As a libertarian, I would add that the social atmosphere of a Stalinist "brain factory" is not exactly the socialization I would choose for my children. I would choose a more market oriented model.
As I indicated (or at least tried to) I am not satisfied with the way that schools are run. I _don't_ think that this seperation into classes by age is a good idea, I don't believe that self esteem is more important than learning. However I DO believe that socialization is necessary. I do believe that the torture we all endured (and I as much or more than most) from our fellow students helps us later in life. If nothing else it teaches us that our fellow "humans" are not "humane". I think a more more market oriented model would be a good idea, assuming that you mean a model designed to produce a product--well educated young adults--and not simply "worker factories". Petro, Christopher C. petro@suba.com <prefered for any non-list stuff> snow@smoke.suba.com