At 4:31 AM 9/23/96, Lucky Green wrote:
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. Children need to learn how to interact with one another in groups larger than a family unit. I don't think that homeschooling can accomplish this nearly as well as the public (or private) schools could.
I understand that many parents that homeschool belong to organizations that provide for meetings twice a week in which the children so educated in a certain area get together. Homeschooling does not have to stand in the way of a normal socialization process.
Also--and I mean this point completely seriously!--many parents are not altogether convinced that the "public school socialization" is all that beneficial. Do kids really _need_ to learn to wear gang colors, smoke to be cool, get pregnant at age 14, and so on? An awful lot of accomplished persons grew up in isolated areas, on small farms, and were educated in very small classrooms (or at home). I think the "social skills" Snow talks about above are actually the _worst_ part of public schools in fin-de-Siecle America. If I had a kid, I wouldn't want him or her in the local public schools. (And my area is more remote than over in San Jose--San Francisco, which is even worse. And LA is even worse.) --Tim May We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."
Timothy C. May wrote:
At 4:31 AM 9/23/96, Lucky Green wrote:
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.
Proponents of mass public education love to trot that one out, probably because it sounds good and appeals to common sense. However, I sincerely doubt it's true in any way. For example, I'd like to see some actual comparison of the social skills (and, umm, how do you measure that anyway? I don't remember taking any social skills tests in school to make sure I was acquiring that valuable stuff) of public school victims and homeschooled people. If it's such a problem, where are all those social freaks who got that way due to homeschooling? Before the Industrial Revolution, homeschooling was of course quite common. Many "public schools" were simply cheap boarding houses for lower-middle class children (see Nicholas Nickelby for a colorful example). Those with the means hired tutors.
Children need to learn how to interact with one another in groups larger than a family unit. I don't think that homeschooling can accomplish this nearly as well as the public (or private) schools could.
Please note that homeschooling does not imply that parents isolate their children from contact with the world until they're at voting age. Also, note that the public elementary schools I attended seemed hell-bent on *preventing* any sort of interaction with a group of peers. I don't recall being encouraged to do much but shut up and perform the uninspired textbook assignments I was given. ______c_________________________________________________________________ Mike M Nally * IBM % Tivoli * Austin TX * How quickly we forget that mailto:m5@tivoli.com mailto:m101@io.com * "deer processing" and "data http://www.io.com/~m101/ * processing" are different!
One of the hardest things that we have to work hardest to counter-act with our twins, who attend PS, is the socialization they pick up at school. Dan
In <Pine.OSF.3.91.960923105254.11469A-100000@francis.tenet.edu>, on 09/23/96 at 11:00 AM, Dan Harmon <harmon@tenet.edu> said:
One of the hardest things that we have to work hardest to counter-act with our twins, who attend PS, is the socialization they pick up at school.
There is an easy solution to that problem, it's called home school. :) -- ----------------------------------------------------------- William H. Geiger III http://www.amaranth.com/~whgiii Geiger Consulting WebExplorer & Java Enhanced!!! Merlin Beta Test Site - WarpServer SMP Test Site Author of PGPMR2 - PGP Front End for MR/2 Ice Look for MR/2 Tips & Rexx Scripts Get Work Place Shell for Windows!! PGP & MR/2 the only way for secure e-mail. Finger whgiii@amaranth.com for PGP Key and other info -----------------------------------------------------------
On Tue, 24 Sep 1996, William H. Geiger III wrote:
Dan Harmon <harmon@tenet.edu> said:
One of the hardest things that we have to work hardest to counter-act with our twins, who attend PS, is the socialization they pick up at school.
There is an easy solution to that problem, it's called home school. :)
We know several people that home school and it takes a very special people to do it. In our case, it may turn out to be the only option. The twins are ADHD with possible Tourettes and/or OCD. They we diagnosed at four, before it became the rage, and are now ten, going on six emotionally. We keep trying and working with them. Dan
On Tue, 24 Sep 1996, Dan Harmon wrote:
On Tue, 24 Sep 1996, William H. Geiger III wrote:
Dan Harmon <harmon@tenet.edu> said:
One of the hardest things that we have to work hardest to counter-act with our twins, who attend PS, is the socialization they pick up at school.
There is an easy solution to that problem, it's called home school. :)
Really there is no 'Correct' solution some students function better in Public Schools, some in private and others in home. I know of success stories and failures in each. I had a couple of friends who were in home school during their Freshman and Sophomore year in highschool but then decided to go back to public school, they were so far behind it wasn't funny...any ways, one droped out and then other is just now getting back in the "groove" of things (he is a junior). I guess the choice of schools is up to the individual, personally I am a student of a Public school, Enloe High, and truely hate it, I would perfer being in a private school but, I do not have that kind of money to spend, sure I could go to a cheep private school and not have the advantages of the people in public schools which (strangely) have more money. I could also do home school but my parents would drive me insane . But I totally disagree with the posts saying public school students become drug dealers, NONE, of my friends do drugs, drink, smoke, etc... Most students turn out to be functional members of society, with a few odd balls ruining the reputation of the public school system... Thats just my two cents..... Brent
participants (5)
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Dan Harmon -
Mike McNally -
tcmay＠got.net -
themom -
William H. Geiger III