What do you think?

Question

I was reading this article this morning http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/23062007/3/canada-tiny-outport-school-really-forever.html and couldn't help laugh at all the people who believe homeschooling should be outlawed for various reasons--they don't get different teachers, they don't get the same variety of kids to work with, they're not with loads of same-age peers every day, they [supposedly] don't get to play sports, etc. And here's this school where these two kids have been together for years with the same teacher, in a town that has very little to offer, I imagine, in terms of activities and certainly no sports. I have to wonder: do anti-homeschoolers believe that such places shouldn't exist, too? That it was wrong for the parents to stay there in a setting that was even more limited than what most homeschoolers have?

What do you think about it?

Answer 1

You have a good point. However, I think that if you were to bring up that article with someone opposed to home schooling they would try to argue their way out of it rather than accept home schooling as a legitimate form of education.

I think that what it really comes down to is that most people who grow up in an environment where it is vital to fit-in and be like everyone else have a hard time adapting to anything that is new or different. Most of us not only grew up in a public school system, but were taught to treat public schools as if they were sacred.

If circumstances intervene with that early teaching or if someone has a personality resistant to peer pressure than an individual is more likely to break away from that thought pattern and decide for themselves than someone who's natural inclination is to fit in.

Answer 2

I'm sure that anti-homeschoolers wouldn't have liked that school either. Of course, it's a wonder the school board in their area allowed the school to remain open at all. I can't remember which education book I was reading, John Taylor Gatto or David Alberts, where the author was talking about school boards forcing one-room school houses to be shut down just so they could build bigger and fancier schools that needed more administrators. When parents of students protested, the school board had the one-room school houses condemned as unsafe. The author had a contractor friend check the buildings out and the contractor said they just needed a few repairs, but the contractor refused to do the repairs to save the schools because then he would have never gotten another job in that area or the surrounding ones. He would have been black-balled.

I think that those kids probably received a great education. They probably had a real rapport with that teacher, and they weren't stuck doing tons of mindless busy work. The teacher was probably able to give them more time to explore their own interests and move through the material at their own pace. It's got to be hard for that teacher to let go of her two little chicks after all those years together.

And every homeschooling parent may not be the best teacher of every subject, but then a college degree and a certificate does not a good teacher make, either. A good homeschooling parent will know their limitations and seek out those who can do for their children what they can't. And children usually learn best from a teacher that they feel takes a personal interest in them, and who takes more interest in a child then their parent.

Answer 3

Yes. I'm glad they waited until after these kids graduated before printing the story or we would have had all kinds of 'concerned' people thinking this was an injustice.Their school sounds much like home school doesn't it? These kids were ready for college after being taught in such primitive conditions? (smile)
There are many things that I see in the public school that are similar to things that make home school a success. They seem to be finding out that more money doesn't necessary create a better educational system. They seem to be realizing that all children are not the same. There might be hope for the public school system. I think the school system is more open minded about home school than many of the anti-homeschooling that we hear from on Yahoo!Answers.
And, FilthyCom, I love your rant!

Answer 4

I think that the people who oppose homeschooling don't understand it, and they don't want to understand it because then it means that there's a sane, reasonable alternative that produces happy, healthy people and furthermore, it means that they didn't have to go through the hell of high school and their kids don't either.

It's not about homeschooling, it's about a kneejerk emotional response that's also programmed in to them by twelve years inside a system that has become such an integral part of our society we practically worship it.

I mostly get cracked up when people hold homeschoolers to a much higher standard than schools. Teacher college is 95% crowd control. My source: my cousin who's a teacher. Teachers aren't experts in their field. Not all of them, anyway and I believe not most of them. They don't have to be. I could teach high school history. They'd give me a curriculum and I'd basically say, "Go home, read your textbook and paraphrase it for me." Going from there, why do they think it's impossible to learn something by reading a book if it wasn't assigned to you? Have I not really read Marx or Nietzsche, because I just picked up The Communist Manifesto and Thus Spoke Zarathustra on my own? I didn't write any papers or take any notes. I just went to Barnes and Noble and picked up the cheapest copies of those books that I could find. I've read them both several times, and while I largely disagree with them (Marx virtually completely) I believe that what I've learned is just as valid as whatever a kid who was forced to read it on an imposed timetable and write some pedantic crap would take away.

I have more opportunities than kids in school. I can go get internships and apprenticeships, really devote myself to them AND not have the retarded grade pressure. I can actually spend time with my friends. I have actual freedom.

It seems to me that kids in school are the sheltered ones. Every day of their lives has been organized for them and there's an entire administrative branch there to make sure that they do it. They have the freaking police force out to make sure that they go where they're supposed to! They go to school and teachers and security guards keep them in class. They go home and their parents jump down their throats to make sure they do their homework. Everything is already set out for them. They just have to basically coast along a preordained path, and act like jackasses and martyrs along the way. I'm not denying that school has its difficulties, but homeschooling -which has been awesome and not grueling, I'm not trying to sound like a martyr here- has built my character by making me be independent.

Sorry for the rant.

Answer 5

I think those kids probably got a good education in that little school with only 2 students. It was not wrong to perpetuate that school for as long as they did. They fulfilled all the objectives: the parents had all those years of free daycare, the district still had their funding, the teacher had her nice job, and most importantly they were still in the government controlled system of education. Reading John Taylor Gattto and researching the history of public schooling for the last 200 years and the impact it has had on world events has heightened my awareness of socializing a population.

Answer 6

I have two things to say about home schooling. First, parents are the first teachers that a child has. Second, having taught for a number of years, I can say from experience that the lower the class number, the more attention a child can get, and therefor the higher the understanding.

I once taught a child who returned from home schooling when her mother had to return to work. I found her overall achievement to be much higher than that of the class.

As long as the students have a chance to interact socially with other children homeschooling can be an excellent option for students.

Answer 7

The article just shows that people come from ALL walks of life. I'll bet those kids turn out just fine. I'm sure they'll have their share of difficulties getting used to the new circumstances but just like our homeschooled kids they will adapt to them.

Answer 8

I think it's a sad reflection of our times that the community has no children to send to the school!!

And most antihomeschoolers would probably still consider this better than home school even though that's basically what it was just with a friend.

Answer 9

Outlawing homeschool is TANDAMOUNT to saying YOUR MOTHER AND FATHER ARE UNQUALIFED TO RAISE YOU AS A CHILD

It's a bunch of Union Teachers fearing for their jobs!

Answer 10

I personally don't have anything against home schooling. However, I do wonder sometimes about the quality of the teaching and the teacher. Not everyone has the ability or inclination to teach properly, so just saying one wants to home school their children doesn't quite cut the mustard. Parents who think they want to do this need to take a very hard look at themselves first and decide whether they have what it takes to do right by their children. They need to assess as objectively as possible whether they have the right skills, determination and perseverance needed to adequately instruct their children. If there is any doubt in their minds, then they should simply pass on the idea and leave it to the experts to accomplish, Otherwise, they could be doing irreparable harm to their children's future well-being.