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Now imagine how much worse it'd be if more people were homeschooled and not exposed to opposing views. If their only source of information was a parent who beli

by fiblye 6y ago

Now imagine how much worse it'd be if more people were homeschooled and not exposed to opposing views. If their only source of information was a parent who believed in strange conspiracy theories and only associated with friends and family who had similar views. School's greatest purpose is putting kids in a room with a couple dozen other kids that they may disagree with or even hate, and forcing them to learn how to deal with their existence.

fierarul 6y ago
Were you discussing high politics in the 5th grade or something? Because there's little opposing views in school up to say senior high school years! So now school's purpose is no longer critical thinking but just socialisation with all social strata.
- fiblye 6y ago
  >Were you discussing high politics in the 5th grade or something? Yes? We talked about the news and recent events in class around that time. It wasn't anything profound, but our classes definitely talked about it. This was also in the years following 9/11, so it was an unavoidable topic. We even had mock elections where we'd "vote" for real, current politicians. If I'd only heard about the news and world happenings from home, I'd have a very different and far narrower view of things. And it's not just politics. No clue why you assumed that. Schools put you in a room with kids from different backgrounds, different interests, different likes and dislikes. I see a lot of praise about homeschooling on HN, but the ones I've encountered (including cousins in my own family) mostly come from very isolated religious families seeking to shield their kids from the outside world. Maybe it's different for very wealthy people growing up in the valley or with other great resources provided to them, but most of the homeschooled people I've been around have had trouble acclimating to a world that isn't sanitized for their existence.
- tallanvor 6y ago
  I'm not sure how you define "high politics", but certainly students discuss politics at younger ages than that. I would be surprised to find a school that doesn't include discussions on current events at pretty much every age level. Obviously the teachers had to be careful because even though they may feel strongly about an issue, most of them don't want to consciously bias the discussion. I can even remember a teacher having us write a letter asking that a government facility in our region not be closed down because it would affect people in our class. I was probably in 3rd or 4th grade at the time. In 5th grade we had to write letters to soldiers fighting in the Gulf War - something that I have very mixed feelings about today because I do feel that supporting troops fighting in a war overseas is a highly political act.

by fiblye 6y ago

fierarul 6y ago

Were you discussing high politics in the 5th grade or something? Because there's little opposing views in school up to say senior high school years! So now school's purpose is no longer critical thinking but just socialisation with all social strata.

fiblye 6y ago
>Were you discussing high politics in the 5th grade or something? Yes? We talked about the news and recent events in class around that time. It wasn't anything profound, but our classes definitely talked about it. This was also in the years following 9/11, so it was an unavoidable topic. We even had mock elections where we'd "vote" for real, current politicians. If I'd only heard about the news and world happenings from home, I'd have a very different and far narrower view of things. And it's not just politics. No clue why you assumed that. Schools put you in a room with kids from different backgrounds, different interests, different likes and dislikes. I see a lot of praise about homeschooling on HN, but the ones I've encountered (including cousins in my own family) mostly come from very isolated religious families seeking to shield their kids from the outside world. Maybe it's different for very wealthy people growing up in the valley or with other great resources provided to them, but most of the homeschooled people I've been around have had trouble acclimating to a world that isn't sanitized for their existence.
tallanvor 6y ago
I'm not sure how you define "high politics", but certainly students discuss politics at younger ages than that. I would be surprised to find a school that doesn't include discussions on current events at pretty much every age level. Obviously the teachers had to be careful because even though they may feel strongly about an issue, most of them don't want to consciously bias the discussion. I can even remember a teacher having us write a letter asking that a government facility in our region not be closed down because it would affect people in our class. I was probably in 3rd or 4th grade at the time. In 5th grade we had to write letters to soldiers fighting in the Gulf War - something that I have very mixed feelings about today because I do feel that supporting troops fighting in a war overseas is a highly political act.