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I don't think the parent was arguing necessarily that its wrong for parents to want their children to be taught certain things or a certain way. I think the arg

I don't think the parent was arguing necessarily that its wrong for parents to want their children to be taught certain things or a certain way. I think the argument being put forth was that most parents don't have what it takes to teach their kids. Let's say you take your kid out of school because you don't like what he's being taught in history class or whatever. Okay, well do you have what it takes to teach your kid music, art, geometry, calc, English, physics, biology, chemistry, etc. Most people I would say don't have that kind of broad capacity. So what happens is parents start forming homeschool support groups, they pool resources, divide responsibilities based on expertise and knowledge, and eventually recreate the concept of a school from scratch. I guess it can then eventually undergo the same moral fracture and the cycle repeats.

rgrieselhuber 5y ago
The homeschool support groups add a lot in this context and I foresee a time where every suburb and neighborhood will have one or more of them. That, combined with all of the curricula available offline and online, there isn't much specialized knowledge that parents need to have in order to get started. By the time kids hit middle school and high school, they are able to do quite a bit of learning on their own and are taught how to seek out help if they need it.
- phil21 5y ago
  > The homeschool support groups add a lot in this context Also was home schooled for 5 years. From watching others I can fairly confidently say my parents were far above average for the time and area in terms of being educators and trying to get ahead of the "socialization" curve. They had degrees and tried their best to teach to lesson plans prepared by professionals, modifying as they saw fit. These groups tout how well-rounded they are, but many are bluntly filled with extremist nutjobs. Abusively so in many cases. My parents were utterly blind to this, and to this day like to talk about how "well rounded" socially I was. I was not. I was exposed to the nutjobs and crackpots of society in a fairly intimate manner at a very young age, with very little supervision other than whichever adults were performing a given lesson at the time. Not saying this to scare anyone away from home schooling. If done thoughtfully, carefully, and evidence-based it certainly can have great outcomes. I just have my hairs stand on end when I hear folks talk about these groups as some sort of fix for the problem - when in fact they are the problem to begin with in my experience. Homeschool may be becoming more "mainstream" but I think a lot of folks just now starting out due to the pandemic are in for some very hard truths in the next couple years.
  - rgrieselhuber 5y ago
    You seem to be projecting your personal experience on to a large population.
barry-cotter 5y ago
> Let's say you take your kid out of school because you don't like what he's being taught in history class or whatever. Okay, well do you have what it takes to teach your kid music, art, geometry, calc, English, physics, biology, chemistry, etc. Most people I would say don't have that kind of broad capacity. Anyone who was able to graduate high school back when that meant something can teach all of those subjects to the end of primary school if they’re willing to read and put in some work, by any reasonable standard.

rgrieselhuber 5y ago

The homeschool support groups add a lot in this context and I foresee a time where every suburb and neighborhood will have one or more of them. That, combined with all of the curricula available offline and online, there isn't much specialized knowledge that parents need to have in order to get started. By the time kids hit middle school and high school, they are able to do quite a bit of learning on their own and are taught how to seek out help if they need it.

phil21 5y ago
> The homeschool support groups add a lot in this context Also was home schooled for 5 years. From watching others I can fairly confidently say my parents were far above average for the time and area in terms of being educators and trying to get ahead of the "socialization" curve. They had degrees and tried their best to teach to lesson plans prepared by professionals, modifying as they saw fit. These groups tout how well-rounded they are, but many are bluntly filled with extremist nutjobs. Abusively so in many cases. My parents were utterly blind to this, and to this day like to talk about how "well rounded" socially I was. I was not. I was exposed to the nutjobs and crackpots of society in a fairly intimate manner at a very young age, with very little supervision other than whichever adults were performing a given lesson at the time. Not saying this to scare anyone away from home schooling. If done thoughtfully, carefully, and evidence-based it certainly can have great outcomes. I just have my hairs stand on end when I hear folks talk about these groups as some sort of fix for the problem - when in fact they are the problem to begin with in my experience. Homeschool may be becoming more "mainstream" but I think a lot of folks just now starting out due to the pandemic are in for some very hard truths in the next couple years.
- rgrieselhuber 5y ago
  You seem to be projecting your personal experience on to a large population.

barry-cotter 5y ago

> Let's say you take your kid out of school because you don't like what he's being taught in history class or whatever. Okay, well do you have what it takes to teach your kid music, art, geometry, calc, English, physics, biology, chemistry, etc. Most people I would say don't have that kind of broad capacity. Anyone who was able to graduate high school back when that meant something can teach all of those subjects to the end of primary school if they’re willing to read and put in some work, by any reasonable standard.