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Underrated viewpoint. Public schools are the only option for most people. Most people don’t have the financial ability to spend their time teaching their kids w

Underrated viewpoint. Public schools are the only option for most people. Most people don’t have the financial ability to spend their time teaching their kids when they’re already working as much as they can to make ends meet. Heck, for a huge segment of the population, public school is the only place where their kids can even get a decent meal. If every parent that does have the time to invest in their child’s future, takes said child out of public school, said schools are left with only the uninvolved parents, which makes it worse in a “self fulfilling prophecy” kind of way. The arguments in favor of home schooling all seem to amount to “fuck you, not my problem, I take care of my own kid, you’re on your own.”

graemep 3y ago
SO you want parents to give their kids a worse education in the hope it will help other kids? As a father (and a single parent home educator) not bloody likely. Also, my kids would not have done as well at school - they would have been a lot more like the the other kids, so would not have improved all that much. Not in the US, but some things are the same here in the UK, and in Sri Lanka where we lived for much of my kid's lives.
- ninkendo 3y ago
  Yes, your argument shows my point very well, thank you. (Consider that public schools might not be a “worse education” if resources weren’t funneled away by private schools and home schooling.)
HlessClaudesman 3y ago
There are some crappy parents out there, or parents just doing the best they can after being delt a crappy hand. Those parents who can't find the time / motivation to spend some time doing learning activities with their kids really shouldn't have applied for the job of parent in the first place. If more parents took ultimate responsibility for their kids learning outcomes teachers would be under less pressure, and would have more ability to provide extra help.
- ninkendo 3y ago
  > just doing the best they can after being delt a crappy hand > really shouldn't have applied for the job of parent in the first place Yeah, I mean if you plan on getting laid off from your career some day and have to work two jobs to make ends meet, you really shouldn't have kids. Having kids should only be reserved for people who plan on having no unforeseen issues ever come up in their life, am I right? Parents should just take responsibility and make sure that they don't ever come across hard times. See also: the poor are just lazy.
  - HlessClaudesman 3y ago
    What I actually said is that the more parents can take responsibility teaching their children, the more it frees up teachers to teach those kids who need more help. No judgment on anyone's economic status. Turning every response into a gotcha isn't incisive, there are plenty of other forums better suited than Hacker News if arguing and strawmanning is your thing. Chill out.
    - ninkendo 3y ago
      Your last paragraph said that yes. But your second paragraph explicitly says that if you don’t have the time then you’re not qualified as a parent. That doesn’t need to have a gotcha response, it stands on its own as representing willful ignorance to the problems people face.

graemep 3y ago

SO you want parents to give their kids a worse education in the hope it will help other kids? As a father (and a single parent home educator) not bloody likely. Also, my kids would not have done as well at school - they would have been a lot more like the the other kids, so would not have improved all that much. Not in the US, but some things are the same here in the UK, and in Sri Lanka where we lived for much of my kid's lives.

ninkendo 3y ago
Yes, your argument shows my point very well, thank you. (Consider that public schools might not be a “worse education” if resources weren’t funneled away by private schools and home schooling.)

HlessClaudesman 3y ago

There are some crappy parents out there, or parents just doing the best they can after being delt a crappy hand. Those parents who can't find the time / motivation to spend some time doing learning activities with their kids really shouldn't have applied for the job of parent in the first place. If more parents took ultimate responsibility for their kids learning outcomes teachers would be under less pressure, and would have more ability to provide extra help.

ninkendo 3y ago
> just doing the best they can after being delt a crappy hand > really shouldn't have applied for the job of parent in the first place Yeah, I mean if you plan on getting laid off from your career some day and have to work two jobs to make ends meet, you really shouldn't have kids. Having kids should only be reserved for people who plan on having no unforeseen issues ever come up in their life, am I right? Parents should just take responsibility and make sure that they don't ever come across hard times. See also: the poor are just lazy.
- HlessClaudesman 3y ago
  What I actually said is that the more parents can take responsibility teaching their children, the more it frees up teachers to teach those kids who need more help. No judgment on anyone's economic status. Turning every response into a gotcha isn't incisive, there are plenty of other forums better suited than Hacker News if arguing and strawmanning is your thing. Chill out.
  - ninkendo 3y ago
    Your last paragraph said that yes. But your second paragraph explicitly says that if you don’t have the time then you’re not qualified as a parent. That doesn’t need to have a gotcha response, it stands on its own as representing willful ignorance to the problems people face.