4 ms·

> Most of this stuff is driven by religion and politics. As so is the backlash. I get the impression that the emotional foundation to many of the objections to

by tivert 3y ago

> Most of this stuff is driven by religion and politics. As so is the backlash. I get the impression that the emotional foundation to many of the objections to homeschooling is the idea that some kids will get a (home-schooled) education that doesn't conform to the commenter's politics or values. School has long been a mechanism for a dominant group to impose its politics and values on other people's kids. Public schools are just a milder form of that than Indian residential boarding schools or Chinese boarding preschools (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/15/opinion/china-tibet-boarding-school.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/15/opinion/china-tibet-board...), but they still perform the same function. Homeschooling provides an escape from those functions (and other problems), and that's one I'd certainly want available to myself. I can imagine how nightmarish it'd be to be forced to send my kids to one of those Chinese boarding schools. Deficits of empathy like those that would deny that escape (and the attendant hypocrisy) are getting really grating to me, even in people I more or less agree with.

Spooky23 3y ago
The problem is, we’re not talking about Chinese boarding schools, but we are typically talking about moving children to poorly structured and poorly resourced homeschool arrangements with poorly qualified parents or others. IMO, private religious schools with appropriate regulation (ie not some indoctrination academy) are a great thing, and I think supporting families in some way to avail themselves of them is a good compromise. As I stated elsewhere here, my kids went to catholic schools and did great. I’m not approaching this as a “thou shalt public school” perspective. I also coached baseball to age 15, and I can tell you that kids benefit from someone who isn’t mom or dad instructing them.
- tivert 3y ago
  > we are typically talking about moving children to poorly structured and poorly resourced homeschool arrangements with poorly qualified parents or others. Is that "typical"? It's a leap to assume that it's "typical" that homeschooling parents incompetent and incapable of educating their children. If anything, I'd assume the extra attention and emotional investment that's possible could make up for a lack of a educational credentials. It's also a leap that the public schools would do better. It's also a common theme here that a motivation for homeschooling lack of academic rigor or outright failure of the public schools. I could see homeschooling as the only realistic option for a parent who lives in a failing school district (which are depressingly common) but is not wealthy enough to afford private school tuition (and has no access to vouchers). And I'm not really biased here: I send my kids to public school.
  - ethbr1 3y ago
    The things that make home schooling viable about (a) parental educational attainment, (b) parental time, and (c) parental wealth. These don't need to be exceptional, but they do probably need to be above-average to do a decent job, and obviously time and wealth are entangled (no time if have to work two jobs).
fragmede 3y ago
Given the numbers on Chinese kids getting into college, vs everyone else, why wouldn't I want my kids to go to a Chinese School?
- tivert 3y ago
  > Given the numbers on Chinese kids getting into college, vs everyone else, why wouldn't I want my kids to go to a Chinese School? You literally do not know what you're talking about. Go read the article I linked, which you clearly did not bother to do.

by tivert 3y ago

Spooky23 3y ago

The problem is, we’re not talking about Chinese boarding schools, but we are typically talking about moving children to poorly structured and poorly resourced homeschool arrangements with poorly qualified parents or others. IMO, private religious schools with appropriate regulation (ie not some indoctrination academy) are a great thing, and I think supporting families in some way to avail themselves of them is a good compromise. As I stated elsewhere here, my kids went to catholic schools and did great. I’m not approaching this as a “thou shalt public school” perspective. I also coached baseball to age 15, and I can tell you that kids benefit from someone who isn’t mom or dad instructing them.

tivert 3y ago
> we are typically talking about moving children to poorly structured and poorly resourced homeschool arrangements with poorly qualified parents or others. Is that "typical"? It's a leap to assume that it's "typical" that homeschooling parents incompetent and incapable of educating their children. If anything, I'd assume the extra attention and emotional investment that's possible could make up for a lack of a educational credentials. It's also a leap that the public schools would do better. It's also a common theme here that a motivation for homeschooling lack of academic rigor or outright failure of the public schools. I could see homeschooling as the only realistic option for a parent who lives in a failing school district (which are depressingly common) but is not wealthy enough to afford private school tuition (and has no access to vouchers). And I'm not really biased here: I send my kids to public school.
- ethbr1 3y ago
  The things that make home schooling viable about (a) parental educational attainment, (b) parental time, and (c) parental wealth. These don't need to be exceptional, but they do probably need to be above-average to do a decent job, and obviously time and wealth are entangled (no time if have to work two jobs).

fragmede 3y ago

Given the numbers on Chinese kids getting into college, vs everyone else, why wouldn't I want my kids to go to a Chinese School?

tivert 3y ago
> Given the numbers on Chinese kids getting into college, vs everyone else, why wouldn't I want my kids to go to a Chinese School? You literally do not know what you're talking about. Go read the article I linked, which you clearly did not bother to do.