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The article has examples of "bad" homeschooling, but the growth trend the past few years is largely driven by the total failure of some public schools. I went

The article has examples of "bad" homeschooling, but the growth trend the past few years is largely driven by the total failure of some public schools. I went to a particularly good public school growing up, and I'm not opposed to them in principle. Just pointing out that when your only public option is a school that is utterly failing (https://www.illinoispolicy.org/1-in-6-chicago-third-graders-can-read-at-level-signaling-dismal-futures/ https://www.illinoispolicy.org/1-in-6-chicago-third-graders-...) you might want a different option.

ryandrake 3y ago
Oh for sure! I have no doubt that terrible public schools exist, parents who are focused on academics exist, and good homeschooling resources/groups exist. And when you get that magical combination, homeschooling might be justified. So, measure to ensure that's what's happening! Monitor and assess. Know how many kids are being pulled out, and know how adequate their alternate education is. And provide a regulatory regime to ensure it's adequate. Pulling a kid out of a bad school and providing an academically rigorous education should be fine. Pulling a kid out of a not-bad school so that unqualified high-school drop-outs can teach from the Bible that pi=3 and that the Earth is 6,000 years old should not be fine. The public should be able to differentiate between theses cases, allow one, and disallow the other.
- Kon-Peki 3y ago
  I don't object to the concept of some line being drawn, but your line is so broad and blunt that I and many others would definitely have issues with it.
  - alsetmusic 3y ago
    What issue could you possibly have with the reasonable and sensible line drawn in that comment? Are you ok with "science" being taught from a magical religious text?
alsetmusic 3y ago
> The article has examples of "bad" homeschooling, but the growth trend the past few years is largely driven by the total failure of some public schools. Public education is undermined by the very people who want homeschooling and public vouchers. It's being dismantled deliberately. As a strong supporter of education, in general, I'm horrified by the future we're creating for future generations.
- zdragnar 3y ago
  > Public education is undermined by the very people who want homeschooling and public vouchers The whole article is about how those are two distinct groups who are at odds with each other- home schooling parents don't want to receive vouchers on the whole. In any case, public education has plenty of challenges; homeschoolers are the least of them. From the utter lack of involvement of parents (child tardiness, behavior issues) to lack of teacher authority (unable to prevent disruptive behavior from derailing classes) to some districts having too many students who don't know English and not enough funding for sufficient ESL teaching resources, all the way down to funds being drained by oversized administrations and unions (remember the NYC rubber rooms?). Some of the worst performing schools get the most per-child funding. All of that money is going somewhere, and it's not going to teaching kids. I was fortunate enough to go to a good public school system and had friends who cared about getting good grades, but would have floundered in an environment like what you see in some rural schools, or Chicago or Boston.

ryandrake 3y ago

Oh for sure! I have no doubt that terrible public schools exist, parents who are focused on academics exist, and good homeschooling resources/groups exist. And when you get that magical combination, homeschooling might be justified. So, measure to ensure that's what's happening! Monitor and assess. Know how many kids are being pulled out, and know how adequate their alternate education is. And provide a regulatory regime to ensure it's adequate. Pulling a kid out of a bad school and providing an academically rigorous education should be fine. Pulling a kid out of a not-bad school so that unqualified high-school drop-outs can teach from the Bible that pi=3 and that the Earth is 6,000 years old should not be fine. The public should be able to differentiate between theses cases, allow one, and disallow the other.

Kon-Peki 3y ago
I don't object to the concept of some line being drawn, but your line is so broad and blunt that I and many others would definitely have issues with it.
- alsetmusic 3y ago
  What issue could you possibly have with the reasonable and sensible line drawn in that comment? Are you ok with "science" being taught from a magical religious text?

alsetmusic 3y ago

> The article has examples of "bad" homeschooling, but the growth trend the past few years is largely driven by the total failure of some public schools. Public education is undermined by the very people who want homeschooling and public vouchers. It's being dismantled deliberately. As a strong supporter of education, in general, I'm horrified by the future we're creating for future generations.

zdragnar 3y ago
> Public education is undermined by the very people who want homeschooling and public vouchers The whole article is about how those are two distinct groups who are at odds with each other- home schooling parents don't want to receive vouchers on the whole. In any case, public education has plenty of challenges; homeschoolers are the least of them. From the utter lack of involvement of parents (child tardiness, behavior issues) to lack of teacher authority (unable to prevent disruptive behavior from derailing classes) to some districts having too many students who don't know English and not enough funding for sufficient ESL teaching resources, all the way down to funds being drained by oversized administrations and unions (remember the NYC rubber rooms?). Some of the worst performing schools get the most per-child funding. All of that money is going somewhere, and it's not going to teaching kids. I was fortunate enough to go to a good public school system and had friends who cared about getting good grades, but would have floundered in an environment like what you see in some rural schools, or Chicago or Boston.