Posted by Rick Denney on September 08, 2002 at 17:45:15:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Why should we have to defend teachers? posted by Leland on September 08, 2002 at 17:07:06:
No, I don't think religion is the defining issue for home-schoolers. I think values are the defining issues. They derive from religions, but they derive from many different religions that otherwise don't have that much in common.
What makes you think that thinking for themselves is promoted by the education establishment? That the education establishment inhibits free thinking (and the logical tools needed to do it well, plus the language skills to do it intelligently) is one of the primary reasons why I would consider home schooling. It is not because of religion, which I would not teach during that time, and which I would rather demonstrate by example in any case. My wife and I may not go the home-school route, but neither will we abdicate the responsibility to provide a good education for our kids.
I think you are repeating the oft-heard notion that home-schooling promotes ignorance through isolation. I have two college degrees and wide reading behind me, plus I care a lot about language and learning. I don't like what I see in public schools, and for me it comes down to the choice of either home schooling, private school, or supplementing public school with extensive additional work at home. There are too many great people in history who studied individually with private tutors, many of whom who could not succeed in schools, to allow the equation of individual study with either isolationism OR ignorance.
It's ironic to me that we tuba players promote utterly different concepts of teaching for a subject where we are experts (tuba playing) than we do for subjects where we are not. If learning tuba one-on-one is the best way, why wouldn't the same be true with history or math? Yet for tuba playing that is the method most often recommended here.
Of course, home school teachers can do a poor job of teaching, but so far objective testing has not suggested that they do as badly as public schools, let alone worse. They are motivated to do a good job in ways the public-school teacher isn't--it's their kids. They also don't have to have administrative approval to enforce discipline in their classroom. Home schooling is just one option among several. But relying on politicians to solve the problem IS the problem, in my view.
Rick "preparing for possible babies and thinking about these issues carefully" Denney