Homeschooling.

[Eraddd]

I have to say, I agree with Deck Knight.

1) The public school system generally is pretty bad, unless you have some sort of Honours, IB, AP or some international/national standard that promotes good education, and even then it might not be enough. The school system is run by the government and bureaucrats. The people implementing much of the educational system do NOT have degrees within the field they're implementing. They'll have their Masters in "Education" or some other bullshit degree as a politician, but they'll have no idea what curriculum is good for the kids, because quite frankly, they don't have the education. Such is the case with the education system I was just in. The person who had implemented the math curriculum ignored the committee that tried to implement a more rigorous curriculum, and chose to take out 3 weeks worth of material out of the curriculum just because the failure rate for that section was around 50% (mind you, these sections were grade 12 geometry, trigonometry and probability/statistics basics), so students entering university would not know basic conics, or basic probability distributions or stats. Although it does benefit those who are going into trade school, they implemented this curriculum for the class that the government expects to attend university and higher education. There are TWO different math classes, one for trades, and one for university preparation. Most people choose the university preparation, even though they're going into trades, and thus, many of them cannot handle the more higher topics, and instead of relocating these students, they choose to neuter the education system, just because it reflects badly on the government. That's why I am against the government and bureaucrats having much of the input within the educational system; get university professors, and trade school experts to have a hand in them, not the goddamn bureaucrats.

2) Pretty much Deck's point on bullying and social interaction. YOu can be homeschooled everyday for around 3-5 hours, and then attend a after school activity, such as sports. Everyone thinks the homeschool kid will be socially retarded, but many that I know attended their local community centres and signed up for Tae Kwon Do classes, gymnastic classes, swimming classes, and more. Many of them attended university early, and yet were not socially inadept. People keep hyping this nonsense about being socially retarded; only the kid can decide if he will be by choosing to interact or not either at school, or in other extracurricular activities, if the parents provide enough opportunities (as I assume they will, as most homeschooling parents have the best in mind for their children, unless they're trying to indoctrinate their kids with some half ass hill billy education).

 

[Precognition]

I wish I was home-schooled.

Public school teachers suck ass, and I can't imagine private school teachers to be fantastic either.

I don't agree that attending school will mature you socially, I think it just makes you worse because you're around other insecure peers who constantly put any one down for being different.

So if you want a third-rate education in which you'll be struck down for being different, public school is for you!

 

[Eraddd]

So if you want a third-rate education in which you'll be struck down for being different, public school is for you!

Or if we have parents who work full time, and are not capable of teaching... You do realize that many who do attend public school don't have much of a choice don't you? Retarded comment.

 

[marche111]

I wish I was home-schooled.

the "more that what you bargained for" saying kind of comes to mind.

 

[prodigal]

Homeschooling can be efficient because I know some smart, intelligent, and socially strong people who have never taken a step into a high school course. The self-discipline, that Chris had mentioned earlier, is an asset and develops the skills one would need to succeed in life. Just like normal school, your success is the sum of your own efforts. It all comes down to your own decisions in the end.

Tolerance can, again, be overcome through interaction. You don't have to stay in your home all day when your home schooled and I think that is a completely incorrect perspective of things. Extra-curricular requires interaction with people of different ethnicity. Homophobia is a growing 'problem' in today's society, more towards men than women, and we need to learn to be able to accept these kinds of people for who they are. It's harder to when you're constantly in a homo-hate (for the lack of a better phrase) environment.

School has little to do with introversion/extraversion. I know plenty of extraverts who are home schooled, and many extraverts who attend high school on a regular basis.

It's all about your experience and confidence as a person that determines your social skills, school can't be the source. Home schooling is fine.

 

[Cobalte]

In Australia at least, there's an alternative called 'distance education', which is just correspondence school. In my state there's a school that takes care of mainstream distance ed; it organises meet-ups, group field trips, and assigns classes to kids. These classes have teachers who are fairly regularly available for phone help and who accept the work done in weekly batches through the post or mail. Textbooks are sent through the mail from the school library (which had a baller collection that I loved to borrow from :3). Oral exams are conducted on cassette tape / computer recordings / over the phone, and lesson stimuli is also sent with the weekly work batches (tapes, books, photographs, blah blah). It's a very organised system, but it takes a lot of organisation on the kid's behalf and can take ages to adjust to, since it's a very self-driven method of learning, though it's far more flexible. There's also radio school in another state for kids in remote desert areas, with video conferences on the computer.

Distance ed was the one I did. It probably requires even more self-motivation/management/whatever than homeschool, since nobody really hounds you to finish things. It's not like you have a parent on your back saying "you have to sit down and do this!!", also you don't really interact with the other kids in your "class". It might be different in other states though. (also they were pretty bad at organising things, I sent my scanned work in .pngs and they complained about not being able to open it)

 

[Scimjara]

the world at their fingertips.

Yea If you can only wonder....

 

[jumpluff]

Distance ed was the one I did. It probably requires even more self-motivation/management/whatever than homeschool, since nobody really hounds you to finish things. It's not like you have a parent on your back saying "you have to sit down and do this!!", also you don't really interact with the other kids in your "class". It might be different in other states though. (also they were pretty bad at organising things, I sent my scanned work in .pngs and they complained about not being able to open it)

They were efficient for me, but I didn't use the scanner or anything, I just mailed my work :) And, yeah, I sort of flopped because I'm not very good at managing myself. It's a difficult path but can be the most appropriate one. How did you find distance ed?

I don't agree that attending school will mature you socially, I think it just makes you worse because you're around other insecure peers who constantly put any one down for being different.

My year of reclusiveness was as destructive as my decade of dealing with my self-esteem being battered day after day. Constructive socialisation can be attained, but less easily, outside of school for homeschoolers, which is why it's not necessarily terrible, but the problem is it is pretty conducive to reclusiveness, especially for kids who were already bullied a lot / subdued into extreme shyness, or who cannot easily leave the house.

As to homeschooling, it too has its shortcomings but is a perfectly viable form of education. Your parents are a huge threat to your development, however, and usually results in helicopter parents in college (the worst thing for the student and the professors) or just a total lack of social skills. Done right, homeschooling is very effective.

Exactly what I was saying :) Having parents double as de facto teachers is pretty inconvenient. I like my mom much more as a mother than as a liaison officer. The school warned us that it can be damaging to intrafamilial relationships. First of all, if there are other kids who attend regular school, they can feel left out because the parent needs to dedicate more time to ensuring the child's education is running smoothly. Secondly, it places a lot of pressure on the parent/s, because it thrusts further responsibility for the kid's successes and failures into their arms. Ostensibly and practically, homeschool is a result of the child's own drive (as is anything in life, but without the physical, sometimes pervasive presence of teachers and a structured schedule for learning [which can be hard to adjust to emulating it yourself], it's really, really hard work), but a lot of parents don't want to watch their children drive themselves into the ground. My mom would often sit up crying when it looked like I would fail. It also places time pressure on the parents, because if they work (mine hasn't in forever), the kid is just left to their own devices. And thirdly, arguments easily result from the boundary between parenting and teaching being crossed, so it can be very tense and angry. On the plus side, if the parent understands the child well, they can be useful assistants! On the negative side, they can end up becoming too overprotective, and you do get 'helicopter parents'.

Re. Deck and Chris: I'm not sure whether it's fringe or not, but I am one of those cases. I attended three different high schools + my homeschool high school and ended up dropping out of school to do early-entrance university. It's very hard pleasing everyone, especially if the school is big, and the honest truth of the matter is that I was failed by the administrators. It's been hard for me to accept it might not be my own fault and that they did not do enough (which they honestly didn't, I realise this now), and running a school is probably hard, especially with probem students like myself, but for the kids on the lowest rung of the social ladder, high school can be downright awful. It can suck for anyone else too, but let me tell you it's not fun there.

However, I still think I turned out more resilient for it :P I wouldn't've done homeschool from the start if I could turn back time. I don't like it as a preventative measure at all, but I wish I had been withdrawn from school earlier. I wasted the last two years of my attendance because I was constantly skipping school and thus learned nothing from it. I only aced my exams on a combination of excuses and self-teaching, something I could've done better at home.

 

[Precognition]

Or if we have parents who work full time, and are not capable of teaching... You do realize that many who do attend public school don't have much of a choice don't you? Retarded comment.

Public school education-->Unsophisticated expressions such as "retarded".

 

[popemobile]

Public school education-->Unsophisticated expressions such as "retarded".

yeah I got a public school education and literally call every single thing gay

stay away from public schools kids

 

[Glen]

Public school education-->Unsophisticated expressions such as "retarded".

im fairly certain you used the term 'suck ass' earlier

 

[cim]

I honestly think people are generalizing drastically when they say "shitty public schools are the norm". Think about it. Deck's evidence that this was becoming more and more common? A single case. You guys all tell anecdotal stories about how school x had a murder or whatever, but more than 3/4s of Americans come out of public schools, and if they really sucked that much, no one would make it out with any decent base knowledge. Of course, far too many school are not giving adequate education to our kids and us, but you should analyze your particular district rather than make sweeping assumptions. Statistics mean nothing to the individual case, and vice versa.

 

[popemobile]

Nothing is going to make you more tolerant than hearing the black kids cluster together and say "Yo Niggaz my Niggaz what up Nigga!" and everyone else saying "lol that is so gay stop being a (BAN ME PLEASE)." Tolerance is generally taught by parents, not peers.

at the very least, this topic has made me understand every single other one of your posts in Cong

 

[Eraddd]

Public school education-->Unsophisticated expressions such as "retarded".

Coming from the person making generalizations. I'd think a logical fallacy is worse than making an insult.

Anyways, addressing the social problem, I guess it all depends on the kid themselves. Some kids are just social butterflies, and some others are just a bit introverted (well, very). We can't say for sure who'll turn out like who, but I'd still think one can be social even with homeschooling.

 

[Robert [old]]

My only experience with homeschooling was this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH_wPUVlJ38

Is this a common occurrence or is my view of homeschooling totally wrong?

 

[cim]

My only experience with homeschooling was this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH_wPUVlJ38

Is this a common occurrence or is my view of homeschooling totally wrong?

Fringe case. If someone is homeschooling for religious reasons, they'll probably be something like that, but few are.

Nothing is going to make you more tolerant than hearing the black kids cluster together and say "Yo Niggaz my Niggaz what up Nigga!" and everyone else saying "lol that is so gay stop being a (BAN ME PLEASE)." Tolerance is generally taught by parents, not peers. .

Just in case you couldn't tell, I was using you as the example that proves my point.

 

[MrIndigo]

I expect I would be awful at being homeschooled. While I do have good discipline, I learn much much better from lectures. My memory is keyed to audio stimuli, and so I recall what teachers tell me much better than reading from notes or textbooks, which is a larger component of distance education (I imagine).

 

[Sy123]

The only benefit to homeschooling, is:
-Top in the Class
-Best Sports Person
-Top in Everything
-Free Breaks, whenever your parents want

The disadvantages:
-Serious Social Stunted Growth
-A habit of joing a digimon resurection club
-You have no friends
I want to say more, but that might offend some people

 

[Despotar]

The only benefit to homeschooling, is:
-Top in the Class
-Best Sports Person
-Top in Everything
-Free Breaks, whenever your parents want

The disadvantages:
-Serious Social Stunted Growth
-A habit of joing a digimon resurection club
-You have no friends
I want to say more, but that might offend some people

You obviously don't know very much about homeschooling..

 

[Cybertron]

I wish I was home-schooled.

Public school teachers suck ass, and I can't imagine private school teachers to be fantastic either.

I don't agree that attending school will mature you socially, I think it just makes you worse because you're around other insecure peers who constantly put any one down for being different.

So if you want a third-rate education in which you'll be struck down for being different, public school is for you!

I CAN agree with your statement that public school teachers suck. (or at least most do) But that is NO way near true for private school teachers. (maybe it's because I attend a NYC private school - if you look at any extensive list of top private schools, there are always a ton from NYC) Even still, with $35,000 tuition per year, I can't imagine a private school hiring crappy teachers. Sure, there may be one or two but that's it. I've attended public school for the first seven years, and I've gotten some pretty screwed up teachers. That I can agree with. Transitioning into a NYC private school is completely different. With only 12-13 kids per class compared to the 30 in a class helps not only the teachers but the kids as well. People put a lot of prejudices into private schools, but the kids there aren't rich snobs who are inconsiderate. They're actually really nice and helpful. The teachers actually put time apart for their students, whether it's to talk about work or just anything in general whereas public school teachers couldn't give a fuck.

Sorry for getting all over your statement, but I just wanted to put my stand point on private schools.

 

[toshimelonhead]

I graduated from a public school just a few weeks ago. When my AP Econ class was cut, they let me take it online, which is probably similar to most homeschoolers might do. I enjoyed my online AP class but I don't think I could take all of my classes online or "homeschooled"; someone has to make sure I am not playing Pokemon all day. As for curriculum though, homeschool students could feasibly create their own that tops even the best public schools. Take as many AP/IB courses as you want at whatever age at whatever time. As long as I had a tutor for some subjects I could get through some classes in six weeks instead of a full year. Homeschooling is much more doable now because there are more "standardized" curriculum options and solid online websites that can provide lectures better than in-class. (A great example of this is Khan Academy, that alone could provide a middle/high school student half of their education.) The catch is that people do not have that school social network to support them. Even the best sports/music program doesn't make up for the interaction with a diverse group of people. Homeschooling might be better in terms of an academic output in the right situation, but it needs to be complemented with some type of social interaction. That isn't impossible to do, but it's a huge drawback.

 

[Blln]

I feel like homeschooling can potentially be a very good option for a very specific set of people, but for the most part it is abused by parents who want to shelter their children to the extreme academically and socially, so it's hard for me to really say I approve. Sure there are standardized tests and curricula, but I still sort of flinch at the idea of a child learning every subject from someone as potentially unqualified and biased as a parent. I just feel like it gives parents a little too much control over their child's development if that makes any sense. People should be allowed to grow and learn naturally and independently, not just be inculcated with the beliefs of their parents.

I can't really comment on public schools since I've only gone to a private school, where I feel like I've recieved an incredible education, been able to mature socially, discover my interests, and had overall a great experience. It really is a shame that most of these kinds of schools are prohibitively expensive for 99% of Americans.

 

[Captain Snacks]

Public school education-->Unsophisticated expressions such as "retarded".

Being a homeschooler unveils new, obscure insults that most people haven't heard of, alongside bringing out your true intellectual potential. If you go to public school you conform to the mainstream media, and that is, as we know, a big DON'T! Furthermore public education just teaches you deficient insults and slang terms like "retard" and "suck-ass" - however I didn't want to touch too much on that subject because doing so would mean I am discussing the topic your quote provided, which would not be ironic enough to fit my lifestyle.

/sarcasm

 

[Cobalte]

They were efficient for me, but I didn't use the scanner or anything, I just mailed my work :) And, yeah, I sort of flopped because I'm not very good at managing myself. It's a difficult path but can be the most appropriate one. How did you find distance ed?

It was alright, I managed to get all the work done. It was frustrating getting approval for it though, it delayed my schoolwork by a month so I only could take 2 subjects (when normally one would take at least 4). I'm finding school a lot better though.

 

[The Plant]

My best friend was home schooled through eighth grade. He was class prez in high school and went to brown. He certainly didn't seem socially stunted.