Jackson Esmiol: Just like everything else, there are positives and negatives. Home schooling allows parents to control the content matter that their children are exposed to which could be a good thing but could also be a bad thing because, in many instances, those children would only be exposed to one perspective which could lead to dogmatic thinking. Though there are laws governing home schooling and there is a curriculum that needs to be completed, like everything else in the American education system it's totally possible to fall through the cracks if parents aren't diligent or are unqualified to teach.Additionally, there is also the social aspect of schools. Most people learn how to exist in society by interacting with their peers from a very young age and, in most cases, it's quite easy to spot the people who didn't grow up playing with other children because they're often extremely socially awkward. In some areas, there are organizations that have been created t! o bring home schooled children together and sports leagues so they can have their own teams to compete with public schools but those don't exist everywhere.I think the failure of schools can be blamed on a number of things but I don't think it's because schools are too hard - they've become easier. I think it has to do with teaching for tests rather than just teaching for knowledge, lack of parental involvement, changing standards (i.e. focus on making people feel good rather than real, honest critiques of work).Edit: I didn't say that ALL home school kids were anti-social. In fact, I think I outlined many of the things that you did in your description, however, I did say that those opportunities aren't available in every area and they are not....Show more
Colby Millberg: mabey its good for some
Demetrius Coaster: The problem with the education system in general is it's being tasked to do want it shouldn't and really is not equipped to do. In addition to equip! ping our children with academic knowledge the education system! is being tasked teach our children values and morality. In other words the school system has taken on the dubious task of raising our children. This addresses the ten thousand pound elephant in the room. That is that parents have to do better job preparing their children for school. It's not the school's responsibility to raise of children. When it becomes the school's responsibility to raise our children many children like what are going on right now will suffer. It's a tough learning environment when teachers are constantly disciplining children. Those who want to learn and be successful can't. Home schooling is a great idea however for most families 2 incomes are required. One parent would have to stay home or work an odd shift. In today's economy the practicality of homeschooling on a large scale would difficult at best. Parents that home school would not be the problem. It's those who have very little to do with their children's education that would hurt the program.! It is unacceptable for 1 single child to suffer at the inadequacies of their parent(s). Therefore as a community and nation it is own responsibility to protect our most vulnerable citizens. Children fall into that category. We are obligated to make sure each children has the resources to achieve success. When parents fail their children the community cannot continue this trend. It's a tough thing. The school is more involved with the community than it would like to admit. Parent need to support schools more than they think. Assuring our children are in the best position to achieve is the responsibility of the parent first and foremost and then it falls on the community. We all really need to be in this thing together and unfortunately we are not....Show more
Caleb Chapman: I could never do it. I would have to go to work eventually.
Mauro Cowee: As a parent considering home-schooling, I find it ridiculous that people without a degree want to teach their childre! n. I think it is outrageous when someone with a very non-related degree! wants to teach and it can be harmful for the kids. I do not think you should have all the majors to home-school your children but you should be expert at one thing at least and take a mandatory exam of each subject you want to teach. I mean you can have 20 degrees but that does not make you an expert. I do expect a home-schooling parent to have at least one degree and relevant knowledge which gets tested according to FEDERAL standards. Like you said, some kind of certification should be the minimum requirement for a home-schooling parent. At the moment, I do not think they have strict standards regarding the parents, only the children. From what I've gained, home-schooling rather relies on children who are able to study on their own with some parental help. I mean the material is given, not the parents have to make it up. My problem with the system is that reading about something or learning with your kids does not make you a teacher because teaching is not only about the ! knowledge of the subject matter... not everybody can teach. That's why people should acquire a teaching certificate. Kevin: if someone is too lazy and bored to finish high school, it tells a lot about his or her character. High school drop-outs are bored? Oh come on, we went to college because we loved it? We had to do it, we wanted to be educated, we did not give up while high school drop-outs did. Should I respect them and tell them they would be much better teachers than me just because they did no go through the boring college years? Wow, what a logic. I didn't know I should be ashamed of my degrees......Show more
Raul Lushbaugh: Schools are failing because test scores have been tied to funding. A failing school loses its funding but still has to provide the same services to its families as well as educate the children without the ability to afford better equipment, teacher training, or methods that increase student performance. Schools in poor neighborhoods fai! l because school funding is not equal. Property taxes pay for schools.! Schools located next to wealthy neighborhoods receive more funding because the taxes are higher on the houses. All the property taxes collected by the state are not dispersed equally. If they were, there would be no need for White Flight to homogeneous suburban enclaves where only their money goes to the schools their kids and kids who look like their kids attend. Schools in poor neighborhoods have to provide services and educate kids with less money than schools in wealthy neighborhoods. It takes money to educate children, at home and at public schools.Homeschooling as you have described it takes a fair amount of priviledge as well as a parent (or parenting co-op) to supervise and assist. Only families wealthy enough to own a computer and maintain an internet connection can set up homeschooling as you have described. Further, most families require two incomes just to make ends meet which means that there is not a parent available who can stay at home and direct and! supervise the education of the kids at home. To belong to a parenting or homeschool co-op also requires a certain amount of priviledge and wealth. I think homeschool is a good option for students who need the self-pace (particularly if their pace is slower than what is allowed in public schools). But it still requires a family that is priviledged enough economically to make it happen. Families who cannot afford still have to send their kids to school to try to gain an education which is why resource classes and special ed rates have increased. If you want the public schools to succeed, you have to give them the money to do so and do it equally. If all children are equal regardless of race, why does a wealthy school get to spend more money for the best resources, equipment, and educators and a poor school have to get by with whatever they can? Peace,Jenn...Show more
Dorine Nurre: To the person saying that home school kids are anti-social, there are many excepti! ons to the rule. I had the opportunity to meet many of the kids in my d! istrict who made it into the Ivies as well (newspaper article interview and pictures) and most were home schooled or private school kids. The home school kids usually meet other kids as well in church type settings and believe it or not, they have football programs and basketball programs for home school kids. Socialization would not be an issue. The only issue with home schooling is this, most parents have jobs and they cannot afford to spend time teaching their kids the school curriculum. The kids who are homeschooled, I have met them and they are extremely bright, one kid I talked to made a 2400 on the SAT the first time he took it in the 9th grade. I live in an area which is underfunded, the public schools here are so bad that basically I had to attend a magnet school for my high school years (no football or anything at my school). Here are the problems I noticed with public schools and schools in general:1. Students who shouldn't even be in school are in school, basica! lly 85 percent of the class is filled with morons who yell like crazy and distract others who want to learn. Most kids are too busy trying to get attention or talk about what happened last night out loud in the class room to even care about their education.2. Social issues, compared to Europe, in the US we have more gangs, more drug crimes, higher crime rates and more teenagers who engage in adult like activities. Compared to lets say Japan or Germany, kids here are too busy worrying about what party they will go to on the weekends than what they will do to pass the upcoming exam.3. Look, I love football with a passion and I love sports. Wanna know the problem here? When schools are spending millions renovating football stadiums rather than paying for labs and other facilities which can help kids pursue career interests in lets say science, it becomes a debate issue. Now when schools are spending too much on football and basketball rather than on books, it becomes a plain o! ut issue. Some kids just go to school to play sports and teachers give ! them the grades just so the football coach doesn't get pissed, result? Dummies go off to colleges which a lot of them do not even belong at. It is really sad to see a C student get into a good college because he can play football real well as compared to an A student who gets rejected from the same college. We don't want to breed doctors, lawyers, engineers or businessmen, we want to try and breed football players and basketball players. That is an issue because in Europe and Japan, schools don't have sports, if you want to play sports, find a club. Schools are for education, not saying that I would like that to be the case in the US but we do need to find a way to alleviate this issue.4. Lack of discipline. Look, if a kid is misbehaving and I give him 1 hour of detention every time he does so, it won't work. Kid doesn't care if his high school record looks like crap, he/she is just there to get a few laughs. Basically, we get the kid who distracts everyone else, and his li! ttle clique in the classroom keeps up his "admirable" work. Make an example out of the kid, throw the kid out of school after his 2nd or 3rd violation, be strict with it and implement the no "BS" policy. I love a good laugh, but you know they have comedy movies for a reason. I am at school to do my work, get ahead in life and grow into a successful citizen, I am not there to hear some clown. 5. School days are too long. When I was in Europe, we got out at around 1 PM from school, in some Asian countries it was 12 AM. A statistic was released that said that American students spend the most amount of hours in school but the least amount of days, not to mention the after school activities. Result? You just want to go home and hit the bed. If you work me for 10 months and make me wake up at 7 AM and be at school till 4 PM, best believe the second summer vacation comes around I am going to crash. The second I get home, I am not going to "enlighten" myself, I am worn out and afte! r doing homework (barely), I am going to go to rest. Do what a lot of t! he European countries do, shorten the school days but get rid of the summers, but then again our law makers are not going to listen to that advice.A lot of holes can be addressed, believe it or not, I think shorter school days but a longer school year would do the trick....Show more
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