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Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

#721

Post by psyklic »

burkaman wrote: post #88
chmod600 wrote: post #62

If you home school, you don't get the money back. Public school is something like $12k/yr. That's a lot of money that you're essentially opting out of. For parents who do so for political or culture war reasons, that must seem profoundly unfair. To be driven out of the public schools means to be denied resources. Public schools using public money should be especially sensitive and as neutral as possible on political…

> as neutral as possible on political or culture war issues I don't think it's really possible to be neutral about culture war issues, sort of by definition, especially when many of the wars are about schools themselves. A school is part of American culture, it can't somehow choose not to participate. To use a historical example, there was a culture war over teaching evolution in schools. A teacher at the time could…

Being neutral could also mean striving to make decisions based on independent standards, as opposed to a bias toward one side. For example, a judge who bases decisions on evidence and the law is typically considered neutral -- even when they rule guilty.

Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

#723

Post by erie »

jawns wrote: post #150

People talk about homeschooling as if it's one single concept, but it's actually a whole bunch of very dissimilar things. There are people who homeschool because they don't agree with the government's viewpoints, people who homeschool because the public school system has failed their kids, people who homeschool because it just happens to fit their lifestyle. Those are all very different motivations. Likewise, there a…

But one thing is clear, it is the $-The average taxpayer paid $1,087 to Pentagon contractors $300 for education https://www.nationalpriorities.org/whats-new/2023/4/17/pay-t...

Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

#724

Post by jstarfish »

fellowniusmonk wrote: post #527
xyzelement wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

// other aspects of homeschooling were just a fig leaf over a whole lot of religious indoctrination I was raised totally secular but I now understand that religion is about fundamentally aligning yourself to the highest aspirations ("what kind of man does G-d want me to be?") and even w/o actual faith, I am starting to think that's preferable to the current mode of "anything goes, you can be whatever you feel like an…

As someone who was raised in religious communities, that "higher aspirations" is only the position "in principle" in reality working with people in the religious community was just scams and moral self justification of despicable behavior hidden behind soft language and terrible behavior. So much contention, so much gossip, so much backbiting behavior and hidden evils against children so that communities wouldn't "lo…

> As someone who was raised in religious communities, that "higher aspirations" is only the position "in principle" in reality working with people in the religious community was just scams and moral self justification of despicable behavior hidden behind soft language and terrible behavior. So much contention, so much gossip, so much backbiting behavior and hidden evils against children so that communities wouldn't "lose face". The worst behaviors, the least faith, the most fear, all hidden by duplicity and a weekly practice of virtue signaling. This is not isolated, my parents were involved in the church in many states and internationally, it was everywhere.

As someone who has lived amongst several different communities and denominations, some are worse than others.

I'm guessing you're a former Witness? They're hard to beat.

Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

#725

Post by wredue »

xyzelement wrote: post #329
jandrese wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a huge spectrum, but back when we homeschooled (my wife wasn't yet comfortable sending the kids back to the classroom in 2021) we did a few events where local homeschool kids got together for various activities. Tree identification/nature trail at the park, visits to historic sites, stuff like that. Of the parents I met there was some variety, but 9 times out of 10 it seemed like they were mostly doing it be…

// other aspects of homeschooling were just a fig leaf over a whole lot of religious indoctrination I was raised totally secular but I now understand that religion is about fundamentally aligning yourself to the highest aspirations ("what kind of man does G-d want me to be?") and even w/o actual faith, I am starting to think that's preferable to the current mode of "anything goes, you can be whatever you feel like an…

[flagged]

Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

#726

Post by nearbuy »

stevedewald wrote: post #707
ReallyOldLurker wrote: post #594

I'm not surprised at the rise in homeschooling. When you have anti-education groups like the Oregon Department of Education [1] running the public school system, any parent that cares and can make the effort should remove their child from public schooling. This semester they switched my son from high-school chemistry to "environmental science". I asked him, "is oxygen flammable?" He couldn't answer. I looked at the c…

Is oxygen flammable? I’m pretty well-educated and that question gave me pause. I know oxygen is involved in the combustion process, so I think the answer is yes, oxygen is flammable. That feels like a trick question though.

It is a tricky question, especially if you don't remember the precise definition of combustible/flammable. I believe only the fuel (the thing getting oxidized) in the reaction is considered combustible/flammable, not the oxidizing agent. So oxygen isn't flammable.

Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

#727

Post by burkaman »

psyklic wrote: post #721
burkaman wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> as neutral as possible on political or culture war issues I don't think it's really possible to be neutral about culture war issues, sort of by definition, especially when many of the wars are about schools themselves. A school is part of American culture, it can't somehow choose not to participate. To use a historical example, there was a culture war over teaching evolution in schools. A teacher at the time could…

Being neutral could also mean striving to make decisions based on independent standards, as opposed to a bias toward one side. For example, a judge who bases decisions on evidence and the law is typically considered neutral -- even when they rule guilty.

That's true, but another property of culture wars is that there generally is no authority or standard that all sides consider independent. Only in the most clearcut cases can you get away with saying "it's not up to me, I'm just following the law." Often there is no law or it's vaguely written, and it really is up to you.

Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

#728

Post by nnf »

dxd wrote: post #671
pkulak wrote: post #611

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> anything goes, you can be whatever you feel like and there's no judgement of any of your actions Wow, what a terrible take. If anyone needs religion to live a moral life, I'm glad they have found it and hope they never lose it. I'm judged by my peers, my family, my community, and my country. But even if I wasn't, I would know what's right and what's wrong. Moreover, I guess it's good that amoral people can find eth…

Ah, moral relativism. I believe there is no way around the idea that without religion, there is no such thing as morality. It all comes down to the question: how do you know what's right and wrong? If you don't have an external moral code, that is, you decide what is right and wrong, then the odds are stacked against you, 1 out of every individual with a unique opinion to ever exist; it is conceited for anyone to bel…

> without religion, there is no such thing as morality.

Would you agree that non-human animals aren’t religious? Because we see moral behavior in animals. For example [1]:

> In another experiment with rats, researchers find that if a rat is given the choice between two containers—one holding chocolate and one holding a trapped rat who appears to be suffering—the rat will try to help the suffering rat first before seeking the chocolate. Experiments like these show that animals make moral choices and that their behavior cannot be explained through natural selection alone.

There are lots of other examples, like animals that call out to warn their group of an approaching predator, placing themselves at higher risk.

Also, it seems like you’re arguing that an “external” moral code is The Only Way but then excusing people in biblical times for owning slaves because “that was a long time ago.” But shouldn’t their supposed access to this special moral code have been sufficient to conclude that owning humans as property is immoral?

> You wouldn't even be able to reason that murder is evil.

This is just downright silly. As a rational, thinking person, it’s easy to reason why murdering fellow human beings is not good.

> the Bible teaches the very opposite of sexism

Anyone can search for “sexism in the bible” to see what it has to say in its own words. For convenience, here’s one such link [2].

[1] https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/morality_anima...

[2] https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Biblical_sexism

Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

#730

Post by clarkmoody »

_dark_matter_ wrote: post #672
sfink wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you. I came here to say this. We're homeschooling, and I made the mistake of reading the train wreck of comments on the Post article. It was irritating how many people were absolutely certain of what homeschooling is and what its shortcomings (or successes) are, when it's nowhere close to being one thing. Homeschooling is defined by what it is not. Homeschooling because of COVID policies in public schools? Ok,…

On the other hand, I've watched my nieces and nephews - now aged 5-13 - fail to learn to do math (any), write, read, even _say the alphabet_. We've called the school district, CPS, and the police. None are able to do anything. These children are being raised to live in poverty. So yes, I'm against home schooling because it leaves some kids worse off. We have to enforce standards, and until we do I will not comply.

Then you should be against compulsory schooling because it leaves a huge number of children worse off and violates others' liberty at the same time.
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