Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled • Hacker News Board

Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled

#101

Post by ksdale » Thu, Jun 25, 2020, 9:26 PM UTC

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #94

vslira wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it seems like an anti-pattern. Also, it's supposedly better for children to be educated by a great educator and most parents, like most people, are not. The fact of the matter is that the implicit assumption of many pro-homeschoolers is that most professional educators - either for individual or systemic reasons - are also not good educators, and would rather take their chances. I can't entirely blame them.

Well... If a child is "different" (Aspie, say), or bullied, or had serious health issues, or even just really gifted, homeschooling might be the best answer. But even if none of those things is true, I keep hearing about classroom size as one of the key determinants of educational outcomes. Well, what's the classroom size for a homeschool? It's however many kids you have. Let's use the standard family size, 2.3 kids.…

I think this point is underappreciated. The key question isn't "Is a parent a better teacher than a professional teacher?", the key question is "Can a parent teach 1 or 2 or 3 of their own children, better than a professional teacher can teach 25?"

It seems like it should be a close call for the vast majority of parents, so at the very least, the question of whether to homeschool should hinge on other considerations.

Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled

#102

Post by Barrin92 » Thu, Jun 25, 2020, 9:27 PM UTC

1123581321 wrote: post #23

specrux wrote: post #12

Given that her family inherited the Murphy Oil fortune (Tulane's Department of Medicine is named after them), it's not that surprising she would have exemplary homeschooling resources

She doesn’t describe anything expensive or exclusive. Homeschooling typically does not have a cost beyond materials. What struck you as exemplary?

>Homeschooling typically does not have a cost beyond materials

who do you think does the homeschooling?

Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled

#103

Post by 1123581321 » Thu, Jun 25, 2020, 9:28 PM UTC

Barrin92 wrote: post #102

1123581321 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She doesn’t describe anything expensive or exclusive. Homeschooling typically does not have a cost beyond materials. What struck you as exemplary?

>Homeschooling typically does not have a cost beyond materials who do you think does the homeschooling?

One parent who does not work. This is typically achievable for middle class and up, depending on cost of living, of course.

Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled

#104

Post by DavidVoid » Thu, Jun 25, 2020, 9:30 PM UTC

ksdale wrote: post #95

DavidVoid wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it though? I feel like this is a strong case of "what is best for society is not best for each and every individual". If allowing homeschooling will help 100 kids to learn faster and be happier, while at the same time causing another 1000 kids become socially isolated by giving their parents the authority to more easily cut them off from the rest of society and indoctrinate them, then is that trade-off really wort…

I believe if you think that 91% of parents are going to indoctrinate their children in a way that harms society, that society is probably doomed, as that 91% should theoretically have control of the government already...

> I believe if you think that 91% of parents are going to indoctrinate their children in a way that harms society

The numbers were just chosen to give a counter-point and are purely hypothetical, but even then I think you are misrepresenting them with your 91% statistic.

The 100 good and 1000 bad experiences only represent home-schooled kids in my example, they do not represent all kids (as I presume most kids would still attend normal schools).

Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled

#105

Post by Barrin92 » Thu, Jun 25, 2020, 9:31 PM UTC

barrkel wrote: post #66

A lot of people talk about repairing decrepitude of the body, but what about decrepitude of ideas and world views? What if advancement depends on the death of people with outdated ideas?

Yep. Death is the one true source for renewal we have. A world without death is a world with potentially immortal dynasties and dictators straight out of Altered Carbon.

Science progresses one funeral at a time, markets function by companies dying out, at the very fundamental biological reproduction relies on death.

If you think 70 year old politicians and university deans are corrupt, wait for the 400 year old boomers. The end of death is essentially the beginning of stagnation. It's a libertarian fantasy pushed by Thiel et al, because death is the one last thing these people can't buy themselves out off.

Death puts a natural end to even the worst individuals, wiping the slate clean is, sadly but necessarily, what keeps our species and our culture moving .

Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled

#106

Post by searchableguy » Thu, Jun 25, 2020, 9:35 PM UTC

legitster wrote: post #51

I know a lot of homeschoolers. Some had great experiences. Some had truly terrible experiences. But regardless, they turned into functional, developed adults at about the same rate as publicly schooled kids. I think it's important for parents to realize that a lot of these choices are mostly about enjoyment and convenience, and they don't need to beat themselves up if they feel like they are failing because they can'…

Honestly timetable isn't bad if your school stops abusing you.

Stop punishing kids. Stop grading them like factory workers or defective products. Stop putting them all in one classroom. Change their course work to be more interactive and make an environment where people can naturally be social...

I follow this Japanese light novel where they simulate real world in a school setting. The school campus has everything - malls, bars, gaming areas, hair saloons, library, parks and everything else you would visit outside the campus. Students are given monthly allowance based on the performance of their classes and live inside the campus until graduation on their own. I wonder how feasible it would be to create something like that.

People who think that getting bullied or living in a toxic place when you have no experience in dealing with it is great make me sad. Not everyone has a decent life at home (some have dysfunctional families). For those people, it's misery on top of misery. And then there are folks with autism, bipolar and ADHD.

I was dealing with both. Broken for 2 years now. I don't have any goals, dreams or plans that I had before. Now I have to fight against pessimism at every point and is getting harder to socialize each passing days.

I have a different outlook on life now that people find very controversial or against their moral compass. But I can justify it. The disconnection keeps growing even if you quit.

Life gets better motto stings and disconnect me from others because I can't remember a single nice memory that isn't reading something obscure on the internet or communicating with other internet dwellers.

I have to ask people how they feel about something, what their thought process is and why/how. I can't understand it. I have difficulty understanding your common moral compass. I am not joking when I tell you to explain small gestures and facial expressions. And I feel sad too. I just can't show it always. I don't need to cry or look dead serious to say something serious.

Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled

#107

Post by bgutierrez » Thu, Jun 25, 2020, 9:36 PM UTC

nathanbarry wrote: post #91

bgutierrez wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After homeschooling, I also have a hunger for learning. It is the hunger of someone that did not always get enough to eat as a child and isn't going to let calories go by uneaten. The hunger of someone who suspects others know how malnourished they were as a kid and is afraid to look skinny. A hunger that keeps them up at night, telling them to eat and eat until sleep seizes them, then wakes them up early in the morn…

Interesting. That wasn't my experience at all. Maybe hunger is the wrong word: love of learning is better. I grew up to truly love learning and be excited for our weekly trips to the library to get more books. Then when I had access to the internet I spent so much time learning code and design. My parents taught me how to learn and then gave me access to whatever I needed (mostly just the library and a computer).

That's cool. I'm happy that some people had good homeschool experiences. I grew up in a house full of books and loved to read and it mostly turned out okay except for the constant feeling that I had never learned enough.

My point is only that homeschooling in the US has an enormous variety of outcomes. This should be expected, because there is very little oversight, even here in California where some of my siblings only acquired what education a reasonably bright child can acquire by cultural osmosis. If you think I'm exaggerating, it might because you've never had to explain to an intelligent 13-year-old that the '' they are learning to use for html can also mean less-than, division, and greater-than.

I see you are invested in a company catering to homeschoolers. I think it's fantastic that education is becoming easier and easier to come by. Homeschoolers need all the help they can get. As long as you are encouraging people to consider homeschooling, I hope you'll take a glance through r/HomeschoolRecovery and get a view of what happens when homeschooling goes wrong.

Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled

#108

Post by dannykwells » Thu, Jun 25, 2020, 9:36 PM UTC

"Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being an heiress with nearly infinite resources to pursue her dreams".

I think the homeschooling is likely second to being rich in terms of her world view and success.

Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled

#109

Post by klmadfejno » Thu, Jun 25, 2020, 9:42 PM UTC

potta_coffee wrote: post #97

TrackerFF wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can’t believe we collectively accept children being exposed to the violence and other problems that are pervasive there! It’s not surprising so many people become criminals now. But on the flip-side, would you want to go your entire life without facing any conflicts? FWIW, I was bullied in middle school, and pretty much had to fight my way through. As in fist fighting. As an adult, I don't tolerate any bullshit -…

Kids were knifed and shot at my high school, which wasn't even in a city that's considered unsafe / high crime. There was a race war there too, in which dozens of kids brought baseball bats and put each other in the hospital. A kid was put stabbed with screwdriver and another kid was hit so hard in the head he had a seizure. These kinds of experiences led me to homeschool my own kids.

I don't doubt your experiences, but I find it hard to believe that it wasn't considered a safe area. That seems tautologically impossible.

Re: Laura Deming, founder of the Longevity Fund, on being homeschooled

#110

Post by Barrin92 » Thu, Jun 25, 2020, 9:43 PM UTC

1123581321 wrote: post #103

Barrin92 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Homeschooling typically does not have a cost beyond materials who do you think does the homeschooling?

One parent who does not work. This is typically achievable for middle class and up, depending on cost of living, of course.

Single income households are quite rare these days. In the US and Europe about 30%. In addition to that the parent needs the qualification and resources and time to actually teach.

This practically excludes all but the affluent upper-middle-class (the exception being extremely religious people who want to keep kids out of society for ideological reasons).

This family is pretty much the perfect example. She comes from oil money and her parents had the resources and connections to send her to a university lab at age 12.