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Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

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Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#41

Post by ecshafer »

cdme wrote: post #16
epicureanideal wrote: post #8

[flagged]

I went to public school (not in SF) but the only "wokeness" was historically accurate — erm — history classes. We didn't have books banned in the library or English courses either. The lack of physical safety is a product of policy (or rejection of) by the same people whining about "wokeness".

The lack of physical safety is caused by many things, and I doubt you can lay the blame on people complaining about wokeness. There are bullys, drug dealers, gangs, normal hormonal teenagers fighting, interpersonal drama, romance, poverty. All sorts of things influencing the violence.

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#43

Post by AnimalMuppet »

code_for_monkey wrote: post #7

big right wing swing for tech?

There's nothing inherently right-wing about homeschooling. You could just as easily homeschool as left-wing parents who don't want your kids immersed in an environment where other kids judge them by what brands they're wearing, and where the teachers all subscribe to the capitalist view of how society should function.

It's true that homeschooling has been more prevalent among the right wing, but there are lots of people who do it for lots of reasons. We did it when our local elementary school was bottom third in the state. My wife called up the vice principal, and asked why we should put our kids in their school. He said that their school could toughen up our kids. We decided that "tough" wasn't our main goal for our daughters, and we noped out of that school.

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#44

Post by AlexandrB »

x187463 wrote: post #22

Anecdotally, those around me that are homeschooling are doing it for one of two reasons: 1) Right-wing disgust over woke issues. 2) Fear of school shootings. That's coming from a non-tech middle/lower-middle class setting. 20-30 years ago, when I was in school, most of the homeschoolers seemed (again anecdotally) to be based on religion or some other idiosyncratic reasoning rather than the reasons I cited above.

> 2) Fear of school shootings.

I would add:

3) Fear of fear of school shootings.

The active shooter drills and other security measures that American kids go through in some schools are positively dystopian. Even if the chances of a school shooting are statistically very low, the measures put in place to prevent them are probably not good for kids' psychological well being.

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#45

Post by netdevphoenix »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #25

Homeschooling is seeing a surge in popularity, its not just tech people or high status people. IME it's a lack of trust, sending your kids to be raised by strangers. I grew up in a small town and some of my teachers were basically neighbors. For some reason outside my understanding, a lot of small towns have shuttered the school in walking distance and moved to "consolidated" schools which might serve a thousand stud…

The irony of this is that you rely on strangers for critical stuff like ensuring you don't get electrocuted or burned at home or even ensuring that the water that you drink won't make you ill or that your car is a good enough condition to not lead you to a fatal crash. Any of these affects your close relatives. What makes education different?

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#47

Post by kristianbrigman »

code_for_monkey wrote: post #7

big right wing swing for tech?

Alvin Toffler called it back in the 70s (in Future Shock); in there, he thought educated elites would move towards homeschooling, nothing political on his analysis at least (that may match current trend?)

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#48

Post by vel0city »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #25

Homeschooling is seeing a surge in popularity, its not just tech people or high status people. IME it's a lack of trust, sending your kids to be raised by strangers. I grew up in a small town and some of my teachers were basically neighbors. For some reason outside my understanding, a lot of small towns have shuttered the school in walking distance and moved to "consolidated" schools which might serve a thousand stud…

I know in my area they're doing consolidation of schools because there are fewer kids enrolled than when the schools were originally constructed. Even after some consolidation many schools are barely over 60% of their enrollment capacity which is estimated to go down almost another 10% in the next five years.

People haven't been having nearly as many kids for a while. Fewer kids means fewer students. Revenue to operate the building is tied to number of students; fewer students means less revenue to keep things operating satisfactorily.

When the majority of the homes surrounding the elementary are filled with retirees whose kids have moved elsewhere instead of young families it is no surprise the school closes.

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#49

Post by inetknght »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #25

Homeschooling is seeing a surge in popularity, its not just tech people or high status people. IME it's a lack of trust, sending your kids to be raised by strangers. I grew up in a small town and some of my teachers were basically neighbors. For some reason outside my understanding, a lot of small towns have shuttered the school in walking distance and moved to "consolidated" schools which might serve a thousand stud…

> For some reason outside my understanding, a lot of small towns have shuttered the school in walking distance and moved to "consolidated" schools

In my experience it's because schools are being treated as a business, and businesses are usually more efficient when there's consolidation of expenses. Why pay for 3 schools with 10 teachers each when you could instead consolidate classes and pay for 1 school with 15 teachers? To a business, the decision is purely made out of cost. Alas, a lot of governments have such tight budgets (for many legitimate and illegitimate reasons) that cost benefits outweigh the human benefits.

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#50

Post by ahmeneeroe-v2 »

MichaelRo wrote: post #28

Well, I went through through the public school system from rural (hamlet) kindergarten till big city university and I say ... it's OK as a default baseline but if one wants some resemblance of competitiveness and performance from their kids, one cannot avoid private tutoring. If that is done by the parents / family, then it's almost like home schooling. But I don't like home schooling because the kid is left out of t…

Great point about private tutoring, I agree.

The equivalence tests are going to be country/US-state specific though. Many do not require such tests at all.

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