It seems that every few months, New Jersey newspapers are destined to churn-out same old, same old articles on home schooling. Very few of the reporters take the time to dig deeply. I think I know why.
A week ago I was contacted by a reporter who wanted to talk to someone about home education for an article he was writing. I responded with a long and detailed email of at least 300 words. Buried in the email were these words ...."For the record, I think that home educators should not be regulated. Ever." Of course, these are the only words that made it into the article. I had no idea I was being quoted in the article, until a friend emailed me about my name appearing in it. Imagine my surprise. Here's a link:
http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20130430/NEWS01/304300036/Medford-mom-do-not-think-home-educators-should-regulated-ever-?nclick_check=1
Why do we continue to have the same discussion over and over again? When people ask if home schooling works or if it is good for kids or not, they might as well be asking if we are sure the Earth is spherical and not flat. Lord, it really is time to move on.
This is the article that should have been written.....
When you see the Scripps Spelling Bee and the Math Counts Competitions trying to finagle ways to limit participation by home school students, you know we have succeeded. Yes, home educated kids have to sign a special form developed by Scripps in which they promise not to study too hard or too long. I am not kidding. Also, a home school parent may not start or run a county level bee. Burlington County has not had a sponsor for several years, hence NO student in Burlington County can participate in the Scripps Bee because there is no feeder bee. I could have fixed this and offered to do the work, but was barred from doing so because my kids do not attend the local state conditioning centers. Huh? Translation: Parents and Hollywood got angry when so many home schoolers began winning at Scripps.
Math Counts has also demonstrated their respect for home educated kids by barring them from forming teams. Why? Well, because they would then have all the smart math kids on their team. But, when the local school puts together a team, do they choose the football players? I think not. They choose their best math students. And they are permitted to do this and, of course, would be fools if they did not. Not home school kids. No teams permitted there.
These examples of discrimination could be viewed (by those of us who do this hard job of managing our own kid's educations) with bat-crap crazy rage, but are better viewed as an institutional bow of respect. We win. Lots of people do not like this.
Everything the government does to interfere with parental rights leads America to greater mediocrity.
Fact: Home education is the ONLY educational outpost of progress on this blue planet.
Fact: The media and the political spin doctors will never stop looking for ways to maintain their tragic fiction.
Fact: Home educated kids, regardless of their religious beliefs, are independent thinkers who will never be walking in lockstep with the masses. They have not drunk the Kool-Aide and thus are still original thinkers.
That, my friends, is why the trite ,hackneyed, fluff articles continue to circulate. For, as long as those who remain in the US Dept of Education trance can cast a shadow of doubt on the stunning success of the home education movement, they can continue to feel good about their own choices.
Showing posts with label public education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public education. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Race to Nowhere ??
Have any of you seen this documentary? Race to Nowhere is a film about the pressure to succeed in high school in order to gain admission to a competitive four year college. It's primary focus is on the super-testing atmosphere and the demands of AP classes and extracurricular activities on the students and their families.
I watched it twice. Each time I came away with the same impression. The families and students interviewed seemed utterly unprepared for the competition they were in. My 16 year old daughter watched it and had the same impression, stating quickly that most or all of the students interviewed extensively in the movie never should have been put into the pressure-cooker in the first place. Her words: "These kids are not equipped for high performance and should not have been put into AP classes or told they could get into Harvard or Stanford or UC Berkely, in the first place!" I do agree.
The problem is NOT too much homework, as the movie suggests. The statistics bear out the opposite - most kids in high school watch 4 hours of TV per day and play video games on top of this ....daily. The problem is one of goal setting. For example, my youngest child is not the athletic type. Outdoorsy - yes. He'd much rather be outside, no shirt, playing for hours, running and carrying on. But give him a basketball or a baseball and bat? It is not a pretty sight. Would I ever put this kid in a competitive sport with a ball that had to be bounced, kicked, caught or hit with a racquet? Never. I have different goals for him - reasonable goals for him in the realm of sports.
This same kind of reality check needs to be done all over the country, when it comes to college preparation. After I sat through this whiny vignette a second time, I asked myself why in the world these parents were doing this terrible thing to these perfectly nice kids. I have met kids who can do 4 hours of advanced algebra without complaint and then turn to the memory work needed to prepare for five different AP exams. They are calm, driven and gifted. I have also met kids who are completely lost (academically) most days. Not only are they unable to handle the intensity of AP level work while balancing other commitments, they also have no idea why they are doing it. They lack the big picture, they are not playing to their strengths and pushing these kids up the Ivy hill is just wrong. But, I blame the parents, not the schools for this tragic error of goal-setting.
I thought the entire move reeked of this and it could have been more aptly named ....The Injustice of Erroneous Goals.
I found this Washington Post article illuminating: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/why-race-to-nowhere-documentary-is-wrong/2011/04/03/AFBt27VC_blog.html
The reason these kids are sick, distraught, overwhelmed and failing is that most of the parents (not all of them) were oblivious. The parents were all watching a train wreck take place in their kid's lives because deep down inside, they want their kids to keep up when they really should have encouraged them to slow down. Then they blamed the system, the homework, the AP classes, the unforgiving and unrelenting testing. But, parents ALWAYS have a choice. Parents ALWAYS have the freedom to walk away. The movie was about the 'system' so I did not expect to see much coverage of home education. But, to not mention it even once as a viable alternative? It was an odd omission.
I watched it twice. Each time I came away with the same impression. The families and students interviewed seemed utterly unprepared for the competition they were in. My 16 year old daughter watched it and had the same impression, stating quickly that most or all of the students interviewed extensively in the movie never should have been put into the pressure-cooker in the first place. Her words: "These kids are not equipped for high performance and should not have been put into AP classes or told they could get into Harvard or Stanford or UC Berkely, in the first place!" I do agree.
The problem is NOT too much homework, as the movie suggests. The statistics bear out the opposite - most kids in high school watch 4 hours of TV per day and play video games on top of this ....daily. The problem is one of goal setting. For example, my youngest child is not the athletic type. Outdoorsy - yes. He'd much rather be outside, no shirt, playing for hours, running and carrying on. But give him a basketball or a baseball and bat? It is not a pretty sight. Would I ever put this kid in a competitive sport with a ball that had to be bounced, kicked, caught or hit with a racquet? Never. I have different goals for him - reasonable goals for him in the realm of sports.
This same kind of reality check needs to be done all over the country, when it comes to college preparation. After I sat through this whiny vignette a second time, I asked myself why in the world these parents were doing this terrible thing to these perfectly nice kids. I have met kids who can do 4 hours of advanced algebra without complaint and then turn to the memory work needed to prepare for five different AP exams. They are calm, driven and gifted. I have also met kids who are completely lost (academically) most days. Not only are they unable to handle the intensity of AP level work while balancing other commitments, they also have no idea why they are doing it. They lack the big picture, they are not playing to their strengths and pushing these kids up the Ivy hill is just wrong. But, I blame the parents, not the schools for this tragic error of goal-setting.
I thought the entire move reeked of this and it could have been more aptly named ....The Injustice of Erroneous Goals.
I found this Washington Post article illuminating: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/why-race-to-nowhere-documentary-is-wrong/2011/04/03/AFBt27VC_blog.html
The reason these kids are sick, distraught, overwhelmed and failing is that most of the parents (not all of them) were oblivious. The parents were all watching a train wreck take place in their kid's lives because deep down inside, they want their kids to keep up when they really should have encouraged them to slow down. Then they blamed the system, the homework, the AP classes, the unforgiving and unrelenting testing. But, parents ALWAYS have a choice. Parents ALWAYS have the freedom to walk away. The movie was about the 'system' so I did not expect to see much coverage of home education. But, to not mention it even once as a viable alternative? It was an odd omission.
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