Here’s my column from today’s paper, on the subject of fake homeschoolers. (AP style requires that word to be “home-schoolers” in print, but I say kill the hyphen. It’s my blog, damn it!)
7 thoughts on “fake homeschoolers column”
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Fun article!
You’re a brave man to sign your name to that piece. Not very bright, perhaps.
Since when is learning a craft like carpentry not considered educational?
The last I heard it is called vocational training and a very lucrative career for those who have a talent for it.
I think memorizing useless facts for regurgitation during testing is the real crime.
You’re totally going to get a fecalgram from Roger’s granddaughter. Thirteen-year-old groupies are so sensitive!
I am sure that you are going to get many comments, hopefully, most will well thought out rather then just quick barbs.
I used to agree with you on the accountability issue. Before I started reading and researching homeschooling (definitely without the hyphen – there we agree!) it seemed as if schools and homeschools should be held to the same standards. However, as I was reading and learning more, I came to realize that comparing what schools do and what homeschools do is like comparing apples and oranges. It took a paridigm shift to realize that learning is not school. Learning can take many different forms…sometimes it looks like school with textbooks and lessons, sometimes it looks completely different (like your friend learning construction).
You say that the real homeschoolers have nothing to fear from accountibility. I say that we do because it means a loss of freedom for all homeschoolers. I do not want to have to justify my approach to school officials who may or may not be able to see outside the box of “school”.
Will some kids fall through the cracks? Probably. Does the accountibilty of schools such as NCLB or TAKS stop kids from falling through the cracks in school? According to your own article it does not:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/columnists/jbenton/stories/DN-edcolumn_19met.ART0.North.Edition2.945f45c.html
And as you can see, efforts towards more accountability actually accomplish the exact opposite of what they are supposed to accomplish. Instead of catching the kids who are falling through the cracks it leaves the kids who need the most help further behind. It changes the focus of schools from learning to trying to improve their test scores.
The effects of school accountability are part of the reason that I homeschool. Not because I am trying to get away with something…but because accountabilty does not prove that kids have learned anything. It means they have passed a test. And I want more for my kids.
Fake homeschoolers. That is one of those things that I always knew I knew but didn’t really know. Like a meme floating in the space of the brain that I’ve never actually caught. Thanks for giving me the memetrap (or should that be meme-trap).
Brian
The meme you’re looking for is “homefoolers,” but things get complicated pretty quickly when you start looking at the people behind Josh’s numbers.
If you assume that compulsory attendance laws are fundamentally fair and inherently effective, Josh’s op/ed probably seems persuasive. If you start wondering about the wisdom and justice of compelled attendance, on the other hand, the same numbers tell a different story. Some of the preceding comments touch upon that.
For example: why is learning carpentry worse than learning calculus? If a parent and teen agree that Skil saws are better than Shakespeare, are we really sure the State can make a better choice? You have to START with the assumption that the State knows better than parents and teens to conclude that this was a bad outcome for this one particular kid.
HSLDA has taken a strong position on the “dumping” problem because we object to schools using “homeschooling” to solve their institutional problems. American schools have a legal duty to offer every child a free public education, and the schools may not evade by what lawyers call “constructive eviction.”
In the old days, when the schools failed a child, the schools called that child a “failure.” Now we have some new laws with new teeth that put some consequences on the schools. The more creative schools are trying to change things: “dumping” happens when a school fails a child, and solves the problem by calling the child a homeschooler. HSLDA doesn’t intend to let that happen.
Change “compulsory attendance” to “voluntary attendance” and make the schools COMPETE for students. Instead of punishing kids for institutional failures, try creating new institutions that work for those kids.
It’s a new paradigm in education–one that stands Josh’s drop-put numbers on their heads. But it’s the future of education.