Comments on: Reshaping America’s classrooms

By: Rekrul

Rekrul — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:24:39 +0000

“The kids are ’special,’ but in a good sense.”

That’s good to hear.

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:10:14 +0000

Hi Rekrul:

“Beyond the educational aspects, how has that worked out for her?”

Brilliantly. There’s an idea that home schooled kids are socially deprived and have trouble interacting with others and with adults. But that’s rubbish. To the contrary, for the most part, they’re a lot more confident than average.

Part of Emma’s education consists of spending time on a dedicated home-school site where she talks with other children of all ages and backgrounds. Parents and mentors keep an eye on things.

We live on Vancouver Island, about 1.5 hours by ferry from the British Columbia mainland. Here, we have a strong home school community and parents and kids meet often.

At school, children tend to be age segregated. In our communities, children of all ages hang out together, and with adults, with all that implies. They teach each other and learn from each other.

The kids are ’special,’ but in a good sense.

Cheers!

By: Rekrul

Rekrul — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:47:29 +0000

“Our daughter, Emma, is now almost 12. We’ve always home-schooled her.”

Beyond the educational aspects, how has that worked out for her? The reason I asked is that back when I went to school, any child who was home-schooled would invariably be the target of ridicule. Even now, home-schooling is often depicted as something strange that is usually only done for “special” kids.

By: Dorothy

Dorothy — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:25:11 +0000

It appalls me that any school would willingly model their teaching methods after Microsoft’s management style. I would hope that children would be taught at a higher level (meaning more based on respect for others, ethical behaviour, etc) than this!

Let the flaming now begin.

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:07:05 +0000

Our daughter, Emma, is now almost 12. We’ve always home-schooled her.

Cheers!

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:13:03 +0000

Another monopoly we have beyond monopoly on “content” is monopoly on education, as only “institutionalized education” is universally recognized. So far, no one appears to have challenged that monopoly. Expensive books (as opposed to GFDL or similar content) are part of the process because of conspiracy between publishers and professors (and everyone in that chain).

At the same time, there are states that try to ban or limit home schooling at high school level, so that corporate and only corporate education is permitted even there.

And, as many of you know, the purpose of schools today is to instill obedience, make pupils into “little obedient consumers”.

See this post, especially the comments made by readers:

http://www.astronomybuff.com/why-im-homeschooling-my-kid-in-science-next-year/

I can say that I am fortunate not to have American educational background.