Replies to '11/24 Great School Debate'

I discussed your recent show with my 10-year-old daughter.  She quite eloquently named the benefits she feels children receive from the school environment -- the ability to get along with all different types of children with all different levels of interest and learning abilities, who are from all different types of home environments.  (We do happen to live in a very diverse community.)  She also stated that she appreciates meeting adults who are different than I am.  This gives her other adults in her sphere that she trusts and loves, and gives her different perspectives on all kinds of things that will affect her future ability to "make it" in this world full of different kinds of people.  She is learning that I may not always be right, and that she may agree more with her teacher about a political issue, for example.  She is learning how to learn through different teaching styles and teacher's personalities.  (She is learning to cope.)  She is learning about different topics that I may not have thought to brought into her life.  Some of them she has an interest in, and some not so.  But, that's OK, too.  She is learning to decide what she has an interest in, and learning that she must follow through on the other subjects, as well.  My daughter also feels she has learned flexibility.  I feel that is very true and very necessary in life.  She is learning empathy for students who don't come from a loving, supportive home, or from a middle-class home with everything she needs easily provided.  She is learning how to pick her own friends, and how to stay away from that child who annoys you.  As you can see, she is a very creative thinker and very eloquent -- she could go on, but I think you can get the point that there are many things children learn in a school environment that help them cope with our world as it is.

My 14-year-old daughter and I did not discuss this topic, but I can tell you how I think she'd respond to this question.  She appreciates the ability to leave the house every school day.  She likes to keep her school day mostly private from me.  She is going through a very normal phase of development -- learning to be her own person, away from me and her father, learning what her interests may be, and how to find her own way in the world.  She then comes home to a safe, warm environment with people who are here for her when she needs us, and who are learning to let go, which seems to be mostly what she needs right now.  Letting our children go is not hard for them -- they yearn for it and will fight for it.  Yes, there will be bumps in their road, but who would want to delay these bumps and life lessons?  It is us parents (mothers, especially) who must take a good, hard look at our own motivation for keeping our children home and who must let our children move through the normal stages of development so that they will be normal, happy, successful adults.   

Let me add my own opinion to this --  I could not provide the rich learning environment that my children are acquiring in school.  I could not cover every single subject as well as a whole truck load of teachers do every day for my children and others like them. 

I discussed your recent show with my 10-year-old daughter.  She quite eloquently named the benefits she feels children receive from the school environment -- the ability to get along with all different types of children with all different levels of interest and learning abilities, who are from all different types of home environments.  (We do happen to live in a very diverse community.)  She also stated that she appreciates meeting adults who are different than I am.  This gives her other adults in her sphere that she trusts and loves, and gives her different perspectives on all kinds of things that will affect her future ability to "make it" in this world full of different kinds of people.  She is learning that I may not always be right, and that she may agree more with her teacher about a political issue, for example.  She is learning how to learn through different teaching styles and teacher's personalities.  (She is learning to cope.)  She is learning about different topics that I may not have thought to brought into her life.  Some of them she has an interest in, and some not so.  But, that's OK, too.  She is learning to decide what she has an interest in, and learning that she must follow through on the other subjects, as well.  My daughter also feels she has learned flexibility.  I feel that is very true and very necessary in life.  She is learning empathy for students who don't come from a loving, supportive home, or from a middle-class home with everything she needs easily provided.  She is learning how to pick her own friends, and how to stay away from that child who annoys you.  As you can see, she is a very creative thinker and very eloquent -- she could go on, but I think you can get the point that there are many things children learn in a school environment that help them cope with our world as it is.

My 14-year-old daughter and I did not discuss this topic, but I can tell you how I think she'd respond to this question.  She appreciates the ability to leave the house every school day.  She likes to keep her school day mostly private from me.  She is going through a very normal phase of development -- learning to be her own person, away from me and her father, learning what her interests may be, and how to find her own way in the world.  She then comes home to a safe, warm environment with people who are here for her when she needs us, and who are learning to let go, which seems to be mostly what she needs right now.  Letting our children go is not hard for them -- they yearn for it and will fight for it.  Yes, there will be bumps in their road, but who would want to delay these bumps and life lessons?  It is us parents (mothers, especially) who must take a good, hard look at our own motivation for keeping our children home and who must let our children move through the normal stages of development so that they will be normal, happy, successful adults.   

Let me add my own opinion to this --  I could not provide the rich learning environment that my children are acquiring in school.  I could not cover every single subject as well as a whole truck load of teachers do every day for my children and others like them.