Topic : 11/24 Great School Debate

Quote From: sunkistar123

    I think that the parents on todays show are a disgrace, and should not call themselves parents or role models. They are endangering their children and making a terrible mistake. Children need to be in a school setting, whether it be public or private. They need to be around other children to learn about society and how to interact with other people. They need to be able to set goals and work hard on something and feel that accomplishment when they get an "A" on a paper. They need to experience the trials and tribulations of those K-12 years. They need to learn how to grow up and be responsible, literate, adults, that can take care of themselves without you hovering over them.

    The parents that "unschool" their children say that their children have goals and can do whatever they want in life. Well i hate to break it to you, but when one of your kids wants to go to college, they are going to be very disappointed. Colleges base their entrances on SAT/ACT scores, grades from 9th grade-12th grade, and normally an essay. Your child will not have taken an SAT and won't have any school grades!! And how do you expect your child to write a thorough and well thought out essay, when they have not taken the english classes necessary to teach them how to write one?!?!

    I think that these homeschooling and unschooling parents should really rethink the agenda they have planned out for their children. Dr. Phil made a very good point in saying that the children have not been to a regular school, so how can they make the choice to go to school or not? There are many alternatives that you can choose. Why not see if your school district has a program (like the school district where I live has) where they can do some classes online, and also go to shool.  That way they can still be in a school setting, but can still be at home too.  It is a compromise that I think these parents should think about.

    It is okay to be afraid for your children (i.e.-school shootings), but if you keep them away from the world and don't let them experience the good with the bad, they are going to be overwhelmed when they go into the real world, without you holding their hand the whole way.

 

 

Quote From: rs8180

All the board members children, teachers children, principles children, are all cared for and are protected and feel secure and safe at my public school.  Some are even bully's .

Quote From: wngdpnthr

 My wife experienced the same thing, and I saw students go through this when I was teaching.  This is the "socialization" that Dr. Phil was so eager to see kids get.  I don't see how being picked on at school, or being a bully, is useful to society.

Quote From: pietva

Homeschooling parents shortchange their kids, and fail to prepare them to be individuals, independent, self-actualizing and confident. Why do parents choose to keep kids home? 1 Afraid to be alone (the parents) 2 Afraid to release the apron strings 3 Afraid the child might reject or replace the parents in their affections 4 Afraid there is some nasty Freddie Krueger stalking just outside the door, ready to steal and rape and kill their particular child 5 Afraid the child will be polluted by contact with "others", non-radical fundamental religious zealots, and "secular" facts and science and countries the parents would rather despise and revile Need I go on? Proverbs - "Raise up a child in the path he should go, and he will not depart from it." Have some faith in your own child. Missouri has a program "Parents as Teachers", for pre-schoolers. Why have the parents waited until age 5 to decide to educate their children? Too late. At age 5, they MUST continue. This woman with unreasonable fear of school buildings and the outside world cries at the thought that her children will go to school only in order to be killed or kidnapped. If she has the time to home-school 6 or more hours per day, then she has the time to be a responsible adult and parent, and participate in her child's schooling, volunteering and helping with homework. THAT is what we notice is lacking in our students' support from home. YOU DO NOT SEND A CHILD TO SCHOOL, AND THEN IGNORE WHAT GOES ON THERE, OR THE HOMEWORK! Do you need to teach your child the religion you belive in? YES! And go to services and religious classes! Do the schools work AGAINST your religion? NO! Foolish fear about evolution is a FALSE strawman set up to instill panic, fear, and monetary support for the particular preacher! The schools do not care WHY evolution acts in the world, just that denial is not a valid response to observations. Are you afraid of the influence of "popular culture"? Your first step is to destroy the TV, and maybe even the radio. No more color magazines should be allowed in the house, no gossip of any kind. You could STILL send your children to school, since those are very scarce, if at all available, in a school! If you are not willing to destroy the TV, then you are not putting your children ahead of your own irrational fears. Decide which matters more. Just do it. The first 5 years, a family needs to form the child, and prepare them to remain true to themselves and their parents' teaching when confronted by the rest of the world. They must NEVER just relinquish all teaching to others after that, or even at religious intitutions (think of Boston, and of the hypocrite who was president of those evangelical churches). PARTICIPATE in school. The mother claims to have 6 hours to devote to homeschooling, so she'd do better to spend those hours showing her children how important schooling is by being there and helping in school. If there are "support groups, other families who homeschool...", then what is that except a poor substitute for a school? Isn't that how one-room schools were formed, and hired their schoolmarms? The schools will certainly suffer in quality if citizens abandon them, then vote down taxes, since the parents are all homeschooling, and teaching their 12-year-olds to be computer geniuses (you can't do that for your child? How did my students learn so much? Yeah - public school!) If citizens have a stake in the schools, they will ensure their quality, and support them, with their presence, support of the teachers' learning environment and homework, even their finances. Do the kids next door, down the street, across the town or country matter enough to you to be sure THEY can learn and improve their birth-lot? I had to call my mother to thank her she never said, "If you cry, you won't get no cookies for a treat." Children should make an improvement over their parents, advance in skill, knowledge, and opportunity. Teachers are trained to teach their students to learn the language, about what lies beyond the horizon, and to explore their curiousity and how to satisfy their questions about the world. How can parents expose their children to things beyond their imagination and experience? Can not the cooperative teaching of schoolteachers who care as much for their child be additional learning, and help prepare the children for the unknown and unknowablefuture? There may be a point to homeschooling when living under a sod roof in the far isolated reaches of the prairie, or if a child really cannot handle a classroom well, but, just as breastfeeding and small colds and exposure to unsanitized environments allow the child to develop anti-bodies and immunity to things we ignore, don't notice, or even take for granted, a child cannot learn to remain steadfast or grow in strength and knowledge, if there are never any challenges. At the point a child realizes there are other children, and other families they could meet and befriend, then they must be allowed to interact in the haphazard and free-wheeling society we live in and rely upon, starting with the protected environment of the school, CERTAINLY by 6th grade!

Quote From: suckafish

In a perfect world, maybe we could keep our children home and sheltered but come on folks lets face reality. If you keep your children home and away from the DREADED PUBLIC SCHOOL, then when they get a taste of the diverse world we live in they are not going to know how to handle different situations that occur through our lives. I am a public school teacher of 7 years with a Master's degree in ECED and if the people on today's show think that public school is so awful this is where I would say....................... "PUBLIC SCHOOL IS NOT FOR EVERYONE" so keep your kids at home. If one day they get tired of complaining about the ugly Public School System in America while they are sitting at home, maybe they could come join us and help to make things better.