Topic : 11/24 Great School Debate

Being a  homeschooler you are more committed to your children's educational needs?  That is great that you feel such a sense of  superiority to those who choose public school. My husband and I live in a higher end area with terrific public schools which is the main reason we moved here- among others.  Maybe this is our committment to our kids- to live in a low crime neighborhood with sense of community that doesn't exist many places anymore.  My opinion is that although homeschool can be fun, enriching and academic the world and most people are not successful and happy on academics alone.  Things like character, integrity and tolerance are valuable too.   Maybe during your journey of teaching you have forgotten the human side of education.  I will pray that you will re-read this post and see how nasty and discriminatory it has come off.  Not all parents have the luxury to homeschool, myself included.  I work FT  and although I feel I could "get it done" I do not feel the amount of time or the level of structure  is what would benefit my son.  Before you question and assume about other's committments I would enocurage you to have your ducks in a row.  For the record, I also think homeschoolers should have the equivalent education level that teachers have in the PS system that is unfit to teach our young.  Just a thought. 

Although I am 35 years old, and have what most people would think is a "cool job", working for a minor league baseball team I must admit, I am not quite happy. I do OK on the job front, I guess (albeit for little money) but socially, I am definitely not where I would like to be, and I trace that to my curretn situation today.

On your show about schooling options that aired on November 24, I heard many people mention that public schools are advanatageous in that they help kids socially, help them make freinds, help them belong, help the find out wat their interests are, etc.

I guess for a good bit of my public education, I was always the one that "never fit in." I am over six feet tall, and it seems I must have been at that height through my high school years. I grew so quickly, that it seemed I hovered over everyone, and my coordination couldn't keep up. I have always har trouble with things like art, writing, dancing, etc. I still always remember feeling like a failure when it came time to work on an art project, or home ech (sewing, cutting, etc.). While other students seemed to find their niche is something, I seemed to have trouble with everything from music, to math. I stopped trying to find activities to participate in as it seemed I failed in just abouth everything I tried.

This certainly was noticeable with my peers, and teachers. I remember in one of my high school health classes the teacher used me as an example of what happens when someone grows so quickly that their coordiantion can't keep up with it. Needless, to say, this was not real good for my self esteem.

I think I learned many of my tratis back than, as it often seems I was scared to intearact with others, for the fear of being picked on, or bullied. Many  times my choice at lunch was to either sit by myself, or sit with others and be picked on. More often than not, when I tried to socialize, the ladder hapened.

I had the toughest time asking a girl out, because when I did, I usually knew what the answer would be. I thought this would change once I went to college, and it got a little better, but still, I could tell girls thought I seemed a little nervous, and maybe unsure of myself.

Although I am a grown man now, and have a job that does interaact with people, I honestly feel how I am today has a good deal to duw with my public school expereince many years ago. I never really had a group of freinds I could hang out with, confide in, talk with, go to high school games with, and all of those things. This makes it extremenly difficult in trying to develop those skills today, in trying to aquire new social relationships. While many other people my age are married and may even have grand kids now (in some cases,  marriedfor the thid time - not that it is a good thing), I have not even been close to having a long term, meaningful relationship with a female.

Maybe home schooling would not have been the answer for me. I guess I will never know. I guess public school did teach me what a cruel, hard, tough world we live in, but I am not sure that was the intention.

I was interrupted in my last response, so forgive me if I repeat myself.

1.  "When my child is not allowed to learn my beliefs, your beliefs ARE being forced on him"

That untrue.  Your child is allowed to learn your beliefs, from  you.  My beliefs should not be forced upon him either, in public schools.  Schools don't  teach my beliefs or yours.  They should merely teach that, when it comes to belief,  people  vary, and the schools won't teach that one belief system is truer or better than another.

2.  Liberals do not believe that "whatever feels good or offers immediate gratification is tolerated."  Maybe some people you know believe that, but most liberals believe that one is responsible for one's  own behavior & that private behavior, that doesn't hurt others, is nobody's business but the people doing it.   For example, I believe that what  consenting adults do  behind closed doors is none of my business, unless a 3rd party (such as a child) is being hurt.  You ultra religious believe that sex should only be performed under circumstances that you find acceptable, between  people that you find acceptable, doing things that you find acceptable.  Why can't you just live your beliefs and allow others to live theirs?

3.  Abstinence does not = religious.  It is one dependable way to avoid pregnancy and STD and that should be taught as part of biology & public health.  But, there are other ways, and they should be taught as well.  PP doesn't refuse to teach abstinence.  It simply recognizes that which has been true throughout the history of mankind: humans have a powerful sex drive from adolescence on and often act on that drive.  Therefore, abstinence alone is inadequate to prevent pregnancies and STDs.  Preventing disease & unwanted, premature pregnancies is in the interests of society and all effective methods of achieving that goal should be taught.

4.  Whether or not to have sex outside of marriage is based upon belief and the government should not be determining which religious beliefs are right.  Which adults should or should not be allowed to have sex in whatever manner they choose is a belief.  You follow yours & I'll follow mine.  But you won't accept that and wish to criminalize the way some people have sex because you believe it's bad.

5.  You say that  "The only reason it is necessary to teach any sex ed in schools is that parents don't step up and educate their children themselves."  You may be right.  Even if you are, the need obviously exists.  So many people don't  know the correct facts to teach sex ed and so many are too embarrassed to teach their kids about sex because religion has made them believe that sex is shameful.  I have taught my kids EVERYTHING they ever wanted or needed to know about sex, but there are plenty of parents who can't or won't do it.   Better the schools teach them then more unwanted babies, born from ignorance, come into the world.  I fail to see how teaching ways to prevent unwanted pregnancies and stds = control of any aspect of life. 

6.  You believe the bible was written by men, revealing god's words.  I believe it was written by men, revealing men's thoughts.  Neither one of us can prove the other wrong.  So the school should teach the bible for historical reasons, as literature, etc., and leave the religious

signifcance to the parents, ministers & family. 

7.  Intelligent design is a mystical belief.  It's interesting to teach as history or sociology, but it is not science.  If you don't agree, then you don't understand the definition of science.  Intelligent design cannot even be tested according to the scientific method.  Teach it, by all means.  Teach the extreme beliefs of all religious groups- they certainly are common in this world and effecting many lives.  But don't teach them in science.

Remember Dr. Koop?  Remarkable man.  Ultra right Christian, but man of science.  He did a study designed to show the positive correlation between abortion and subsequent depression.  It did not exist.  The fundamentalist Christians attacked him like hell.  He said, the facts are the facts.  He was still against abortion because of his religious beliefs.  He didn't need to show scientifically that abortion was harmful to hold his beliefs, because his beliefs were based on religious faith, not on science.  So stop putting your religious beliefs into the science curricula.

As for evolution . . . what if you got TB?  You would go to the doctor and ask for the latest effective treatment, right?  But the latest treatments have been discovered as the TB basillus has evolved by becoming resistent to antibiotics that used to be effective.  Well, as you don't believe in evolution, you deserve to get the old fashioned antibiotic that worked before the TB microbe developed resistence.  However, no liberal scientist, with his good morals, would do such a thing to you.

I don't say you're intolerant because you adhere to scriptural principles.  I say you're intolerant because you try to force your beliefs onto me and mine and to prevent other beliefs from being taught, even when there is scientific evidence to support them or social needs are being met by educating the public.  Personally, I don't care what you believe.  Just what you do.

You should be ashamed of yourself! For someone who apparently feels so strongly about education, you have a lot to learn! Is everything in your life so black and white?  Are you this opinionated about everything without really learning anything about the topic or the people you are so quick to bash? 

Not everyone learns the same way. Some do not do well because they just learn differently.  You were fortunate to "fit the mold". Not all kids do. I do not blame the schools. I feel for school teachers and I think they have a very tough job, trying to teach classes of 30 to 40 kids, with different learnings styles, and even language barriers. I can provide an education for my son, make it personalized to his learning style, make it less tedious and more interesting because I am not trying to cater to all those other kids and their parents. I pulled my son out of public school at the beginning of middle school. It took us a year to get to the point where he would do anything that even smelled like it might be educational during that time, he was so burned out by the school system.  (And, no, he was not lazy! He had was the school decided was a learning disablity.  He does fine now because I have found other ways to get the information to him-and-funny thing-his learning disability seemed to disappear).  The only subject we struggle with is math but that is coming along.  He is in a chess club, fences competitively with hopes of making the Olympic team, and one day wants to coach. He is a bright, happy kid that is now thriving, has many friends and a terrific girlfriend. Truly, people such as yourself who so quick to judge others and their situations based on their own really have a lot to learn. Apparently, you learned a lot a facts in your school, but not much about other people, other philosophies or ways of life, or tolerance. This may cripple you for life. I feel sorry for you and others like you.