Many people asked me about the issue of home schooling. I have no problem with it. It is something that parents have to decide for the best interest of their children.
However, as for me, my children do go to public school in Forest Hills, NY. They have wonderful teachers who love them, care for them and constantly challenge their minds.
In addition, I also expose my children to ample additional research and studies outside of school in areas such as Science, Math, Geography, Language, Music, Computer, Internet, etc., in addition to chess.
Therefore, my advice is be involved with your children whether they get their education in public, private or home schools. You have the power to mold them into intelligent, productive and wonderful human beings.
My experience is that children with home schooling fall behind those who attend school. It only makes sense. At school they can keep up the work load. At home it is too easy to slack off.
Just my opinion.
But I am not against home schooling. I just think the kids do better going to regular school. They also learn social interaction at school.
The home school people I have met were usually afraid that the kids would hit ideas not in agreement with their religious belief. Well guess what. That will happen anyway. Do not be afraid of ideas.
There is another angle to this, though. What about the age appropriatness of “new ideas”? We’ve had a Surgeon General call for “sex education for children from birth”, 4 year olds being accused of sexual harassment, girls suspended from school for reading a Bible during their lunch break . . . the stories in the news goes on and on. Parents have a right to be concerned.
Home schooling can be done right. Home schoolers have organizations both local and national they can join. Through these organizations the children get together and inter-act with other children.
But your right that it depends on the committment and the education of the parents. I’ve seen home-schooled children that were pathetic.
There are alternatives. Charter Schools, for example.
Blaise Pascal was home schooled, which helped his education to be directed towards mathematics.
I do not see that there is oportunity to easy slack off, because it is not self-teaching. Social interaction is the plus of public school over homeschooling, but we also get poorly trained intellect (in majority of cases) because there is no sustained concentrated pedagogic effort.
There is a lot of ignorance in public school. Look at the criteria in giving grades? Who is going to be motivated by that? Grade should be there for motivation, and not for teachers to get their sallaries sticking “labels” to children in form of grades, which are degrading and unmotivating, even if they are better grades than deserved.
But not all schools in the world are such. I am sure that many are well acquainted with ideas Alexander S. Neill or Kurt Hahn or Maria Montessori to name the few. Of course, there are many other ideas too.
I was schooled in a public school and I am shocked to see what kind of motivation I had during the years. To get an A – yeah, right…now I am completely ignorant of history or geography…don’t know much about my own country. I have to learn again, but this time I will learn it on my own.
Real teaching is illumining imperfections and shortcomings of thinking, and generally giving student faith in himself.
Real studying is studying from at least TWO DIFFERENT books or more.
And, lastly, the real end of any education is to make someone good person, tolerant to others. And to show student that inside proper education is FREEDOM. But there are not many teachers who are capable of that.
To quote Pink Floyd at the end
HEY, TEACHERS, LEAVE THE KIDS ALONE! [end quote:)]It seems that we need more teachers like Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society.
Hi Susan, I know that you and your sisters were home schooled in Hungary and you all came out great. That of course happens here sometimes too. I know a famous math professor who was home schooled.
But you have to understand that home schooling is a big political controversy in the US basically because a lot of the movement for it is from fundamentalist parents who want to give their children very religious educations like the Madrassas in Pakistan do. The kids come out knowing a lot about bible doctrine and very little about regular school subjects or life in the real world. I don’t think this happens much in Europe and so the question has a different shape for a European than for an American. Home schooling may be statistically more successful in Europe simply because the intentions behind it tend to be different.
It’s an uneasy subject for me because of these problems. On the one hand parents should be able to raise their kids the way they want, but on the other, we all get only one childhood and nobody including parents should be allowed to mess it up too badly. So we have requirements against child abuse and it also seems fine if we have some minimum standards about the level of education that we will try to ensure for every child, whether at home or in school.
I kind of doubt that once a blog “falls off” the first few items anyone looks back,but………
The school system is USA suffered some serious damage in the last few decades. The desire for more equality resulted in dumbing down the school system and achieving an almost “equal” status on a much lower level than it should be in any developed countries. For example, when I interviewed women for a regular secretary position, the first nine candidates couldn’t multiply a one and a two digit number without some aid (paper, pencil, calculator). It could have been a fluke, it could have been an indication that there is something inherently wrong with the american lower education system. A few years back President Clinton declared that the goal should be that by the end of the third grade all students should be able to read. End of third grade? And that’s the GOAL?
Also, it is well known that far too many high school graduates can’t read, write and do basic arithmetic on a functional level. I find that a failure of a school system. Thus I support home schooling, for intelligent parents with the needed financial resources. This is totally independent from any religious issues.
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I think the traditional schools will be the past within the next couple of decades. Computers and the internet came far enough, that a different school system could be built on it. Where the teachers are well designed computer programs. The school building and the personnel there would function as “baby sitters” and instructors how to run the computer. These days there is nothing a teacher can do what a computer couldn’t (presenting, explaining the material, answering questions, etc.). Somebody will pick this up as a nationwide project, will make zillions of dollars for self and fix the educational system.
Gabor
First individual balance…
Then good development and lifestyle follows.
It is literally mind-boggling the number of growing children that concentrate exclusively on only one area of their education and development, then later in adulthood damn the “system”. For these children, and later adults, perhaps America’s permissive education system and societal constructs at large be too permissive…perhaps these children need more, not less monitoring early on. Then again, psychology and folklore both recognize the undeniable resistance to positive influences that some children exhibit, the “you’re going to be what you’re going to be regardless of external influences” argument, notable in cases involving people perpetrating capital crimes against humanity in spite of good upbringings. Then, there always be the unfortunate victims of fate and circumstance…sigh
Congratulations Susan with your children.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!