DAMNED WITH FAINT PRAISE
I think this WND column is supposed to be a defense of the g-schools. I really don’t know what to say. It’s all anecdote. She lived next to a homeschooling family once. She knew some kids who had gone to private school. BFD. It ends with this:
Only when I became an adult did I encounter folks whose middle-class or working-class parents had sacrificed “everything” to send them to non-public schools rather than risk “ruining them” in city schools. Grown-up, I dated a preppie – his preppie friends dissed my ethnicity and I decided I was thankful for my public education which had exposed me to every kind of person, even those I’d rather not meet.
Awful as they may be, I believe public schools actually represent the Law of the Jungle: If you can survive there, you can survive anywhere! Somehow, we must make them better! [emphasis in original]
That’s it? That’s the best she can do? Is this supposed to make me want to send my kids there? She must be an agent provocateur.
5 Responses to “DAMNED WITH FAINT PRAISE”
![]() Comment by Jill January 26th, 2005 at 8:49 am |
Funny, I went to public schools too, and since my schools were born of the white flight of the mid 1950’s, I never encountered any classmates of different ethnicities until I went to college! Public education didn’t expose me to much ‘diversity’ in everyday dealings, although there was plenty of lip service given to it in high school. |
![]() Comment by Eric Holcombe January 26th, 2005 at 10:28 am |
So are we supposed to be surprised that the “jungle” didn’t prepare her for being “dissed” by a preppie or that all the diversity and tolerance exposure has led her to crusade against homeschool and private school students? After I got her LEA link to work, I read the abstract she refers to. Some choice quotes: “First, it [homeschooling] withdraws not only children but also social capital from public schools, to the detriment of the students remaining behind. Second, as an exit strategy, home schooling undermines the ability of public education to improve and become more responsive as a democratic institution. Thus, home schooling is not only a reaction to, but also a cause of, declining public schools.” So, uh, if you’re not part of the problem, you’re not part of the solution…see? |
![]() Comment by Deb January 26th, 2005 at 2:48 pm |
I can’t get the LEA link to open. Maybe my computer doesn’t want to open something so wishy-washy on it. I’ll borrow this from Eric: Thus, home schooling is not only a reaction to, but also a cause of, declining public schools.” I’m glad to be of assistance. 🙂 |
![]() Comment by Daryl Cobranchi January 26th, 2005 at 2:58 pm |
To read the entire article is $24. Eric already got the interesting part of the Abstract. |
![]() Comment by gill bates January 26th, 2005 at 9:31 pm |
Just in case you didn’t know Joseph Farah’s kids are home schooled. |