AN ODD ESSAY
I had only glanced at this one when it came out a week or so ago. An email from Gene encouraged me to read the whole thing. It’s not bad:
So, yes, homeschooling does seem a little odd to many. It seems unnecessary, not a good fit for most families. And in a certain sense, that assessment is correct. Homeschooling is not a good fit for the modern family, if only because the family has, in modern times, ceased to exist. Family cohesion has been obliterated in large part by the mass school.
Our society requires massive consumption. Needy, ignorant people consume more goods and services than educated, emotionally stable people do. The quickest way to create needy people is to obliterate the family. The quickest way to create ignorant people is to divorce them from their parents. The mass school is an excellent exercise in creating a market for your goods, whatever they might be. Unfortunately, what counts as goods for the market does not count as goods for the family—or, in the long run, for society.
So now I’ll encourage you to do the same: Read the whole thing.
4 Responses to “AN ODD ESSAY”
 Comment by Anonymous May 10th, 2005 at 1:54 pm |
What I liked about this article was the brief intro to the history of schooling with shocking facts such as: “Census figures confirm, white men in America were essentially 100% literate prior to 1870″…and “family has, in modern times, ceased to exist. Family cohesion has been obliterated in large part by the mass school” The ugly history and damaging effects of forced schooling should be brought to the attention of those who know and care about it least….those against homeschooling. |
 Comment by NMcV May 10th, 2005 at 7:32 pm |
What I like is that the homeschool myth about “100% literacy” has has a bit of fact added to it. Now they admit that their favorite statistic only ever applied to white men. Next, they can add in the fact that this only applied to white land-owners in certain parts of New England. We as a community are not served by myths that can easily be disputed by those hostile to us. The rest of the screed I won’t even touch, except to mention that it won’t win us any converts, or even allies. |
 Comment by Gene May 11th, 2005 at 12:09 am |
NMcV, Sorry if this is bad news or politically incorrect or offensive to you but the 100% rating came from the census. If this is off, what are we talking…99.875%…hardly enough to justify confiscating everyone’s children and extorting taxes from everyone to pay for it. The only other documentation I have found on this point stated virtually everyone, except immigrants, were literate before compulsory schooling but sited no source. What numbers have you found and where did you get them? The reason for the white men getting the 100% literacy rating was not because they cheated anyone but was because of the religious protestants relying on scripture for conducting their everyday lives. |
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Comment by Gene May 11th, 2005 at 3:38 pm |
Along with the statistic showing those who would rather climb trees can master reading, in mass, without any government intervention, I have another telling, non-mythical, reliable, checkable observation. I purchased a high school math course by an award winning teacher on video that my girls, who would rather be drawing, understood effortlessly at age 9. It starts with “What is Addition” (First grade level) and goes through intro to Algebra I. This math course is 15 hours long and includes everything schools teach over 9 years of math instruction within hours. If everyone had a personal copy (which is not necessary), and with no volume discount, the cost would be around $2.46 per student, for each month the educrats, whose adgenda is to maximize their income, told us are necessary for math instruction. |