AS PROMISED
The excuse that would have been offered — that David Ludwig is a lone loon — has been undermined before the home schooling movement could present it. The problems in Lititz are not about one or two home schoolees. As the investigation expands, other children and young adults who were aware of Ludwig’s activities are likely to be implicated…
I have no objection to educational aspect of homeschooling. If a parent is qualified to teach a child better than the public or private schools, fine. After all, many parents tutor their schooled children. My qualms arise because of two non-educational aspects of the homeschooling movement: elitism and segregation. The message many homeschoolers are sending, usually politely, is: My children are better than yours. Expand that. They’re saying their children are too good to be exposed to most of their peers. As a result of that attitude, homeschooled children are segregated from the norm. Not only do they not attend school, they are encouraged to associate only with other home schoolees. The result is a very heterogeneous, cult-like environment that doesn’t prepare children for the heterogeneity of contemporary American life. It is a fecund environment for extremist views to take root. We are getting a glimpse into a homeschool community because of the Borden murders. Much of what we are seeing is evidence of what is wrong with the homeschooling movement.
Assuming that Mr. Diva was g-schooled, I think we have evidence of the poor reasoning skills taught there. He extrapolates from one disturbed kid to an indictment of home education. And, as far as we know, it was only one. There are no mentions in news reports that Samuel P. Lohr was home educated. Nor anything about “apocalyptic views” or “survivalist inclinations” among any of the folks in this sad tale. Indeed, everything I’ve seen indicates that from outward appearances, these were the kids next door.
Mr. Diva doesn’t have comments on his site. He does, however, post his email address.
6 Responses to “AS PROMISED”
![]() Comment by Cavalor Epthith November 19th, 2005 at 1:19 pm |
I think your readers would be better served if you had offered your opinion on the veracity of what MacDiva wrote, which I would add, the bulk of public and private education parents, of good will feel: “The arsenal and alleged plots offer clues to the dark side of the homeschooling movement. Though many home schooling parents may be merely separatists when it comes to allowing their children to interact with people who do not share their views, some are something worse than that. A deep strain of far Right beliefs runs through the homeschooling movement. Those beliefs include apocalyptic views based in religion, survivalist inclinations including caching weapons and ammunition, and patriarchal dispositions regarding the treatment of women. Homeschooling is common among adherents to the ‘patriot movement’, Christian Identity and white supremacist groups.” –Mac Diva, 18 November 2005 We too realize that it is tough to look beyond the beauty to warts. But if the public and private school systems admit their failures and flaws then you do need checks and balances from redsponsible government. Sincerely, |
![]() Comment by Daryl November 19th, 2005 at 1:53 pm |
I think your readers would be better served if you had offered your opinion on the veracity of what MacDiva wrote, which I would add, the bulk of public and private education parents, of good will feel: OK- It’s bullshit. Happy? And ditto as to your SWAG that the majority of g-school parents worry about a strain of “extremist views” that are presumed to be part and parcel of home education. Care to back up you bullshit with a cite? |
![]() Comment by Rochelle November 19th, 2005 at 2:51 pm |
“Over come this stigma” How about the public schools over coming their stigma of, gosh, I can’t even remember how many school shootings there have been lately! How many people have been stabbed in schools? At my high school, there were 3 incidents. Let’s compare this to ONE incident of a homeschooled student murdering two people. Can we compare this to all the incidents of schooled students who have turned out to be murderers? Either way, the form of schooling involved in murderers life is the irrelevent, not the relevent , aspect of the case. |
![]() Comment by Jason November 21st, 2005 at 11:04 am |
I sent the below to MacDiva but I think it bounced back. J *** Mac, I came across your recent comments ( So much for that. Moving on to your critique of home education’s ‘non-educational’ aspects: Elitism: You say that homeschoolers are motivated by the conviction Elitism that is based upon academic and personal excellence is a good Segregation: Our current public school system suffers from widespread You say that the homeschool environment is one where extremist views My reasons for keeping my kids away from the so-called homogeneity of If you know of such a school within the contiguous United States, Mac, Thank you, Jason Wright |
![]() Comment by Kim Wealand November 21st, 2005 at 2:51 pm |
I know for a fact that Samuel P. Lohr was homeschooled. I worked with his father for 5 years and believe me that is all I heard about was how much better Sam was than my children who attended public schools!! |
![]() Comment by Kim Wealand November 21st, 2005 at 2:51 pm |
I know for a fact that Samuel P. Lohr was homeschooled. I worked with his father for 5 years and believe me that is all I heard about was how much better Sam was than my children who attended public schools!! |