UP AND COMING
My news scrape found an article with a very local flavor. It’s one of those “balanced” he said/she said pieces that Scott loves so much. Fortunately, either the reporter or the editor did a crappy job, as the “she said” section is quite lame:
CRITICS
Home schooling is not without its critics. Some believe it is irresponsible to teach a child in an unstructured environment; that without structure, parents can teach their children anything. For example, some religiously-motivated parents may choose to ignore Darwin’s Theory of Evolution all together.
This concern is strengthened when one considers that 33% of all home schooling families in the U.S. offer religion as their main motivation for home schooling their children, according to a 2003 report.
Home schooling can also be used as a tool of abuse, as without a child being regularly introduced to adults outside of their family, their ability to report what is happening to them in their home life becomes limited.
Another argument is that without working alongside other students their own age, home school students may not know how to handle themselves in the competitive world outside the home.
“They need to be sure that the child is being taught,” said Principal of Alpha Academy School, Eugene Slocum. “One of the things that can become a problem, is that – just because a child is being taught, it does not mean they are being competitive.”
Slocum worries that with no competition for students, the standard may be lowered as a result.
“We, as a public school, have to meet the same criteria as other schools, we are accountable for what we do,” said Slocum. “We can’t just hide test results, we have standards to meet in order to help kids learn.”
Both Slocum and Wiggs agreed that the decision to home school one’s children depends largely on the family itself. “Home schooling is not for everyone,” said Wiggs. “It is one of many educational choices available to parents. There is public, private … many different opportunities.”
That first graf is a killer. I was unaware that unschooling and creationism go hand-in-hand.
UPDATE: I figured out the first graf. It’s not unstructured as in unschooling. The reporter is using the word “uncontructured” in contrast to having the government looking over our shoulders telling us what to teach. In that respect, we’re all unstructured. “Unsupervised” would have been a better word choice. Still lame, but better.
One Response to “UP AND COMING”
 Comment by Andrea R. in Missouri August 16th, 2006 at 11:45 am |
I thought the public schools were busily trying to eliminate competition so that no one would feel bad about themselves. Everyone gets a trophy or ribbon no matter what their performance is. We can’t have gifted programs because then the kids that don’t qualify might have poor self esteem. And on and on. Maybe it’s the competion to wear the latest fashion or get accepted into the most popular clique that she’s talking about. |