I LOVE SO-CALLED “EXPERTS”
An otherwise decent piece from Penn State ends with this bit of tripe:
While the once-illegal homeschooling trend is indisputably on the rise, Marshall — while applauding those families who teach their children well — remains concerned that there may be a societal price paid for this movement. “For these families to dismiss opportunities which can perhaps best be provided through the educational agency of school is a tragic loss which affects everyone who cares about civic America.”
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J. Daniel Marshall is professor of education in the College of Education, and can be reached at jdm13@psu.edu.
What a coward! He’s so unsure of his position that he has to hedge with “perhaps,” yet it’s still a “tragic loss” for the country.
4 Responses to “I LOVE SO-CALLED “EXPERTS””
 Comment by Joanne the Happy HSer October 27th, 2005 at 4:10 pm |
I should read you before posting, but then I couldn’t claim originality. I blogged about the same (predicable) piece and fisked the same graf. GMTA and all that. |
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Comment by Joanne the Happy HSer October 27th, 2005 at 4:10 pm |
I should read you before posting, but then I couldn’t claim originality. I blogged about the same (predictable) piece and fisked the same graf. GMTA and all that. |
 Comment by Carlotta October 28th, 2005 at 2:46 am |
Ime, I have never come across a group of people who are more concerned about the future of their country and about civil society than Home Educators. Around here at very least, they are very unusual in the degree to which they set out to support one another. They do not concern themselves with comparisons between their children and instead busy themselves with solving both the problems their children experience and the problems of the extended group. HE groups form spontaneously, without coercion, and are non-hierarchical, so that everyone gets to learn about such things as taking responsiblity, offering information rather than issuing diktats, conflict resolution and planning. In stark contrast, every time I have had to pick a child up from school, I have been shocked by the bitchiness, the one-up-manship, and plain devil take the hind-a-most attitude of the parents at the gate. This type of attitude was also very evident at the only school governors’ meeting I’ve ever attended. The group was ruled tyrannically by a bullying chairperson. A free vote seemed unlikely. Everyone was unpleasant to everyone else. Neither of the above situations were good examples of a mutually supportive civil society. When will it be widely recognised that far from draining civil society of it’s most promising members, Home Education instead can offer the home educated the opportunity to develop precisely those skills that are necessary for a creative and successful civic life? |
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Comment by Annette October 28th, 2005 at 7:32 am |
That’s because alot of home educators are bringing up leaders, not followers. 🙂 homesc...s.html |