On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 1:06 PM, gossamer axe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > > > > > Why does she need to be equal to 10 educators? Homeschooled kids > > do *better* than public school kids. That is a *fact*. Explain > > why that is true *now* if homeschool parents *aren't* equal to 10 > > professionals. > > > > One thing to keep in mind though, education aside, is that public or > private > school also lets the kids experience socializing with their peers, along > with adults that aren't related to them. Peers/adults outside their > family > and immediate neighbors, and it's usually a wide range of races, religions > and social backgrounds. Dealing with a variety of different people is a > valuable experience to kids. > > Now, I don't have skin kids just fur kids, but even for them, social > skills > are a must as well as the regular sit, stay, down doggie education, which > I > start at home then take them to pet store classes for the social value. > > The assumption that because kids learn socialization skills at a pulblic school, thus this is a good thing is flawed in a few ways. 1) It ignores that kids socialize whenever they are amongst people. Like any of us. Socialization with adults is far more important in future success, than socializing in a lord of the flies environment of a playground. Yes playground, most classrooms are woefully non-social environments. 2) It assumes that the child will be sequestered to their home, and thus never interact with peers. The family still lives in a neighborhood with children, goes to church, the park, or any number of other places a child might encounter another child. 3) It assumes that the principal, teachers, super-intendant, etc will provide better environments for socializing the kids, than the parents would choose on their own. 4) The assumption of exposure to a more diverse population is flawed across most of urban/suburban America. Most school populations cover a small geographical area. That area typically has a remarkably similiar population. An example from where I live. Kansas City, MO school district is predominately urban, and black (african american). Very little diversity. Then there is Shawnee Mission, a fairly diverse racially, but not econimically, Average household income is 20K more than the national average. It is in a county that is both one of the highest incomes in the country and highest educated. There is a very small number of rich people in the county, and very few poor. There is the Lees Summit School district which is average in every way (yay this one is diverse racially and econmically ) There are a lot more but the most look like the first two, where there is a binding trait that removes any real diversity. Rural America is much more likely to have diversity, though maybe not as much racial diversity as some would like. I have moved to a small town outside KC. There my brown (her words) daughter is no longer the only brown kid in her grade. The district is less diverse racially, but each classroom is more so, since there are essentially two elementary schools and one middle and high school. Economically it is much more diverse as well. That certainly brings its own issues. At our old school everyone's house was similar in age size and cost, now the houses range from 800 SF to 8000, and in price from 40K to 700K ( I know in CA that isn't too high, but here that is one hell of a house) -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
