I have to wonder about the passel of alleged conservative commentators who keep saying “We’ve got to send the children back to school! Got to!” Even if they have to do all kinds of awkward things to keep the kiddies Safe from the Wuhan Communist Death Virus. Come September–only six weeks away–we’ve gotta re-open the schools.
Why? Millions of kids are now learning at home. Why send them back to public school?
Uh… for “socialization”? Yeah, that’s it! Socialization! They gotta be in school so they can have socialization.
That means socialization by other kids, your age-group peers. God help us.
Weren’t these guys ever kids themselves? Don’t they remember? Hey! Hello! Who encouraged you, when you were a kid, in every bad thing you ever did? Who did them with you, did them first, dared you to do them?
Other kids!
That kind of socialization, the kind offered by the public schools, no one needs. The lesson that your age-group peers are the most important people in the world, way more important than your boring old family, and that conforming to their style, their wishes, and their expectations is the most important thing that you can do–that’s the No. 1 lesson that you learn in public school.
God pity us, how we’re paying for handing our kids over to marxist education theorists and damned fools–to be “educated” by them! And then we’ve got our public colleges and universities to finish the job.
We have a golden opportunity, just now, to get out from under the boot-heel of public education.
Please let’s not blow it.
So sad
Even when I was a child, the schools were not a wholesome environment. I can’t even imagine what they are like today.
Ask Whiterabbit. He’s still subbing.
Hear Hear! My thoughts exactly!
Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise.
One problem is that many two-income families can’t afford to have one parent stay home with the children and home-school them. But a bigger problem is that a lot of (shall we say?) welfare-dependent parents can barely read and write themselves, so they wouldn’t be able to home school even if they’d want to.
I’ve read that some communities are developing home-schooling “pods,” in which families pool their resources to hire private teachers for a group of students or rotate teaching different subjects themselves. These pods aren’t sorted by artificial age-based grades, but adapt the lessons to individual students’ knowledge and progress — sort of like the old one-room schoolhouses. But again, many poorer or isolated families may not have the knowledge or resources for these pods. And besides, the teachers’ unions would never stand for it. They’d have their stooges in the legislature (or governors’ mansions) outlaw this kind of schooling — on a public health basis of course, ahem ahem.
Middle-class Roman families used to do exactly the same thing–hire a tutor to serve the kids in several families.
That’s actually a brilliant idea, and they can tell teachers’ union to go pound sound. I don’t see why this couldn’t work even in poorer communities if they pooled enough of their resources together.
That’s actually the original concept of the schools in America. They were community-based and the teachers answered to the parents.
Now they answer only to their unions.
While I was blessed to have a husband with a job that could support us while I homeschooled our daughters, I have met people who managed all kinds of ways to work it out. One couple, the wife worked outside the home while the husband, an IT guy, worked from home. I have known single mothers who started home based businesses so they could stay home to raise their children (one taught herself to be a silversmith and made jewelry). Others were able to have one parent work days, the other nights, so that there was always someone available with the kids. Etc.
I recall one couple I knew where the husband was a naval officer, and the wife worked as an accountant. She didn’t want to work outside the home – especially after they finally had a baby, after years of trying – but felt she had no choice. Then one day, she stopped and calculated the costs of her having a job, from gas and vehicle costs to commute, to lunches, to her office wardrobe, etc. By the time it was all accounted for, she realized she was bringing in a whole $90 a month extra.
She quit her job shortly after.
I’ve seen that pattern many times.
Ah, the “S” word! Socialization!
Every homeschooling parent around has had that one thrown at them, repeatedly. When we were still homeschooling and i was part of various online support groups, there were frequent discussions helping newbies address it.
I found this video earlier today that I thought you might find interesting, what with people saying kids should wear masks to go back to school.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcJ-Bo9fhzk&w=560&h=315%5D
Wow, that guy’s slick! But I’m not going to say anything that might give him away.
Pretty interesting indeed, considering what we have to do these days to placate Big Brother.