by hippikon 31 Replies latest jw friends
What are your thoughts on home schooling? We had a few in one congregation I was in that practiced home schooling for their kids. I kina think Home schooling is isolationists and for loons. What kind of distorted view of the world would these kids have. I know if I taught my kids they would be a bit weirdunbalanced different.
Edited by - hippikon on 20 December 2002 0:9:10
Encourages Isolation ... (however, this could be viewed as a plus for the jw philosphy).
Kids don't learn how to socialize or otherwise fit in with normal society.
ooooh ... ooooh!!!! .... What if teach is a dittzy airhead!!!!? (Of course, public schools have those, too).
ESTEE_TX
One of the boys on my highschool basketball team is home schooled. He is one of the nicest kids but he has zero people skills. At times everyone is laughing at a joke and he's just sitting there not sure if it's ok to laugh or not.
I have heard that a higher percent of home schooled children do well on achievement tests than children in public schools. I doubt that that would be the case among the JWs, since the parents, as a rule, are not well educated themselves and do not value education. I asked my JW sister about this once, and she said that it was a controversial subject among the Witnesses. I agree with LB, that home schooling could cause significant problems in the social-interpersonal area.
Personally I think it's a good idea if it is done with the right ballance and dedication to a quality education.Of course the kids who love sports wouldn't benifit at all but they were even having a problem with teachers passing students because they were on the school team. Today with all the nut cases out there I really don't see anything wrong with the idea . The jw cildren are always interacting with other jw children and such so I can't see where they become this dysfunctional anti social bunch I'm hearing about here.
Larc - I have heard that a higher percent of home schooled children do well on achievement tests than children in public schools. I doubt that that would be the case among the JWs, since the parents, as a rule, are not well educated themselves and do not value education. I asked my JW sister about this once, and she said that it was a controversial subject among the Witnesses. I agree with LB, that home schooling could cause significant problems in the social-interpersonal area.
It is much higher than the average public educated school kids. My sister is home schooling her 2 daughters and they do extremely well, moreso since they are not being distracted by bad enfluence by other kids. It keeps them focused more on their school work that way.
Several home schooled kids have won championships at the international spelling bee contest since the early 1990s. The media was irked when they discovered that the champion was home schooled. They didn't know what to make of it.
I'm sorry to say that here in the United States of America, we are the worse public school education system in the world. Japan rates the highest than any other country of the world.
Our public education system which is federally funded by the Federal Government has been nothing by a complete failure. A Mayor in LA said the same thing and he got flamed for it by the media as well as some people in the general public.
The education system needs a complete overhaul which will cost billions to fix and put the nation under a much deeper deficit as a result. I for one think that the education reform will not work since the damage is too exensive. Here's why....( and I know I am going to get flamed for this, but I don't care.)
The education system has been dumbed down since the 1950s as more and more liberals have taken control of the public school system. Next, with all the "politically correct" education reform had already been established, kids are learning really ridiculous stuff in schools that shouldn't be there in the first place. The education system since the 1950s have gotten worse at each passing year and look at what we got today. It's pathetic.
Take one good example, my mother once told me that when she was in high school back in the 1940s, girls who would get pregnant would be laughed at, teased and ridiculed. Most teenagers had no idea how one can really get pregnant and learned only from "street wise education" which most of the information they learned from other teenagers were wrong. Since they had no idea how they could get pregnant, it kept sexual relationships down to a minimum and there was FAR less unwanted pregnancies at that time.
Then come 1973, when the sex education bill was passed by Congress making it manitory for sex education to be taught to ALL students in the public schools. As a result, pregnancies shot up in all time high. Kids no longer feared sex. Not only that, venerial diseases from having multiple partners over time had risen as well.
Today, kids walking around pregnant is just as normal as wearing today's fashion statements.
IMO, sex education should belong between the parents and their kids. Let them be scared of having sex, this will help keep the unwanted and costly pregnancy from occuring.
I've already heard the arguments on both sides and quite frankly I am already convinced by seeing the evidence and judging the history of the school system that we now have just plain sucks.
Oh, speaking of dumbing down, it gets worse as each generation of kids who graduate from HS are becoming teachers themselves and it gets worse and worse as each generation goes by. It's downright scary. Just read the newspapers, they speak for themselves.
Home school is the best and parents who do it right are giving them the best materials that kids should learn and more. It also helps keeps the rotten junk out of the kids mind.
As for social skills, my sister allows the kids to play with the neighborhood children. But she monitors their friends to make sure they are not being a bad enfluience to her kids. Especially when it comes to the drug culture is concerned in our society.
Yizuman, you won't get flamed by me. I agree our educational system is in deploreble condition. You say that the mayor of LA said the same thing and got flamed? I have heard the talks by two CEOs who said the same thing, one at AT&T and one several years ago at Chrysler, Lee Iacocca. Lee said that if he turned out a product, cars, like the school system turned out a product, students, his company would be out of business. Many companies have to spend lots of money educating their new employees on basic concepts that they should have learned in school. By the way, that is why I recommended on another thread, that you find some way to get yourself tested.
I started a thread about this once.
In my old hall it became an epidemic. Yes epidemic. It started with two families and quickly spread to 90% of the families with children. Now our hall had LOTS of families with kids, so the numbers were actually quite high.
It is isolationist. I will be perfectly honest, many of the JW kids were socially weird. As we got to be teenagers they had no idea how to behave around the opposite sex, and no I am not talking about the stupid akward behavior of teenagers that is part of a socialization project, I mean WEIRD!
Home schooling became an excuse for many parents. "The teacher doesn't like Timmy because he is a witness, we are home schooling him for his own good" Bull!
Many teenagers convinced their parents to let them in effect drop out of high school so they could take corespondence courses in an effort to have more time for field service. This delighted parents to no end as you can imagine. And played well into the "no part of the world" stance. Several of these families gave parts during the convention, the children extolling how they love to spend time in service to jehovah insted of wasting time in school interacting with worldly people. I always wondered why these kids were so great? Wasn't it better to take a stand for your faith in school? Be a good example to the worldly kids? How will you ever get practice defending your faith, if you never have to?
Meanwhile I knew the truth. Of the seven of my close friends who home schooled in high school, three of them graduated. THREE! And it took them more than four years.
Am I saying all home school is a failure. Of course not! There are instances where I think home schooling is the right choice. But any time a parent uses it to "protect" their children, be it from bullies, or outside religious viewpoints, whatever. I believe it can be misused.
I think if you are going to do it, you have to do it the right way. It takes LOTS of parental involvement. Something the parents in my hall weren't willing to do, and lots of ways for children to socialize. *ahem* aside from field service. It requires a parent who is willing to learn along with the child, and be willing to arrange special edcuation in areas like science, math, and computers, when it gets too advanced for parents.
It can work. I have seen it. It's a grea thing, but it is a ton of work and organization and determination on the part of parent and child. However the way I saw it abused within my congregation made me sick, and turns me off to the idea of homeschooling in the wrong hands.
i just wanted to add that,im in homeschool,its gets very lonly,and id rather go to school,lol,id rather be with all my wonderful worldy friends..homeschool is not all what its cracked up to be,it sux,and is boring,heheh
It is much higher than the average public educated school kids.
The percentage is not that much higher. Could you please tell me where you got your figures?
My sister is home schooling her 2 daughters and they do extremely well, moreso since they are not being distracted by bad enfluence by other kids. It keeps them focused more on their school work that way.
Parents need to take an active role in their kids lives no matter where they go to school. You should be proud of your sister, but don't blame the bad influence of "peer pressure" on public edcuation. Blame it on parents who don't watch their childrens friendships.
Our public education system which is federally funded by the Federal Government has been nothing by a complete failure.
Is it in trouble, yes. A complete failure? That's a bit harsh. I spent my time in public schools, ended up with straight A's, an above average IQ, excellent placement scores on all my college tests. I am not an exception either.
The education system needs a complete overhaul which will cost billions to fix and put the nation under a much deeper deficit as a result. I for one think that the education reform will not work since the damage is too exensive.
Yes it does. As someone who is going into education I couldn't agree more. However it concerns me WHO is the expert on education. The funny thing is, everyone believe they are an expert because they went through the system. They believe they know the ins and outs of how it all works. However they forget which side of the desk they were on, and lets be honest, memory is not always kind nor very unbiased as the years pass. The people who make the sweeping educational descions are NOT teachers. They are politicians who think they know best. Meanwhile, our hands our tied. We simply have to nod our heads and teach the curriculum instituted at either a state or local level.
The education system has been dumbed down since the 1950s as more and more liberals have taken control of the public school system.
This is actually a misnomer. If you look at standardized tests from the 50's to the 90's kids are still making the same kinds of mistakes with same frequency. And my friend if you think the liberals are in control of schools you are mistaken. The emphasis is a back to basics approach. The only problem is no one can decide what the basics are. Grad standards are being implemented, with some success, and lots of failure. Meanwhile children are being caught in the middle.
Next, with all the "politically correct" education reform had already been established, kids are learning really ridiculous stuff in schools that shouldn't be there in the first place.
This goes back to parental involvement. Kids don't understand the concepts of "please and thank you" If schools don't teach them, who will? Ridiculous by whose standards? We are not living in the same hegemonic society of 1950. The truth in the LA school districts is that there are NO MINORITIES. NONE! You have fully intergrated classrooms with the same number of asian, hispanic, white, and black students. Can you tell them which culture is more important? We live in a society where we have to work together and value/understand these other cultures in order to survive in the real world later on. The landscape of america is no longer white anglo-saxon, protastant, middle-class.
Take one good example, my mother once told me that when she was in high school back in the 1940s, girls who would get pregnant would be laughed at, teased and ridiculed. Most teenagers had no idea how one can really get pregnant and learned only from "street wise education" which most of the information they learned from other teenagers were wrong. Since they had no idea how they could get pregnant, it kept sexual relationships down to a minimum and there was FAR less unwanted pregnancies at that time.
That is really the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Streetwise education is where you get people thinking you can't get pregnant the first time you have sex, or that if the girl is on top she can't get pregnant. Or that the pull out method is a viable means of contraception. I would suggest to you it seemed less unwanted pregnancies because it was all kept hush hush. It was also fair for parents to demand their daughter drop out of school and marry the man who got her pregnant. That's not the case today. Society placed a different emphasis on sex back then. That I will agree with. However, most third graders can tell you what the term "bj" means. Is this right? Of course not, but what are you going to do with this generation of streetwise kids? Allow them to keep educating themselves?
Then come 1973, when the sex education bill was passed by Congress making it manitory for sex education to be taught to ALL students in the public schools. As a result, pregnancies shot up in all time high. Kids no longer feared sex. Not only that, venerial diseases from having multiple partners over time had risen as well.
1973 was a different generation all together. Free love ruled supreme. That had more of an effect on the children of that era than did sex education. Get real! Most schools now teach an abstinance approach first, but realizing kids are going to have sex, they at least give them options to protect themselves. Actually teen pregnancy was down for the first time since the early 80's. Studies now show, it's the kids who don't have sex education who are the most unprepared and likely to not understand the birth control options available to them. The streetwise education you talked about continues. Which is better, giving people a chance to make informed decisions about their sexuality, or having them go off and figure it out on their own? (Again I would like to see your statistics on venerial diseases and multiple partners.)
Today, kids walking around pregnant is just as normal as wearing today's fashion statements.
Have you ever been a pregnant teenage girl in high school? I am going to guess NO! So until then, keep your mouth shut on this one, it is very obviously a subject you know NOTHING about.
IMO, sex education should belong between the parents and their kids. Let them be scared of having sex, this will help keep the unwanted and costly pregnancy from occuring.
Again we are back to parental invovlement. I agree with you 100%. Parents should talk to their kids about sex. But they don't. Teachers can talk till they are blue in the face, and yet the stance a parent takes, and the amount of open dialouge can really make a difference. But again, this is the exception not the rule in parent child relationships.
I've already heard the arguments on both sides and quite frankly I am already convinced by seeing the evidence and judging the history of the school system that we now have just plain sucks.
I'd like to know which history you looked at because several of your statements have been false or misapplied, so I would counter you not so quickly claim yourself an expert until you spend some quaility time in a public high school again.
Oh, speaking of dumbing down, it gets worse as each generation of kids who graduate from HS are becoming teachers themselves and it gets worse and worse as each generation goes by. It's downright scary. Just read the newspapers, they speak for themselves.Thanks for your glowing recommendation. You haven't really proven yourself to be the bastian of intelligence in your post here today, but oh well. I won't dismiss you because of it, the way you dismiss edcuation. No instead I plan to do something about it, and plan to be a damn fine teacher. I care. I want change. Instead of pissing and moaning I am doing something to bring about change and educating myself about all aspects of education. I wish you would have done a little more research yourself before diving into this complex discussion.
