Wow, that's really hostile.
I'll avoid anecdotal evidence and just say: you don't know anything about how people homeschool, and if you did, you would understand that your point sounds clever, but has nothing to do with reality.
Here's the thing-- "homeschooling" is a misnomer. We leave the house ALL the time. My kids spend time with conservative Christians and progressive Christians and Pagans and atheists and scientists and farmers and writers and musicians. Their friends live lives that are dramatically different from ours, and different families have different social circles, so new ideas have a way in.
If they went to school, they'd spend almost all their time with one teacher and the same 20 kids in the same room EVERY DAY. If everyone they know is doing the same things they are, where does a variety of ideas come from?
2. Ideal curriculum. Not interested in defining an ideal curriculum - thats impossible. However a minimum standard should be easy to define (i.e. by grade 8 your child should be able to do A, B and C)
Read some George Orwell. Specifically Animal Farm.
What happens to schools if they fail to get all their students to meet the "minimum standard"? Do they get shut down and send all the kids home?
At least they will be exposes to a variety of other ideas, and hopefully be able to decide which is right and wrong.
Why do you believe there is a wider variety of ideas available to school kids than homeschooled kids?
Schools espouse a philosophy, and what makes it insidious is that most graduates believe that what they have been taught is universally "true" when in fact there's no such thing as an unbiased view of history, and many of the other "facts" they've been taught are really opinions or ideas. Look at how Creationism is weaseling into public school classrooms and being treated as an equal to real science. It's chilling, and the kids in those classrooms have no choice, they must swallow the information provided and spit it back on the test. The vast majority of homeschooled kids have substantially more intellectual freedom.
I have no problem with homeschooling, but there needs to be a check and balance to ensure that the kids are being taught the same or better than kids in a regular school. Maybe there should be standardized testing, and recommended curriculum, for all schools including home schools.
1. Define "better taught". There's no way to prove whether a specific child would do better in school or homeschool, because they can only do one at a time. Many parents homeschool because their kid has special needs, either giftedness or learning disabilities or both, and so comparing their individual test results with the "average" school child in their district is meaningless.
2. There is no agreement among educators about what the "ideal" curriculum would be. Public schools choose curriculum in a highly politicized process (textbooks are BIG business, with a lot of money at stake) and many people homeschool in order to avoid the cr@ppy curriculum their district has selected (this is one of my motivations-- my kids will not be taught fuzzy math). Frankly, outside a formal classroom environment, it's not clear that curriculum is necessary at all, especially in the early grades.
Many states do require homeschoolers to submit to standardized testing. There's no evidence it improves outcomes, and overseeing homeschoolers takes money away from public school classrooms.
Otherwise what is to stop someone from brainwashing their kids under the guise of homeschooling?
'What if's make lousy policy, and schools are rife with attempts at brainwashing. Go read some John Taylor Gatto.
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Wow, that's really hostile. I'll avoid anecdotal evidence and just say: you don't know anything about how people homeschool, and if you did, you would understand that your point sounds clever, but has nothing to do with reality.
Here's the thing-- "homeschooling" is a misnomer. We leave the house ALL the time. My kids spend time with conservative Christians and progressive Christians and Pagans and atheists and scientists and farmers and writers and musicians. Their friends live lives that are dramatically different from ours, and different families have different social circles, so new ideas have a way in. If they went to school, they'd spend almost all their time with one teacher and the same 20 kids in the same room EVERY DAY. If everyone they know is doing the same things they are, where does a variety of ideas come from?
1. Better taught - more then the minimum standard
2. Ideal curriculum. Not interested in defining an ideal curriculum - thats impossible. However a minimum standard should be easy to define (i.e. by grade 8 your child should be able to do A, B and C)
Read some George Orwell. Specifically Animal Farm.
What happens to schools if they fail to get all their students to meet the "minimum standard"? Do they get shut down and send all the kids home?
At least they will be exposes to a variety of other ideas, and hopefully be able to decide which is right and wrong.
Why do you believe there is a wider variety of ideas available to school kids than homeschooled kids?
Schools espouse a philosophy, and what makes it insidious is that most graduates believe that what they have been taught is universally "true" when in fact there's no such thing as an unbiased view of history, and many of the other "facts" they've been taught are really opinions or ideas. Look at how Creationism is weaseling into public school classrooms and being treated as an equal to real science. It's chilling, and the kids in those classrooms have no choice, they must swallow the information provided and spit it back on the test. The vast majority of homeschooled kids have substantially more intellectual freedom.
I have no problem with homeschooling, but there needs to be a check and balance to ensure that the kids are being taught the same or better than kids in a regular school. Maybe there should be standardized testing, and recommended curriculum, for all schools including home schools.
1. Define "better taught". There's no way to prove whether a specific child would do better in school or homeschool, because they can only do one at a time. Many parents homeschool because their kid has special needs, either giftedness or learning disabilities or both, and so comparing their individual test results with the "average" school child in their district is meaningless. 2. There is no agreement among educators about what the "ideal" curriculum would be. Public schools choose curriculum in a highly politicized process (textbooks are BIG business, with a lot of money at stake) and many people homeschool in order to avoid the cr@ppy curriculum their district has selected (this is one of my motivations-- my kids will not be taught fuzzy math). Frankly, outside a formal classroom environment, it's not clear that curriculum is necessary at all, especially in the early grades. Many states do require homeschoolers to submit to standardized testing. There's no evidence it improves outcomes, and overseeing homeschoolers takes money away from public school classrooms.
Otherwise what is to stop someone from brainwashing their kids under the guise of homeschooling?
'What if's make lousy policy, and schools are rife with attempts at brainwashing. Go read some John Taylor Gatto.