04-30-2009, 08:49 PM
Moristans Wrote:Quote:As for the competition argument, that's a load of crap. Why would competition only reside in a classroom?
In a nutshell, I agree. I don't think that K-12 education needs to be a place that makes an effort to weed kids out. That's going to happen anyways. What public education can't do is take the time to understand each and every kid that goes through the system. A homeschooled kid gets what every public school teacher would love to be able to accomplish in their classroom, the kind of personalized experience that allows every kid to have the best possible chance for success.
Thats what their parents want, and they loose out on a myriad of other experiences. As a victim of home schooling I would never reccomend it to anyone who wasn't in a situation where the public schools were just awful and the private schools were ridiculously expensive.
Home school can't offer what teenagers need, some ability to go out on their own without their parents while still being relatively safe. Being in speech and debate was what turned me from the introvert that homeschool made me into the arrogant prick I am today, and goddamnit, you should want your kid to be an arrogant prick as well! And that doesn't happen if you leave them in home school, they just learn to make macaroni pictures of jesus.