News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form... by rando_dfad on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @11:13AM (#38099315)
The biggest US public school horror story is how we have taken a great instrument of social progress and decimated it.

Public schools in countries where schools are treated well have phenomenal success.

US schooling has been taken over (at the level of the state legislatures; blame goes to state Congress not to the schools) by companies selling "achievement" test. And also by charter schools whose success is based on only selecting high-achieving problem-free children?

Why do teachers say they are nothing but babysitters? Maybe because they aren't allowed to teach, to inspire love of learning in the children? And their classroom budgets are so tight they buy school supplies out of their own pockets, while living on an income that is close to poverty level? While facing felony charges for having the wrong book in the shelf behind their desk???

When things like "Creme de la Creme Early Learning Center of Excellence" are real institutions instead of something from a comic dystopia, you know you have a problem.

Re:Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form... by qerti on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @11:42AM (#38099808)
“While facing felony charges for having the wrong book in the shelf behind their desk???”

Excuse me for not wanting middle schoolers taught how to use gay hookup apps.

Re:Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form... by lawlessone on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @12:40PM (#38100896)
"Excuse me for not wanting middle schoolers taught how to use gay hookup apps."

Just the gay ones?

Re:Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form... by vb6sp6 on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @12:06PM (#38100276)
No one was teaching this. It was a book in a library.
Re:Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form... by lawlessone on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @12:39PM (#38100883)
I agree with you but he is arguing in bad faith.

"think of the children" is just the vehicle bigotry. Notice he isn't complaining about straight hook-up apps.

You don't need a need a book to these apps.

Re:Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form... by sastaha on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @01:28PM (#38101651)
"Notice he isn't complaining about straight hook-up apps."

Homosexuality is just really disgusting to a lot of people who don't want their children exposed to it. If you also have to remove books about Tinder so gays don't feel singled out, you can do that too.

Re:Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form... by lawlessone on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @01:52PM (#38102084)
Anecdotally one of the people protesting these books in my area is well known for being a hyper religious wife beater who is no longer allowed see his children.

The rest are a diverse un-hirable band of racists, anti vaxxers and people that fake injuries for money.

I'm not at all conservative but i can see not all conservatives are like this. This is a recent phenomenon.

Re:Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form... by sastaha on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @02:04PM (#38102280)
I went to a gay pride rally last month. I was amazed at how physically attractive and psychologically healthy the attendees were.
Re:Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form... by magicink81 on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @12:21PM (#38100526)
I believe you are correct that public schools are instruments of social progress, but to assume that this is good for the students is a terrible assumption. A society may "progress" at the great expense of the people it's institutions purport to care for.

By definition progress is movement in a direction. Who set the direction? Toward which destination? To achieve which aim and goals? Who benefits? To assume it is the students, the teachers, or "the people" broadly, is a naive and destructive assumption.

Social progress by one definition might include the production of obedient soldiers and factory workers. It might include the limiting of cultural diversity, creating a common core of cultural conformity and homogenization among the youth a country populated by recent immigrants. It might include training the youth to accept authority without question.

If one is interested enough to learn about the actual thinking of the founders and maintainers of public school institutions in the United States and around the world, you can read what they published of their thinking for yourself. John Taylo Gatto unearthed much of this thinking and shared it with the world in his books and lectures.

Here is one transcript you may find enlightening:

https://smarthomeschooler.com/blog/2021/5/28/gatto-six-purpo...

Re:Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form... by sastaha on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @01:16PM (#38101454)
If you look at actual numbers, school funding has never been higher.

"Public schools in countries where schools are treated well have phenomenal success."

How do you measure such success? There's standardized testing but you don't seem to like that.

Re:Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form... by bozhark on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @05:40PM (#38105730)
Where do you think those funds go?
Re:Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form... by yummypaint on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @07:06PM (#38106655)
If you look at actual numbers, spending on education in the US is dwarfed by other spending (such as defense) to an extent that it's inconsistent with our stated values.
Re:Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form... by sirspacey on Wednesday November 01, 2023 @09:46PM (#38107945)
The narrative of social progress, unfortunately, is a fantasy.

Public schools were created in the US to indoctrinate catholic kids - the “unwashed masses of Irish papists.” It was an oppressive institution from the start. They were designed with the same architecture as incarceration systems from France and to this day are mainly serviced by the same companies that service our prisons.

There have been so, so many attempts to recast public schools in the image of our aspirations - most notably Teach for America. I count many of their graduates among my edtech founder friends.

For those of us that have given a portion of our lives to improve these systems, the reality is heartbreaking. Public education is a callous political football whose primary purpose is to make sure children are being babysat so their parents can work. Genuine progress can be made but will be snuffed out by the well oiled grinder for government funding and political promotions.

Administrators determine our children’s future, not teachers, parents, or children. Any of those three would be better.

Yes, there are bright spots. But the vast majority of school systems destroy the aspirations of well-intentioned, newly educated teachers within a couple years. Most teachers leave the profession after less than a decade in it.

The best researchers I’ve found have all reached a stunningly simple conclusion on why better funding does not improve outcomes - students are living in intense poverty. Many students are homeless. Many have no safe place to sleep.

The reason homeschooling is rising is because intelligent, caring parents can give their child a better education simply by not subjecting them to the bizarre social experience that has become most public schools.

The exception to that rule is the proof of what matters - a community of parents/guardians who come together and support a mutual learning center with caring educators.

Co-op, private, public, they all work when you have that.