Re-education Camps in America

[jillian]

I was very, very skeptical of home schooling going in for a very long list of reasons. As it played out, most of my concerns were unfounded. One thing I did find out before we made the move was that I completely over estimated the amount of learning that was occurring in school.

As it turned out, our daughter did exceptionally well when she re-entered the public school system. She was in Advanced Placement classes across the board, even in her worst subjects. It wasn't until she got all that good public school socialization she was missing out on that her grades started dropping.

I'd be interested in hearing what your disagreement is about home schooling. Unlike my wife, I'm not a big advocate. I think it isn't right for most people. I do think it is the right choice for some people or families, because it is really a family choice.

Well, congratulations to you and your wife on doing such a good job. I think that's great and it certainly isn't my intention to detract from your success.

I think my objection to homeschooling has mostly to do with what I perceive as the attitude of the parents. It seems to me that most parents who make such a choice do so for dogmatic reasons having nothing to do with actual education. As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts on this thread, most, not all parents who homeschool are either fundamentalist christians who don't want their kids to know things like that the earth is more than 6,000 years old (or that gay kids aren't freaks) or what they call "new age" types. I think those are pretty bad reasons.

To be fair, my experience with the NYC Public School System has been a very good one. That isn't to say it's been perfect and I came close to putting my son in private school for middle school. It turned out I didnt need to and he'd be missing out on an amazing school experience if I had. My view may be colored by the fact that my son is in G&T classes since Kindergarten and kids at the higher levels get more resources and more attention. I love the fact that he now gets to work on a school newspaper and has the opportunity to participate in the science olympiad and is part of a model UN program and is also learning spanish and saxophone in addition to his regular subjects, which he also loves. Had he been homeschooled, he wouldn't have had those opportunities. I love that he comes home excited by what he's learned every single day and loves his teachers. Homeschooled kids may get the book learning, but that is only part of the experience going to school is supposed to bring you.

Those are my objections to homeschooling. Again, kudos for the job you and your wife did. In no way is it my intent to denigrate your succss.

 

[Amanda]

I think my objection to homeschooling has mostly to do with what I perceive as the attitude of the parents. It seems to me that most parents who make such a choice do so for dogmatic reasons having nothing to do with actual education.

Just out of curiosity, how many homeschooling families have you known?

Homeschooled kids may get the book learning, but that is only part of the experience going to school is supposed to bring you.

I don't know anything about NY, but I'd say the kids I knew that were homeschooled did alright when it comes to real world experience. Probably better than most of us that went to public school, but then again, Kansas is a sort of hands-on place.

 

[PoliticalChic]

California college student: Terror is the New Communism
by Dennis Prager
Tuesday, January 27, 2009

At most universities, communism is a non-evil, indeed, largely a non-issue. The most enslaving and murderous movement in history is almost never taught as such. When communism is mentioned at all, it is usually solely in order to show how vile anti-communists were. Thus, as little as students may know about McCarthyism, most students far more readily identify it with evil than they do communism. Indeed, more could probably identify Joseph McCarthy than Joseph Stalin.

Nor is this a matter of students not being taught to label anything as evil. They have no problem labeling Nazism, Fascism, George W. Bush, slavery, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, xenophobia, and tobacco companies as evil. It’s just that they won’t label communism as such.

Does one in 10.000 students know of the communist terror-famine that took about 6 million Ukarainian lives. How many know about the communist Pol Pot, who butchered nearly one-third of his fellow Cambodians? Or how many innocents were murdered in the Gulag Archipelago (or could even identify it)? Or that China’s communist tyrant Mao Zedong killed about 60 million of his fellow Chinese? Or that Communist North Korea is essentially a concentration camp in the guise of a country?

The answer to all these questions is very few

.

Click below link for full article.

Dennis Prager : California college student: Terror is the New Communism - Townhall.com

 

[dilloduck]

good article---and all Godless people I might add.

 

[PoliticalChic]

good article---and all Godless people I might add.

It is too sad for words.