Unschooling

[JenyEliza]

At the risk of pissing you off and getting neg repped, I don't see the similarities between the lazy parents unschooling their kids and your daughter's public school. Sounds like her school has standards that she is choosing to ignore and now she is suffering the standard consequences. I'd be kicking my son's butt harder than the school is if he had seven tardies and receiving discipline from the school for it. Like my dad told me when I was in school. You get swats at school, I'll wear you out when you get home. I never got swats.

You know what? I'm normally like you. But...you should understand, she is one of a school of THREE THOUSAND high school kids. That's not *late to school* 7 times, that's late to individual classes *7* times over the entire school year.

They have 5 minutes between classes to get there AND...they gotta cover a campus the size of a small university to get there. There is NO WAY to get to class on time with that many kids and that large of a campus. On Parents Night, we were given our kids schedule to follow--complete with the allotted 5 minutes between class and *I* couldn't do it. I was late to every class.

I'm not going to punish her because 1) *I* totaled our car (she would have gone to Saturday School had I not killed the car) and 2) because *I* couldn't get to her classes on time to save my life, how do they expect her to?

Ridiculous to give her OUT OF SCHOOL SUSPENSION when there were so many other, better and more creative alternatives available to the lazy AP, who doesn't know how to use his own head and think out of the box.

THAT is what is wrong with our public schools these days.

Ridiculous.

If I were late to class on purpose to screw up in school, I'd get it from my Dad, sure. But if I were in your daughter's situation, he'd probably be giving those in the school swats on their hides!

Thanks! Yes, she didn't do this to be defiant. She just had trouble getting to her class(es) on 7 different occasions this whole school year.

I mean, you remember your high school hallways? Would you want to be tasked with pushing your way through the crowds every 90 minutes, with only 5 minutes to cover 3 acres and two buildings, upstairs and downstairs (no elevators--handicapped only are allowed to use them).

Geez. They need to give the kids 10 minutes between classes and the tardys would decrease (not go away, but they would go down, and the kids tardy would really be jerking off instead of getting to class--punish THEM).

School ends May 21. I know they're playing clean up with suspensions, detentions and Saturday school, but get a grip and use your head. Skipping Saturday school is NOT the same as bringing a gun to school or using drugs on campus, which SHOULD get you out of school suspension. Not going to Saturday School? Hello? What's wrong with In School Suspension? I really don't see why that wasn't acceptable.

/end rant

 

[JenyEliza]

JEEEEEZZZUUUSSSSS H. CHRIST on a pogo stick Jeny!!!! What kinda demon seeds you raising anyway?????

Good kids, actually!

It's just that there are 2,998 others on the same campus with them that won't get the hell out of their way between glasses.

1/2 of these kids want to hold hands, swap spit and carry on like Susan Lucci and Walt Willey and have inappropriate PDAs with the other 1/2 of the kids at school. Like they don't see enough of each other or something. )

Who here remembers the crowded halls of their high school as a Freshman? Any hands? Anyone? I know I do.

Ok.

Now, how many of you felt like a little minnow lost in a sea of great big fish?

I know I did.

How many of you EVER got stuck behind a traffic jam in the hallway you couldn't push, pull or batter you way through and it was THE only route to your next class? Once you pushed past the bottleneck, you discovered it was the "IT" couple putting on a show, playing tonsil hockey in the hallway before they got caught and split up by some Administrator?

Bonus question: Do you remember the name of your "IT" couple?

Now, how many of you went to high school with THREE THOUSAND (yes, that's 3,000) kids?

I didn't. My entire school population was 1,200. Period. My graduating class was 400. My twins graduation class is 950. Yes, 950....and since their school is only 2 years old, this is the first year they have a SENIOR class of only 100 kids.

Next year's freshman class is ..... 1,110 kids. Yessireee.........that's how many are projected to be moving up in the fall.

So......we very well stand to have a school of almost FOUR THOUSAND or so kids. It's only going to get worse and the Administration is going to have to make allowances for this, or there are gonna be a LOT more Saturday School assignments and a LOT more missed Saturday School assignments.

It's not like my daughter skipped SS on purpose, to be defiant. I totaled our car three weeks ago and we don't have a replacement yet. We have NO transportation. She told me about it and *I* told her I had no way to get her there and I would take care of it with the AP. I thought (bad move on my part) that he would be open to working out a different, more suitable, more easily achieveable punishment than Saturday School OR ISS. My mistake.

The man is a BOT. Unable to think for himself. Unable to think of creative punishments that get the message across firmly, yet fairly.

I had NO objection to her being punished for her tardys. I just had an objection to the way it was handled and the fact that being on OSS for this is now on her permanent record and could harm her chances at college opportunities and/or with the Navy (she aspires to a career as a Lady Squid).

She will have to explain this suspension away, and it's really really stupid. She didn't bring a gun or drugs to school. She didn't hit anyone. She didn't do anything bad--except have trouble negotiating a large campus, with some 2,500 or so much larger people who got in her way and delayed her arrival to class on 7 occasions this ENTIRE school year.

Not (in my estimation) a really horrible record for a FRESHMAN girl......oh, and for the record. She's on the VARSITY WRESTLING TEAM. She wrestles 103lbs--with the boys--and she could take out the AP who suspended her without breaking a sweat. He's a teeny tiny pipsqueak of an asshole on a power trip.

Fuck him, I say. Next time I'll let her put him in a Sleeper or a Full Nelson and be done with the problem. At least *then* she'd have earned her OSS.

/THE END.

Yup!... Says it right here in the camping and hiking manual..."Do Not Come Between A Momma Bear And Her Cubs!!!!"

AMEN...that's the most dangerous place in the world! And he was CRAZY to put himself in that place.

 

[rdean]

So all these kids will be coming around my desk tomorrow for "Parents - bring your kids to work day". I'm putting up a "chart". It will have the following list:

Art
Math
English
Creative writing
Geography
Science

We used computer models and studies in lighting and materials to design and make brochure quality art.

We use math all the time in engineering. From Pricing to, obviously, design.

We use creative writing and English for reports and studies.

60% of the business is overseas. It's great to know where people came from and who we are doing business with.

Science - for obvious reasons.

I will check them off one at a time. For those children whose parents hamstring them by saying, "You will never use what you learned in school", bullshit. The more complex your job is, the more you use.

When I talked about this before, those on the right called me "elitist" among the more "polite" names. Now is the time to get these children. While they are young enough that a little guidance can make a difference. Who wouldn't want their kid to have a job they would enjoy rather than one they only "suffer through"? Actually, when I read what those on the right have to say, I suspect that many want their children to "suffer". Why? Honestly, I don't know. Are they against education because A, they couldn't do it, or B, they didn't try?

 

[Samson]

Yup!... Says it right here in the camping and hiking manual..."Do Not Come Between A Momma Bear And Her Cubs!!!!"

yeah, says the same thing about wolves and assorted canines.....

 

[manifold]

I find it a little bit strange that Echo never weighed in on this one.

I wonder why?

 

[xsited1]

I find it a little bit strange that Echo never weighed in on this one.

I wonder why?

Because she doesn't like you. I don't like you either. You just watch yourself. We're wanted humans. I have the death sentence on twelve systems.

 

[rdean]

Have you heard about this crap?

A so called form of "homeschooling" where you don't teach the kids fuck all.

Brilliant!

Unschooling: Homeschooling Without Books, Tests or Classes - ABC News

A movement to raise more republicans?

Has rdean hacked your account? Cuz that is the kind of stupidity that he is renowned for.

And another lie.

 

[dblack]

One thing they are not being taught is self-discipline. Without that they will probably have difficulties in trying to achieve anything.

I suppose it's different for everyone, every family, and I agree with most of what you're saying about offering kids too many choices ("eat you breakfast and shut up!" ), but...

I found the above assumption to be incorrect. Our results were exactly the opposite, in fact.

When I went to public school, I did well in terms of grades, but self-discipline and the motivation to achieve anything were the most glaring omissions in my education. My own sons started out in public school but found it more and more dispiriting as they went and when they asked me if they could try 'unschooling', I was sympathetic. Without getting into the details, it worked out great and, contrary to the comment above, self-discipline and responsibility were the direct by-products of the freedom implicit in unschooling. My boys developed a sense of purpose and control concerning their education that I never had.

FWIW, the articled linked in the OP is a horrible representation of what unschooling is all about.

 

[Polk]

As if this is any different from people homeschooling their kids to teach them Jesus rode a dinosaur.

 

[dblack]

As if this is any different from people homeschooling their kids to teach them Jesus rode a dinosaur.

???

 

[HUGGY]

Unschooling

Is that anything like hiring a blind deaf mute as a babysitter?

 

[Dabs]

As if this is any different from people homeschooling their kids to teach them Jesus rode a dinosaur.

Dinosaur hell, He had himself a Harley back then

 

[psikeyhackr]

Unschooling : How Good Morning America Got It All Wrong

Lee Stranahan: Unschooling : How Good Morning America Got It All Wrong <-- Link

The media is about causing as much confusion as the educational system.

psik

 

[Bones]

Good on them. Public education just teaches kids how to be good unthinking worker bees.