Photographer
Tony-S
Posts: 1460
Fort Collins, Colorado, US
Post hidden on Nov 27, 2014 02:36 pm Reason: violates rules Comments: SB is closed.
Photographer
L O C U T U S
Posts: 1746
Bangor, Maine, US
John Photography wrote:
Should home schooling require that the parent get some actual training in how to teach? In my opinion, no.
Photographer
Lightcraft Studio
Posts: 13682
Las Vegas, Nevada, US
Tony-S wrote:
If it weren't for Johnson County, a Kansas City suburb, the state would be even lower. I suppose one could go the other way just as well... take out other areas (perhaps Kansas City) and the overall state would appear to be higher.
Photographer
Jay Edwards
Posts: 18616
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US
Tony-S wrote:
I don't think a columnist from WalletHub is a very good place to get such information. A better source is EdWeek, and Kansas is down the list.
http://www.edweek.org/media/QualityCoun … elease.pdf Not sure why you are so quick to dismiss a seemingly impartial study which uses 12 factors to arrive at their conclusions. Do you have a beef with their methods or are you simply unhappy with their findings since they don't align with your views? It doesn't matter -- I've seen study results that put Kansas from #5 to #37 (right behind #36 California in your link, by the way) so these sorts of rankings vary based upon the criteria used. Feel free to use your study -- I'll stick with the other two...or three...
Photographer
Tony-S
Posts: 1460
Fort Collins, Colorado, US
Jay Edwards wrote:
Not sure why you are so quick to dismiss a seemingly impartial study which uses 12 factors to arrive at their conclusions. Do you have a beef with their methods or are you simply unhappy with their findings since they don't align with your views? Well, for one, the WalletHub report doesn't say what year they use from the NAEP data. The most recent complete dataset year is 2011, so is that the year they used? If so, one has to wonder how relevant it is to their conclusions since Brownback took office in 2011 and his $1.1 billion tax cut, which led to a 16.5% cut in K-12 funding, began in 2012. (Prior to Brownback, the Kansas governor was Kathleen Sebelius, 2003-2009, then Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson finished her term in 2011.) The methodology of the WalletHub work is not clear so it is difficult to make an assessment. I'm also not sure what their 12 criteria mean in terms of overall state performance. For example, their first criterion is:
Presence of Public Schools from one State in Top 700 Best US Schools: 1
When you look at that list of 700, there are 13 schools from Kansas. Seven are from Johnson County, two from Lawrence and one from Manhattan, one from Kansas City and one from Topeka. Twelve of these schools are in the largest class of schools in Kansas (6A); only the Topeka School (Sumner Academy of Arts and Science) is in a smaller group (5A). All of these areas spend more on education through higher local property taxes than other areas of the state. So, how much of a statistical bias does that cause in the WalletHub assessment? How does their performance compare to other areas of the state with similar or different mill levis? That's not spelled out, but I suspect it biases it quite substantially.
Photographer
Guss W
Posts: 10964
Clearwater, Florida, US
Photographer
Guss W
Posts: 10964
Clearwater, Florida, US
As for the standardized tests, did the samples come from ALL home-schooled students, or were the tests only for those who volunteered to take them? Not all states require testing of home-schooled students, while requiring it of all public schooled students, so results can be skewed.
Photographer
Guss W
Posts: 10964
Clearwater, Florida, US
In defense of home education, you have to keep in mind that not everyone is seeking a "bubble" world for their child.
Since there is not a standardized national system of education, some local districts just plain fail on their education attempts (particularly in poverty areas).
There are also people in special situations. I remember a brilliant couple with a bright child who was not thriving in the standard system because of an attention deficit problem. Home schooling was the solution for them, and the kid was probably one of those doing well on the college placement tests. I was surprised to find out about the availability of online classes from the state and the ability to take advantage of selective school facilities like labs.
So don't take the occasional "bunker mentality" person as a representative of the whole spectrum of home schoolers.
Model
fluffycakes
Posts: 446
Chicago, Illinois, US
No, it truly is a parents choice what they do with their children and I personally would not in a hundred years give my Kid over to a public school. Ever.
I was "home" schooled. By a Christian woman who taught her boys at home(in their 30s now) and had so many other parents who needed her to teach, she ended up having the school.
I'm currently in school doubling majors in education and business to open my own school, and I won't worry about where my kids will get their education. I won't worry that they won't be able to sign their own friggin names. It astounds me that people send their kids to public school. Astounds me.
Photographer
martin b
Posts: 2770
Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines
I guess I am still trying to figure out why is there a fight in USA about home schooling? I was home schooled one year of high school. It was because I was sick. I loved it. And it was only 4 hours a day, including homework.
I guess I don't have kids or I come from a different country. I don't see why its political. I understand why it is a passionate topic though, I think.
Photographer
Peach Jones
Posts: 6906
Champaign, Illinois, US
martin b wrote:
I guess I am still trying to figure out why is there a fight in USA about home schooling? I was home schooled one year of high school. It was because I was sick. I loved it. And it was only 4 hours a day, including homework.
I guess I don't have kids or I come from a different country. I don't see why its political. I understand why it is a passionate topic though, I think. It is political because some people must make everything political to further their agenda.
Model
Sandra Vixen
Posts: 1561
Las Vegas, Nevada, US
martin b wrote:
I guess I am still trying to figure out why is there a fight in USA about home schooling? I was home schooled one year of high school. It was because I was sick. I loved it. And it was only 4 hours a day, including homework. School/education is the #1 hot topic issue in America, at least according to my political science professors (not my words).
I think in the US, we want to "blaze our own trails" and "not be told what we should teach our kids". Those are the slogans that I hear all the time.
In my opinion, education isn't that great in the US, it's quite poor, but not terrible. The public schools are not that much better than an uneducated homeschooling parent/teacher. I really had to go aboard to get my education, there is just so much out there that most people in America, who were born here and never venture out, don't realize.
Photographer
Kincaid Blackwood
Posts: 23492
Los Angeles, California, US
Michael Bots wrote:
I seem to recall in freshman biology, when they wheeled in a beef heart for dissection that another student, a product of the public school system asked "What kind of animal is it from?". And the other kids from public schools probably rolled their eyes like you probably did.
Unless every kid from public schools made that comment then you have a case of someone who isn't that quick on the draw who happened to come from a public school. It's not indicative of public schools themselves. Kind of saying "Some men are tall. Some men are doctors. All pickles are turquoise."
I'm not really in favor of home-schooling and not because of the ability of the parent to cover the material. That's really low on my list of concerns. My main concern with home-schooling is it deprives a child of the education of life lessons that you get in a school environment.
It all has to do with the kid throwing spitballs and the jackass at the office.
That kid in the back of the class throwing spitballs? Students in his class will learn how to deal with him. That's real life for a second-grader. When they get to junior high and that dumbass from 5th period French causes a ruckus, they'll know how to deal with him, too, because they learned how to deal with the kid throwing spitballs in second grade. And when they get to high school and that bench-warming 4th string quarterback who tries to terrorize everyone? They can deal with him as well, just like they'll deal with that drunken lout at all the frat parties.
So when they get to that asshole at the office when they're grown, they know how to handle that jackass as well. Homeschooling a child robs them of the natural life lessons that you just can't get in the parental controlled environment without other students. Yeah, some kids in public schools are ill-behaved and problematic. So are a lot of adults. We have to deal with them, too. It's beyond the material covered in the curriculum. Homeschooling your kid and them putting them in sports a few times a week really isn't enough in my opinion.
Some kids turn out fine through homeschooling. Some do really well. But in my experience, the lion's share of home-schooled kids are way behind when it comes to social situations, and most of life is social situations. Most of the advocates of homeschooling like to say that the public school system is failing kids and standardized testing doesn't teach anything or assess intelligence. Home-school seems to only address how the material in a curriculum is presented to the child and, in so doing, misses the point regarding one of the more profound things you learn in a school... how to think on your feet, deal with people who are different than you and challenge your ideas.
|
