Top 3 contestants in National spelling Bee are home-schooled. Comments?

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TO BEE OR NOT TO BEE

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), June 01, 2000

Answers

Home skoolin is reackshunary. It duzent giv kidz good soshal skillz and consentraits on fuddy dud stuff like reedin and cyfrin. Stoopid stuff. We needz trayned teechurz frum hour ecksullunt teechur ed skoolz to show kidz how to hav good soshul skillz and how to put on condumbz.

-- (MrChips@NEA.kneejerk), June 01, 2000.

What I have known for a long time. Children in public education are being dumbed down. On prepose I don't know? But, they are being dumbed down.

-- ET (bneville@zebra.net), June 01, 2000.

Comments?

Maybe it's easier to teach one kid to spell than a whole gang of them.

-- (i.guess@hell.i.don't.know), June 01, 2000.


ROFLMAO Mr Chips!

-- Aunt Bee (SheriffAndy@Mayberry.com), June 02, 2000.

Is cyber-ed coming?

notHarvard.com

-- (nemesis@awol.com), June 02, 2000.



Just goes to show home-schooled kids should be banned from participating in the spelling bee ;-)

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), June 02, 2000.


I'm not convinced this means anything, Lars. Some kids get a good education in a public school, and some kids get a good education from home-schooling. You might note that George's father is highly educated. I suspect his mother is as well. You might also note that George lost the geography contest to a public school student:

"``My mom and dad taught me everything,'' said George, whose earned $15,000 with his second-place finish in the National Geography Bee, also in Washington. In that contest, George lost to a public school student when he could only name one of the three largest sections of Denmark. The winner named all three."

I know several folks who homeschool and they do a great job. They, in turn, know others who CLAIM to homeschool, but actually just keep their kids home from school. Had my mom homeschooled us, we'd still be wondering how to do 2nd grade math.

I don't think the public school system has "dumbed down" America's children. Education always did begin in the home, IMO. It CONTINUES in the home. It's part of the parental responsibility to keep track of each phase of their child's learning, including WHAT they're learning, IF they're learning, and to provide supplementary material to reinforce what's been introduced. This can be done at home during school hours via homeschooling, after school, weekends, during school breaks, and ESPECIALLY on vacation.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), June 02, 2000.


Home schooling results depend on the parents, obviously. And the kids.

I imagine these three kids would have done just as well had they gone to public school.

-- (retired@nd.happy), June 02, 2000.


Anita, it's kind of hard to follow the progress of a child on any subject on which a syllabus doesn't even get issued. This is the reality of quite a lot of school districts throughout the country and it's even happening in the private schools. I know. I have a doctor friend fighting the fight over this same issue. Books, if available are often shared and many times are in the sole custody of the teacher the entire semester. There is no accountability for the teachers because there is no measure of progress you or any parent can check. Teacher goals are a joke and it is glaringly evident in the academic test results that *Washington, We Have A Problem*.

The issue of dumbing down has been addressed by a number of authors, many of whom have been themselves former educators or "in the system" of public education. If you all truly want to understand, rather than issue *un-informed* opinions on the topic, may I suggest you do a little reading on the subject...

"The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America - A Chronological Paper Trail" by Charlotte Thompson Iserbyt (former senior level staff member at the US Dept. of Education)

"Dumbing Us Down : The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling" by John Taylor Gatto (former NY state schoolteacher of the year)

"Cloning of the American Mind : Eradicating Morality through Education" by B. K. Eakman

"The Whole Language/Obe Fraud : The Shocking Story of How America Is Being Dumbed Down by Its Own Education System" by Samuel L. Blumenfeld

-- OR (orwelliator@biosys.net), June 02, 2000.


OR:

I've never experienced a situation [and my three were public-school educated, as was I] wherein a book wasn't available for home study. I told my kids straight off to bring home every book they used in school EVERY day. Had they come home with NONE, I would have been at the school demanding to see the books. As it turned out, I could determine what field of study was the current concentration, and provide [from the library] supporting material to either confirm or dispute the words written in the text. We went over this material together.

I'm quite familiar with the studies. I continue to purport that education begins and continues in the home, and that parents that choose to not participate in the process are more at fault than the educational system itself. The schools didn't ASK people to reproduce and fill their chairs. They'd hold their "sessions" even if nobody came.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), June 02, 2000.



The sample size is too small to reach a conclusion. Given that we can speculate.

1. It is possible that individual attention in a non-disruptive environment has a great advantage; particularly when the teacher is specially devoted to the pupil.

Alternatively

2. it is possible that home schoolers are treated to a mechanized schedule of rote memorization. The perfect training for a spelling bee; but not so good for life.

Hard to tell when we are talking about so few people.

Best wishes,,,,

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), June 03, 2000.


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