Hi LittleBit,

I came across this article yesterday (about parent involvement in a writing program at a school). It makes me just shake my head and wonder how parents can be so ignorant of how the schools have brainwashed parents into doing teachers' jobs for them, without pay or benefits.

What's more, if the schools expect you to put in this much extra time above and beyond the school day, I can just see the wheels turning in some more intelligent parents' heads. "Gee, maybe I should homeschool if I have to teach them myself anyway...."

http://www.columbian.com/02232004/clark_co/120160.html

The link will disappear in a week or so, but I'd be interested in your opinions.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), February 24, 2004

Answers

Yeah this is part of an expanding problem that I have with the public schools. More and more schools are sending children home with reams of homework. Schools are currently filling children's heads with so much cultural education and very little of the three R's. So in order to actually teach the three R's they send the children home with hours of homework, and in the process dividing the family even further by keeping children from ever having quality time with their parents. As far as I am concerned this is just an increasing example of state control over children. Some parents have actually been threatened with lawsuits for defying school homework demands. As far as I am concerned the "State" is over-stepping it's bounds. Teachers need to stop indoctrinating students and start teaching them. Parents should NOT be expected to educate their children themselves so that teachers can teach them about social concerns that have little to do with actual knowledge and more to do with promoting a marxist agenda.

Little Bit Farm

-- Little Bit Farm (littlebit@brightok.net), February 24, 2004.

I am a lot less concerned about political issues (I don't know anyone whose political views haven't changed as they've gotten older, especially once they've had to earn a living) than I am with the "dumbing down" of the curriculum, the emphasis on "self-esteem" at the expense of education, and the endless fundraising drives conducted during school hours via "fun" assemblies where they promise children cheap toys in exchange for their (and their parents') labor.

I haven't read anything about parents being sued over homework, although I have read of parents going to school board meetings and complaining about their kids getting too much. The cases I have read about, enough people complain, something gets done. In many cases, I think the problem is just the opposite--teachers don't assign homework because it means more work for them, unless they have paid aides/flunkies and/or volunteer parents/flunkies to grade papers, set up projects, etc. Homework hasn't been too bad just yet, but then I wouldn't have any problems pointing out to any teacher that while my child may be in school, I, however, am not, and feel no compunction to do these assignments whatsoever.

I don't know about how it was when you were in school, but when I went to school the only time parents were in the classrooms were for 1) Back to School and Open House evenings 2) field trip chaperones, or 3) you were in BIG trouble. Otherwise, parents pretty much stayed out of things because teachers were professionals. Our teachers did pretty much everything without any outside help.

Although I have to laugh, because every time someone says "teachers are professionals", I ask in return, "If that is the case why is it necessary to have ONLY a BA or a BS degree in ANY subject in order to be a substitute teacher in any school district? We don't allow that for doctors or lawyers...." That usually shuts them up right then and there.

By the way, have you read "The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home" by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer? It is an interesting book, although they frown on "unschooling" or any idea of "child-directed" learning. Also, they printed some student's homeschooling portfolio that she submitted to a college, and if it becomes the norm, homeschooling for many could become a lot more difficult.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), February 25, 2004.

"Although I have to laugh, because every time someone says "teachers are professionals", I ask in return, "If that is the case why is it necessary to have ONLY a BA or a BS degree in ANY subject in order to be a substitute teacher in any school district? We don't allow that for doctors or lawyers...." That usually shuts them up right then and there." GT

GT, you might find it even funnier to know that in some states all you need is a high school diploma to be a substitute teacher :-).

"By the way, have you read "The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home" by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer? It is an interesting book, although they frown on "unschooling" or any idea of "child-directed" learning. Also, they printed some student's homeschooling portfolio that she submitted to a college, and if it becomes the norm, homeschooling for many could become a lot more difficult." GT

I'm not sure what you mean, exactly. Do you mean if portfolios become the norm it will be more difficult?

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), February 25, 2004.

Hi Terry,

Really? Only a high school diploma for substitute teaching? Wow!

The particular portfolio this book listed was probably more thorough than any public school teacher's record. I mean, this thing went 'way overboard as far as an educational record. Do public school students submit such a record to get into college? No, they don't (well, not for most colleges and universities), so why should homeschooled students?

Also, unless you're bound and determined to go all four years at the same school, it's a well-known fact that if your grades are good at a community college (which generally admits "anyone who can benefit from instruction") you can transfer after two years. And, if you don't want to submit a homeschool high school diploma, take and ace the GED, the California High School Proficiency Exam, or any other high school equivalency test. Even the SAT is not required at all 4-year colleges.

When I say the portfolio could make it more difficult to homeschool, I mean it in the sense that this person went so over the top with this that you never know when some district will insist on the same level of paperwork records for everyone else, which could well discourage people from homeschooling, which is sad.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), February 26, 2004.

Meant to add to the above that once you have any grades from a community college, your high school records become relatively unimportant, so a homeschool high school diploma or a GED, or a regular school diploma, it no longer matters at that point.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), February 26, 2004.