• IamSparticles
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    2 months ago

    You make a lot of blanket statements without having any actual data to back any of it up. Home schooling CAN be a very positive experience, but it can also be a dumpster fire with little or no oversight. The truth is that we have very little data about the academic performance or even welfare of home-schooled children in the US because in many states they aren’t required to meet even basic curriculum or assessment goals. The only information we do have is largely coming from providers of home schooling curriculums who are motivated to show positive outcomes.

    I’m glad it worked out well for you, but if you haven’t watched the Shiny Happy People documentary series about the Duggar family and the IBLP (who have millions of families following their curriculum), you ought to check it out.

    • lennybird@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Completely fair to be skeptical, but I’d like to point out a couple of things:

      1. Generally-speaking and in this very thread, criticism of homeschooling is nothing but blanket-statements without any data to back claims up. I’d only ask that we don’t resign ourselves to double-standards.

      2. If you’re concerned about any claims I made or want specific data, I’m happy to look up the source (frankly just lazy in the moment). As with most topics, the problem isn’t data, but preconceived ideas / prejudice blinding people from wanting to acknowledge said data.

      3. Yes, that’s the nature of wide variety of things, including Public Schooling itself, ironically! Public school can be a dumpster fire for many kids (side-note, my wife was an extroverted straight-A’s Honors, AP, extracurricular student in high school and has come to a similar conclusion).

      Yes, Duggars suck. Yes, Turpin family suck. But remind me how many school shooters there have been and what was the origin of their education, again?

      I have no problem with there being oversight. In the state I grew up I still had to do testing and most importantly be evaluated by a certified teacher at the end of the school year just to track progress. There was of course some wiggle-room to specialize one’s education according to their environment / kid’s needs, which is where this excels.

      Naturally I have a more unique perspective than most because being in the deep minority of those homeschooled, I’m also privy to knowing far more homeschoolers personally than the average publicly-schooled kid. At the same time, being surrounded by the majority who’ve been public-schooled has allowed me to compare-and-contrast the two groups. Given differences in maturity, confidence in my own capacity to set my child up for success (not to mention it being easier than ever with the internet & libraries), the chaos of public school and what is essentially a system set up to let the blind lead the blind and practically encourages bullying… I’m choosing to homeschool my kids as well — keeping religious faith out of it, of course.

      The Columbine shooters were publicly-schooled.

      The Oxford school shooter was publicly-schooled;

      The Sandy Hook shooter was publicly-schooled until 16. Etc.

      … So why are comment threads in those instances never espousing, “public school is child abuse!”?

      And therein lies the double-standard. So if we peel it back, it’s lack understanding of the topic, and a matter of personal self-esteem being attacked because that would suggest either they as students or parents didn’t make the right decision, and nobody likes criticism.

      Is homeschooling for everybody? No. But is public schooling? Absolutely not.