Those Open-minded Liberals Skewer a Lifestyle Choice. Again.
Every once in a while those liberals let out their true colors, which are decidedly NOT the rainbow shades of tolerance and diversity but the rigid black-and-whites of conformity.
Be prepared:
1. It begins as an opinion piece about Rick Santorum from the New York Times.
2. It quickly veers to the subject of homeschooling.
3. It trots out every ill-informed prejudice known to man.
4. It's by everyone's favorite education scholar and political scientist Dick Cavett.
5. It's dripping with bile and sarcasm yet naturally gets a hearty 'huzzah' from the Times's comment corps.
Teaching is an art and a profession requiring years of training. Where did the idea come from that anybody can do it? How many parents can intuit how to do it? (Pardon unconscious rhyme there.) My parents were teachers and the thought of home-schooling sent them rolling before they were in their graves. Especially when parents, complaining of their kids’ schooling, wrote in report card responses things like “I am loathe to critacize…”; “my childs consantration”; “normalicy”; “my daughter’s abillaties”; “her examatian grades”; “she should of done better”; “greater supervizion,” etc., into the night.
To deny kids the adventure and socialization of going to school, thereby missing out on the activities, gossip, projects, dances, teams, friendships and social skills developed — to deny kids this is shortsighted and cruel. I think of the mournful home-school kid watching his friends board the school bus, laughing, gossiping and enjoying all that vital socialization we call schooldays.
I guess only certain alternative lifestyles meet the approval of the liberal intelligentsia.
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Comments:
May '10
Re: Those Open-minded Liberals Skewer a Lifestyle Choice. Again.
I clicked over and gave it a cursory glance, then figured it wasn't worth the opportunity cost to read the thing.
Aug '11
Re: Those Open-minded Liberals Skewer a Lifestyle Choice. Again.
I too am a teacher, at the university level. My children were homeschooled K-9. With the boxed curricula and teacher's manual the students tend to teach themselves. The parent/teacher is there when they run into difficulties. It is not at all the same as teaching to a classroom.
Nov '11
Re: Those Open-minded Liberals Skewer a Lifestyle Choice. Again.
You beat me to it. I just happened to see the same article and thought Ricochet is going to want to see this.
Re: Those Open-minded Liberals Skewer a Lifestyle Choice. Again.
Thanks, everyone, for your comments. Your thoughts echo mine, except you all presented them much more eloquently. Thank you! I was steamed and demoralized when I read this piece and then glanced at the comments. One of the most curious things about my homeschooling journey has been the discovery of the many and varied criticisms of me, as a homeschooling parent, and the idea as a whole. Honestly, I didn't think people cared about homeschoolers all that much. I figured people would think/say, "Good riddance. Good luck, weirdo." And I was fine with that. But there are these new lines of thought, which have shocked me. Apparently, homeschooling parents are "arrogant" for thinking they can teach all subjects. We think we "love our kids more than other parents" because we keep them home while others send their kids to school. I am content to deny my children friends and happiness so that I can appease my own fear of society or Satan ... or some other monster. I could never, EVER have imagined these critiques because they seem so absurd. 1/2
Sep '11
Re: Those Open-minded Liberals Skewer a Lifestyle Choice. Again.
Twice in one paragraph he extolls the virtues of...gossip!
May '10
Re: Those Open-minded Liberals Skewer a Lifestyle Choice. Again.
Just curious; were the parent who wrote those comments public school graduates? How about it Mr. Cavett?
Re: Those Open-minded Liberals Skewer a Lifestyle Choice. Again.
I was an elementary school teacher for more than 8 years. I love teachers! I think, for the most part, they try hard, they love their jobs, and they are open to constructive criticism. But to claim that their skill level is like that of a dentist or nurse is absurd. In which districts are teachers given, for example, in depth tests in world geography, grammar, writing and editing, general science, and world and American history? I took teacher exams in NYS several years ago. The very, VERY few content questions were obscure and confusing, and I guessed at many of them. The essay was open-ended and asked me to be persuasive about a topic of my choice. Another multiple choice test asked about classroom theory. I passed easily. I also got straight As in my graduate school classes, mostly because I followed directions, went to class, participated, proofread my papers, and read assignments. If a doctor told you this about their medical school classes, wouldn't you think twice about how much information they actually *know* and how much talent they actually have? My results told nothing about my future success at, determination about, and enjoyment of teaching.
Edited on February 26, 2012 at 3:10pmFeb '12
Re: Those Open-minded Liberals Skewer a Lifestyle Choice. Again.
Ursula,
Thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts, and I hope you will do so again.
My experience also is that others find homeschoolers threatening and react against it immediately, sometimes fiercely. Manners disappear and very rude, blunt, arrogant, and downright illogical questions are asked (not unlike the reaction of some working women to homemakers).
It is always reassuring to know that others are braving the same opposition and seeing the same folly.
Feb '12
Re: Those Open-minded Liberals Skewer a Lifestyle Choice. Again.
Cavett's piece is drivel.
But as a homeschooling parent, I have to agree that not everyone is up to the task. Not, however, because they are not trained in the "art and profession" of teaching. My wife quit a tenured position at a state university to teach our kids. We enrolled them in a charter homeschool that provides the K-12 curriculum, much of which is excellent. In the first years parents were largely on their own, which went well for us, but some parents just were not able to teach their kids. Students at charter schools take the same standardized tests as other public schools. Its numbers were only average or less, indicating that homeschooling is not inherently academically superior, even with a superior curriculum. Much still depends on the teachers. In an effort to drive up test scores, the school has hired more certified teachers to lead online classes, and relegated parents to "learning coaches." The certified teachers are often as poorly prepared and educated as the parents Cavett mocks. My wife, like Dr. Rahe, was never taught to teach. But she knew the material, and she took the time required. For us, it worked well.
Apr '11
Re: Those Open-minded Liberals Skewer a Lifestyle Choice. Again.
Our kids' teachers sometimes asked if they were home-schooled. It was meant as a compliment.
Mar '11
Re: Those Open-minded Liberals Skewer a Lifestyle Choice. Again.
Just saw this. Let me make sure I understand. My father was an amateur boxer, so I would be a great trainer. How pathetic.
Oct '10
Re: Those Open-minded Liberals Skewer a Lifestyle Choice. Again.
My mother has lots of stories of when she decided to homeschool us. A particularly loathsome principal had the guts to make this same argument, followed up by "besides, it's not fair for home-schooled children to get a better education than everyone else."
That happened more than once. Public educators hate homeschoolers for taking money out of the system, but they envy the parent's teaching capacity, too.
Edited on February 26, 2012 at 11:15pmAug '10
Re: Those Open-minded Liberals Skewer a Lifestyle Choice. Again.
The teachers unions shun expertise in the subjects being taught, insisting instead that all public school teachers have a degree in "education". Most teachers who aren't time-serving hacks understand that this is pseudo-credentialism designed to limit entry to the profession to those who can survive the tedium of an "education" degree program.
But to the extent that an "education" degree represents anything of value, it is about the process of teaching in a professional environment, including how to teach thirty kids at a time, how to deal with the infinite variety of dysfunction and undiscipline, how to prepare lesson plans, how to navigate the school bureaucracy, and so on. None of this applies to homeschooling parents.
So while any homeschooling parent might be improved by some sort of further education, being educated in "education" is probably not going to help much, whatever Mr. Cavett may think.
Feb '11
Re: Those Open-minded Liberals Skewer a Lifestyle Choice. Again.
I've been teaching 7th & 8th grade math for 9 years, and have encountered many different types of teachers. One thing that should be mind-numbingly obvious to any but the most blithering simpletons is that there is a major difference between certified and qualified. I've encountered people with a list of degrees and certifications as long as your arm who shouldn't be allowed to operate a pencil sharpener. I also often work with one brilliant gentleman who is forced to work as a sub because they changed the certification goalposts on him.
The elitism inherent in the worship of 'professionals' is one I find, quite frankly, un-American. It imbues people with sole authority, simply because they jumped through some group's hoops. Professional simply means that you are paid to do something. This only means that you've convinced somebody that you're good at it; it doesn't mean that you actually are.
Doing this job right is far more intellectually demanding than many veteran teachers realize. Teacher training does precisely bupkis to prepare one for it. While handling a large class takes practice, any reasonably intelligent person can teach a few.
Nov '10
Re: Those Open-minded Liberals Skewer a Lifestyle Choice. Again.
Wish it were possible to double-like some comments.
Thanks everyone.