Are Progressive Homeschoolers Lefty Frauds?
Can you really claim to be liberal if you keep your kids out of public schools?
Homeschooling for the vast majority of American families just isn’t an option. Still, the number of kids who are home-schooled continues to grow. There’s growing diversity in the homeschooling set, and by that I mean passing on public or private school education has long since ceased to be something only Christian fundamentalists do. These days, you’re just as likely to find home-schoolers among your lefty liberal friends as you are your buddies in the quiverfull movement.
That may very well be so, but education reporter Dana Goldstein writes over on Slate that progressives opting to home-school are fooling themselves. They really aren’t progressives at all.
Goldstein argues that the “go-it-alone ideology” of homeschooling is, at its core, self-serving. The growing number liberals who are teaching the kids at home have an “overheated hostility toward public schooling,” and that they believe public schools are ugly, mean, and uncreative holding cells for 5- 18-year-olds. Not good enough for their kids — too bad for the rest who have no choice.
Though many a liberal home-schooler would argue that they can only do what they can do, it’s that focus on solving the problem only for oneself — one’s own kids — that calls into questions the homeschooling parents’ values.
The act of homeschooling, Goldstein writes, “… is rooted in distrust of the public sphere, in class privilege, and in the dated presumption that children hail from two-parent families, in which at least one parent can afford (and wants) to take significant time away from paid work in order to manage a process—education—that most parents entrust to the community at-large.”
The even bigger news for homeschoolers — especially ones who consider themselves progressive — is that by taking their child out of the system, they’re harming the kids who have been left behind. Goldstein writes:
Low-income kids earn higher test scores when they attend school alongside middle-class kids, while the test scores of privileged children are impervious to the influence of less-privileged peers. So when college-educated parents pull their kids out of public schools, whether for private school or homeschooling, they make it harder for less-advantaged children to thrive.
Removing your middle class kid from a socio-economically mixed school (an increasingly difficult thing to find in some communities) is also removing some advantages for those who would have been the home-schooled child’s less-advantaged peers.
The progressive thing to do about education, Goldstein rightly argues, isn’t to empty the public school classrooms and opt for homeschooling, rather, to flood the public schools with the offspring of thinking parents who can insist on change.
I argued a couple of years ago that parents shouldn’t focus their resources on homeschooling kids and, instead, should use the time and money they would have spent on homeschool curriculum taking on other people’s kids, too.
I wish smart and motivated and available parents like O’Hehir and his wife who are tempted to homeschool would stay in their mind-numbingly boring, creativity draining local schools, meet with the other families, and then invite other kids to go to museums with them. Science fair? Don’t just take over your own kid’s project, take over other kids’ projects too!
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I just feel like homeschooling is another way for us to not have to figure out this school thing. It’s a safe way to turn our backs on schools since homeschoolers possibly wouldn’t have a horse in that race.
Homeschooling really isn’t the answer, certainly not for people who purport to value things like civic life and public institutions and who wish for those things to improve.
Are you a liberal home-schooler? How do you reconcile your politics with your actions? Where do private schools fit in with this?
As a homeschooling parent I am a member of the PTA, participate in every public school fundraiser that finds its way to my door, vote in every school board election, pay property taxes which directly benefits public schooling, and have volunteered my time in the elementary school in my community. I rest just fine at night, knowing I am providing an exceptional education for my own children (which is and should be my first priority) WHILE doing my best to help in the community around me.
Oh, please. Why doesn’t she take aim at all the liberals who enroll their kids in pricey Waldorf, Montessori, or other private schools? There are FAR more of those hypocrites. Neither President Obama nor President Clinton nor Speaker Pelosi enrolled their children in government-run schools. Where is all the liberal outrage over that?
Getting back to the subject of whether homeschoolers should instead try to improve their zoned school. The problem is in this day and age of NCLB, state standards, textbooks mandated at the state level, powerful teachers’ unions, and so on, parents can have very little impact on how schools are run. It would be a complete waste of my time and energy trying to fix our zoned school because the real power to actually improve things is in the hands of bureaucrats hundreds of miles away in Sacramento or thousands of miles away in D.C. Empower parents to actually have a real say in how the school is run and maybe I’d consider enrolling my children.
Would parents sit by and watch their children starve to death? Silly thought, but government run schools are intellectually starving children to death. Homeschoolers put their children before politics. To do otherwise is abuse.
Why do I have to be considered a liberal on all things? I have some liberal views and some more conservative views. You are labeling homeschoolers as either/or, but we all have a variety of beliefs and opinions that don’t fit one label. When it comes to homeschooling, I am more conservative. I don’t think schools will ever be able to give students the individual attention that they need. It’s not the fault of the hard-working teachers. It’s just impossible to do that with a classroom of 20-30 students to one or two teachers. And if we can’t do that, then how will we ever manage to accommodate the requests of all the student’s parents who may have conflicting ideas on what is considered the best curriculum for the students? That is, if parents really could have any say over what happens at school. I’m homeschooling because I want my children to spend more time outdoors, and I want them to spend more time studying/pursuing their interests. By homeschooling they’ll learn reading, writing, math, science, social studies, etc., and they will also learn much more: like how run a household, financial literacy, etc. They will get to travel as we’re able, and they’ll socialize with people of all ages. As they get older, I plan to get more involved in the community too. My children are my priority. I’m able to do this for my children, and I feel very lucky to do so. If I had a magic wand, I’d give everyone the choices I have, but I can’ t do that, so don’t make me feel guilty for not putting them in public school where I don’t think they would thrive.
Removing your middle class kid from a socio-economically mixed school (an increasingly difficult thing to find in some communities) is also removing some advantages for those who would have been the home-schooled child’s less-advantaged peers.
Oh please. This just kills me. A middle class child is not going to improve a poor child’s life by his/her mere presence, or the presence of “thinking” parents, and thinking so is as offensive as rushing in to stop your middle class child from playing with a poor classmate, before he gets that trailer park smell on him. Now, it’s true that an environment which constantly reinforces one’s social class *is* damaging, and that’s why I don’t think anyone, rich, poor or otherwise should be pressured to attend a school based on only their neighborhood or ability to pay.
And if the answer is to flood the schools with “thinking parents” (hate, hate, HATE the tendency to describe your own class/ideology as being the one which does all the thinking) who can and will demand change where it’s needed, you’re still missing something—schools have to be set up in such a way that they will respond to demands from the community. In any normal enterprise, a community can come together and demand change by removing support, in a boycott. The company being boycotted then has to either meet the needs or go bankrupt—which is to say that they have to respond to competition. The reason neighborhood schools don’t respond to demands is not that poor parents don’t care or don’t “think” and all the “thinking” ones have fled—it’s that neighborhood schools don’t have to be liked. They have your money and (if you have no better options) your kids whether you like it or not, whether they meet their community’s needs or not.
Let’s try this—if you think that Trader Joe’s is better than Wal-Mart, and you are upset that not everyone in your community can shop at TJ’s because they don’t have as many locations and they cost more, instead of giving your money to Trader Joes and keeping it out of Wal-Mart’s register, try shopping at Wal-Mart every week but constantly demand that Wal-Mart act more like TJ’s. Get all the people in your circle to do the same. See how that works.
I’m sorry but this post doesn’t make any kind of sense. Why on Earth would I want to slow down my own children’s education just so less-privileged children from low-income families can enjoy the benefit of having them around their public school-classroom?!
First of all, that’s just a big load of you-know-what and it’s really insulting to kids from low-income families/neighborhoods. Because you’re implying that they won’t be able to learn as much as they could if there aren’t any middle-class kids around. Seriously?!
Second of all, even if that’s true, I would never – and I really mean NEVER! – choose to put my children in a economically mixed public school just so others could benefit from “the presence of children who have *thinking* parents”.
Isn’t every parent’s goal to be able to give their children the best education possible? If you have the means – do it! If you prefer to homeschool your kids – do it! If you want and can send your kids to a private school – do it!
What you’re implying in your post can be summed up pretty nicely with one sentence – that’s not giving everybody a fair chance, that’s just pure intelectual socialism really.
At least that’s how I understand your blog post. Because when one reads between the lines, it sounds like this: “since we’re not really born equal, some of us come from low-income families with histories of really poor education, while others come from better situated families with histories of college educations and the alike, we should put all the kids into economically mixed schools so that the ‘poor’ kids can benefit from the fact that they’ve got ‘smarter’ peers among them – the children of educated parents”
Which basically means that you’re creating a false image where everyone benefits from the situation but in reality, the children of the educated parents get slowed down by the children of poorly educated parents because they don’t know as much as the “better” kids who come from better families.
God. Your blog post is just wrong on so many levels.
I agree with CW. My focus is to give my child what I think is a good education. Not everyone agrees with me on what that is (and it’s not just science fair projects and trips to the museum). I once met an elementary school teacher that thinks homeschooling is bad because kids don’t get the chance to learn how to stand up to a bully on their own–but I think kids shouldn’t have to deal with bullies on their own in the first place. And you know what, I’m neither rich nor married. I’m a single mom still working on my BS, and I hope that I’ll be able to juggle part-time work with homeschooling. Scrimping on some things to be able to homeschool is worth it to me. I wish that public schools here were good enough (or less resistant to progressive change), because it would make things a lot easier. Yet I can’t wait for that. The argument the author presented is like saying people who care about food quality are frauds if they choose to grow their own food instead of eating the crap most Americans eat.
CW is exactly right. Parents can’t do anything to change the standards-driven, test-obsessed culture promulgated top-down in our educational system. Parents can’t make the teachers we have change from an atmosphere of rubric-driven idiocy to one that values critical thought and engaged citizenship. Do your reading. The modern school system is a mechanism for social control: a way to teach children to sit still at a desk for eight hours a day, do what they’re told, read enough to understand advertising, and figure enough to understand sales tax. That’s it. I homeschool because I can help my kids. I wish I could help them all, but it would take a revolution to do so. And I don’t see that happening.
I actually agree w/ CW on one point. Yes, sure, liberals who send their kids to private school are hypocrites. But we are all hyper-aware of this fact and none of us took the decision lightly. It’s the classic prisoner’s dilemma. Should we do the right thing for everyone and send our kids to public? Or is that sacrificing your own kids’ education for the greater good — are the stakes unacceptably high?
By the way, “Jenny tries too hard,” you are completely wrong on all counts. The evidence does show that poor children benefit from the network effects of being with middle class children. And it has also been shown that when parents consciously set out to improve a school, they can do it. We know of some famous cases from our city where parents banded together to force improvements in several neighborhood public schools — and wherever they’ve done this they have had a lot of success. Unfortunately this requires a bunch of parents with time on their hands and the sense of entitlement to demand accountability, two things that poorer parents sadly lack due to their circumstances. It’s not because they don’t care, it’s because they can’t do it. Sorry if the truth is uncomfortable for you.
“it has also been shown that when parents consciously set out to improve a school, they can do it.” This is just wishful thinking. In the district where we lived when we first made the decision to homeschool, the district administrators chose the horrendous “fuzzy” math program Every Day Mathematics over parental objections and refused to go along with the parents’ petition to adopt the excellent Singapore Primary Mathematics. The reason given for the denial of the Singapore petition was that the program was supposedly “inappropriate for English Language Learners”. This kind of blatant disregard for parental opinion is why I think it would just be an exercise in futility to spend my efforts fighting the powers that be instead of just giving my own kids the kind of rigorous academics I want at home.
@CW: “We tried once, and it didn’t work. Therefore, it is impossible always and everywhere.” Really?
“…too bad for the rest who have no choice…”
Here’s the thing. You ALWAYS have a choice. It may not be an easy choice, but you do have a choice. Same with daycare. Same with everything. I don’t plan on homeschooling because I am not suited to teach. But I have no issue with people who do and tooting about people’s Liberal/Progressive cred is so…20-something? Who cares!
I also challenge this notion that is coming up in all kinds of conversations (see the critique of Caitlin Flanagan’s Girl Land for relying too heavily on a father’s influence on his daughter…) “the dated presumption that children hail from two-parent families, in which at least one parent can afford (and wants) to take significant time away from paid work”
it may be a dated presumption, but that is what is normal, healthy and ideal—the two parent family. Just because people have the misfortune or mismanagement or misplacement of priorities to the extent that this is no longer the “norm” doesn’t mean it’s not the gold standard. What, are we all supposed to downgrade our lives so we can fall in line with someone else’s pathology? I believe single-parent families should have all the rights any other families do and we should treat these people compassionately, but don’t expect those of us with normal 2 parent (male/female) family structures to alter the way we do things to fit in with those who are outside this basic, time-tested, and biologically mandated structure.
Love JTTH’s breakdown. In an ideal world, there’d be no public schools for exactly these reasons. Lucky for me, ours are quite good around here, or else I’d be working on changing myself to become more teacherly.
Daisy, I get that parents who have no practical alternative to public schools *do* care. I said so in my screed, which I guess was too long and wall-of-text-y. Here: It’s not that poor parents don’t care or don’t “think”—it’s that the neighborhood schools don’t have to be liked.
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Yes, sometimes a group of parents can force an individual school to change. It happens. For that matter, sometimes a beautiful blonde teacher from the other side of the tracks or a fast-talking immigrant with high expectations comes in and changes these poor darlings lives forever with Dylan Thomas and calculus and then they make a movie about it.
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But it’s not the most efficient way, and the changes rarely last, and it demands that there be enough parents of *any* class with “time on their hands”, which still doesn’t fit the neighborhood school model— any way you spin it a middle-class child whose parents have the social capital to effect change and the actual capital to have an educated SAH parent with time on his/her hands to advocate is probably not going to be living in the same neighborhood as the children who would most benefit from such neighbors. It’s much more efficient and frankly less condescending and noblesse-oblige-y to empower families of all incomes to choose what works best for them, including homeschooling.
I agree with Suzie. You always have choices. My husband and I made choices so I can stay home to homeschool our three children and not send them to day care. Who really can say they want that hurried stressful lifestyle? Let’s be honest. We still live in the condo we bought before we had children as opposed to buying something larger that would require me to return to work. (I have seen many friends do this just to have a house BUT they are never home to enjoy it) We don’t go on fancy vacations, buy most clothes at Target, eat out using gift cards from holidays, kids are limited to activities we can afford, I let our housekeeper go etc…If can be done!
I’m not a homeschooler, but do send my kids to a religious based private school so I am one of “those” parents not sending my kids to my local public school. I’d say my politics are mostly liberal. I do not think I’m a hypocrite! I have a variety of reasons that I chose private school. My husband and I both attended parochial schools and there is that feeling of wanting to give your children the same positives from your own childhood. We wanted our children to be able to pray at school, learn about God/religion at school, learn morals, respect, virtues, etc. We also think a smaller class size was better for my oldest son. I like that we don’t have to deal with sending them to religious ed on evenings or weekends – it’s all covered at school. I love that they wear uniforms. Oh and how could I forget one of our main reasons – standardized testing/NCLB fiasco. That’s not something a bunch of parents can gather around and change easily (agree with CW on those points). I don’t consider us elite or wealthy. My husband is the SAHP so we are essentially a one income family. He did start his own software consulting company out of the home that generates a nice supplement income which helps pay for the tuition. He spends countless hours volunteering at the school. We still pay our taxes that go to public schools. I vote. I’m an American – if I want to pinch my pennies and chose a private education for my kids, I don’t see how that’s considered bad or hypocritical.
My political ideals are very mportant to me, but not more important than my individual child’s welfare. Yes, I could bring to bear some influence in a public school environment and maybe it would improve the quality of education there for all students. At what cost? My child’s education? His social values? His nutrition? I acknowledge that many parents can’t afford to homeschool or aren’t cut out for it, and I can see where they might be bitter towards those of us who can and do. I can also see that by removing our children from the public system we have a less immediate interest in fixing what is wrong. Nevertheless, I’ll not sacrifice my son at the altar of community welfare. My influence on public school funding, philosphy, nutrition, and educational quality will have to be exerted through my votes.
I also wanted to add that the elementary school we are zoned for is considered an “Exemplary” school based on our state’s standardized testing scores — the highest level. It’s supposedly one of *the* best schools in our city. But that’s exactly why I didn’t want to send my kids there. It tells me that it’s about test prep, test prep, and more test prep. Some of my neighbors say the 1st graders have at least one of homework every night! No thanks. I don’t think my decision to keep my kids from there is hurting any other kids. People make the choice to go private or home school for a variety of reasons.
I was just thinking of you yesterday, Jenny Tries Too Hard! Great posts on this! I can’t add anything. Am glad to see you still posting here!
I also hate Everyday Math, as an aside. Where I live the public school and parish (Catholic) school curriculum is the exact same, I guess I’m just paying for religion class once a week and not having to go to CCD Sunday mornings.
And the Slate article is asinine, but that’s pretty much par for the course over there anymore.
Well, Madeline, I guess Daisy and I are the only ones who agree with you! Obviously we’re a bunch of naive dummies.
I don’t think you’re a bunch of naive dummies, I just think your philosophy places much more weight on “community” and “the village” concept than other peoples (including my own) do. I am happy to be part of a community and contribute as I am able, but NEVER at the expense of my own family’s or child’s longterm wellbeing.
It’s our job as parents to raise our children not “the village.” Parents need to take accountability for their children and stop passing if off on others. It’s not the schools job, the communities job etc..Parents step up and raise your kids. This generation (my generation in late 30′s/early 40′s)) of parents have become wimps and let the children rule the house.
I agree, Erika. I would also observe that these illusions of the middle-class intelligentsia coming together and raising the tide for all kids is dreamy at best…I recall a very heated discussion on Babble about how parents were so very put off by being asked to volunteer at their kids’ school…so, not sensing a whole lot of desire for involvement…
Oh, bullsh*t. I’m thinking of homeschooling next year because our district may eliminate the middle school portion of our K-8 school and I don’t believe in traditional junior high. Sorry, but when the district starts going downhill and warehousing every child over the age of 11 in a 1000+ person institution, what are people supposed to do? I’m not going to nelgect my child’s education or development just to get with the program. How ridiculous.
“you’re still missing something—schools have to be set up in such a way that they will respond to demands from the community.” IME, even when individual schools have this, they’re still at the mercy of school boards whose main goal appears to be to educate as many children as they can as cheaply as possible, with no room for variation.
Suzie-
I’d add too that a large group if parents are more concerned with keeping up with Jonses. Also, I see more Moms complaining about mothering and wanting me time. Nothing wrong with a break but I think you know what I’m getting at.
CW, I totally agree with your private school comment and have thought (and written) about that, too. When education policy makers don’t participate in the institutions they are making policies for, not only does that undermine their credibility and confidence the rest of us have in those institutions, it makes one wonder whether there aren’t conflicts of interest as well. For example, corporate takeover of education might not seem so bad if it’s not YOUR kid getting marketed to and/or having to take a test on evolution or climate science skepticism OR, first and foremost, having to participate in a curriculum geared to standardized test performance. So very much to say but, bottom line: be the change you want to see.
No, DRO you and Daisy aren’t alone in agreeing with Madeline. When I was growing up my public school district wanted to cut the arts program. My mother worked with a few other parents (3 or 4 couples) and was able to keep the arts programs going. I believe in the change I have personally seen and hope I can follow in my mother’s footsteps if need be.
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It does seem cynical at best to opt out because you don’t think you can affect any change and leave the rest of the community behind. For those who want to homeschool or send their kids to private school because they truly don’t want the kind of education that the rest of the community wants for their children, that seems OK (for instance, those who actively want religion in their kids’ curriculum I am glad they are providing that themselves and not advocating that for my child. Or those who want an “unschooling” approach, good on you.).
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If you are just standing by and letting your schools get rid of quality public education without going to PTA meetings or otherwise advocating for quality education for all, that is not good. I admire parents like Ami who advocate for others even though it doesn’t affect their child directly.
This piece feels like some weird extension of mommy guilt. “Oh, you think you’re such a good parent? Well, now you’re a bad steward of your community. Ha.”
Like it’s not hard enough to make all the day to day decisions and choices we have to make to do right by ourselves, our families, our children … Doesn’t matter what we do or how hard we try. It’s not going to be good enough for SOMEBODY. In this case, it’s the poor kids we’re screwing over. Awesome.
Sorry … an admittedly liberal mom here who’s feeling a little overwhelmed by all of my responsibilities to the rest of the dang world. That whole “Not everyone has the opportunity or the time to do what you do” guilt trip – whether it’s about breastfeeding, staying at home, homeschooling – sucks. Yes, I know I’m privileged. I wish our society made it easier for everyone who wants to do these things, and I’ll keep working toward that end as I can, but I’m tired of being made to feel bad about every damn thing.
By the way, I homeschool my 8th grader, but not because her school is filled with poorer children she now can’t “uplift.” Our neighborhood school is a 4-time Distinguished school with extremely high test scores, filled with very motivated children with educated parents. My daughter found the driven culture and the pressure extremely stressful (to the point of becoming ill). Public education isn’t the right solution for every child, and it doesn’t make those of us who choose a different path traitors to the community.
Awww, thanks Black Orchid!
What a truly absurd post. My first duty is to my kids, not some nebulous community that may or may not be affected by anything that I or my kids do. And if my kids become well-educated, thoughtful, productive adults as a result of having been home-schooled, they will be much more valuable to “the community” at that point, than any value they could have added to your failing, archaic schools as simply more upper-middle-class cannon fodder.
just about the weirdest article ive ready on babble. that and the one trying to puff up the benefits swinging couples have with regards to their children and their family life.
Bleh.
Moreanon, that you consider your community “nebulous” is a sure sign you’re not a member of the group this post (and the original Slate story) was taking on.
“If you are just standing by and letting your schools get rid of quality public education without going to PTA meetings or otherwise advocating for quality education for all, that is not good.” Our parents make an appearance at every single school board meeting. Over the past five years, the board has slowly eroded or removed a huge number of things that made our school unique, and now they complain about falling enrollment. First they moved us from our own building, in to the wing of an existing elementary school (because so many middle schoolers want to be dropped off at the elementary school). Then they eliminated bus service (our families come from all over the district). Then they decided our middle schoolers weren’t welcome in the before/after care at the ajoining elementary. Then they decided we couldn’t advertise. This year they asked our PTA to give them $30K to keep our middle school class open. Our school only has about 100 families in it.
Goldstein’s arguments can be equally used for parents who send their kids to private school.
It seems to me that Goldstein is more upset that she depended on someone else to educate her own children.
Why any parent would leave the responsibility of educating his/her children to a stranger is ridiculous. If I don’t feel my children are challenged, you better believe “I” will challenge them to their fullest potential.
“be the change you want to see”. Actually allow parents to have significant impact over how schools are run, and you’d have an argument. The UK allows parents to band together to form parent-run, taxpayer-financed “free schools”. I would be very much in favor of this IF the government (Feds and the state) didn’t try to micromanage these schools but allowed parents reasonable autonomy to run them as they desire. Unfortunately, I don’t see bureaucrats in this country being willing to empower parents to improve education in this fashion
Amen, Pepper. That’s beautifully put. Nothing will satisfy everyone, and it’s really annoying to be constantly reminded of that.
Our community’s public schools seem very good. My 4 year old, however, is reading at a third grade level with no pushing and little effort on my husband’s or my part. I’m a former Rhodes Scholar finalist and top ten law school grad with an undergrad minor in early childhood education, currently staying at home. It seems like everyone involved would be better served by me doing some home education with my son now and then working intensively in education reform when my children are older, which I plan to do.
While I suppose my son’s presence in public school could possibly ease the way for a poor gifted student to be better served, that seems unlikely (the student’s abilities would have to be recognized, the student would likely have to be assigned to the teacher my son had had, and quite likely the principal would have to be the same for any effort on my part to make a difference to another student). And frankly I have no sympathy for upper middle class families with two working parents who don’t take time out of their self-imposedly busy schedules to advocate sufficiently for their child’s education.
So, sorry Slate writer and Babble reprinter, I will not be guilted into thinking I’m a bad liberal for choosing the route I have.
A recent report, “Home Schooling Grows Up,” released by Dr.
Brian Ray, argues that “home schooling produces successful
adults who are actively involved in their communities
and continue to value education for themselves
and their children”
This is a quote from the article listed below. It’s about myths such as the ones Daisy brought up concerning homeschoolers. The biggest problem with homeschooling is not what it does to communities, but what those who do not understand it or have done sufficient research about it does – creates a divide between public, private and homeschooling families that does not need to exist.
Romanowski, M. H. (2006). Revisiting the Common Myths about Homeschooling. Clearing House, 79(3), 125.
Right. Today’s blog: You’re not a liberal unless you give up the responsibility of educating your kids to the local public school and teachers’ unions.
Tomorrow’s blog: you’re not a liberal unless you give up the responsibility of keeping your kids healthy to Medicaid and Social Security. Better yet, make plans to insure they use it… make sure to use some alcohol and whatever else you can obtain during your pregnancy to increase their odds of using these services, you wouldn’t want them to be one of the elite and not “support ” these programs by participating directly in them. Because just like with public schools, it’s not enough to just pay taxes, you might “short-change” these programs by not having “input ” …and having your children be of an elitist healthy class.
Day 2 blog: Support state foster-care programs by participating directly in them. Give your kids up. Sign them over to the state quickly before you become a “hypocrite”. After all, we can’t support two parent families, because some kids have just one, so we can’t support one parent families because some kids have none. Come on, walk your talk.
All I ask is that we think logically,I.e., consistently, here.
And by the way, I have two kids who had major surgeries within the past two weeks for birth defects. Despite my organic diet during pregnancy. I’m serious when I say healthy kids are an elite class.
Who wants to join me?
Sabotaging your kids’ education so that you can have political input in a disintegrated public school system makes only slightly less sense than sabotaging their health so that you can have political input in a disinterested public health system.
And that’s why all your liberal heroes send their own kids to private schools.
I am so always suspicious of things like this…”My 4 year old, however, is reading at a third grade level with no pushing and little effort”…yeah, sure….
For one thing the middle class is disappearing in our economic struggle. The way its going there will be only upper & lower class if some changes aren’t made quickly. Now 2nd off, I’m planning to home school my children because the school they are currently in cannot protect them on the bus or make sure they get on and off the bus when they are supposed to. Other children put their hands on my kids because the parents out here do not train their children to do otherwise. There have been 5 physical altercations this year alone! Its because my children are white. Its been said out loud so I know this is the reason. So hell no I’m not home schooling anybody else’s racist kids!!!! My older 2 are 8 in 2nd grade, 6 in kindergarten, then I have a 4 1/2 month old anyway so where would I find time to add other children in there??? This article is ridiculous. If I go buy myself a car should I get my neighbor one too? The stupidity is mind numbing. I’ll not be coming back to this site. Its no longer worth reading if there are really people out there so blind
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For one thing the middle class is disappearing in our economic struggle. The way its going there will be only upper & lower class if some changes aren’t made quickly. Now 2nd off, I’m planning to home school my children because the school they are currently in cannot protect them on the bus or make sure they get on and off the bus when they are supposed to. Other children put their hands on my kids because the parents out here do not train their children to do otherwise. There have been 5 physical altercations this year alone! Its because my children are white. Its been said out loud so I know this is the reason. So hell no I’m not home schooling anybody else’s racist kids!!!! My older 2 are 8 in 2nd grade, 6 in kindergarten, then I have a 4 1/2 month old anyway so where would I find time to add other children in there??? This article is ridiculous. If I go buy myself a car should I get my neighbor one too? The stupidity is mind numbing. Are there really people out there so blind?
Along with what others have already pointed out – the schools do not want to listen to parents and that is why it is so difficult for parents to have any influence on how schools are run. I was in the post-bacc program to receive my teaching certificate to teach secondary English and what we were taught is that “parents are not qualified to determine what their children should be learning. Parents are the problem with why students don’t play by the rules in school. Parents are just complainers who don’t know how to educate their own children and shouldn’t be allowed to tell you how to do it.”
I quit the program and decided I am going to homeschool my own children because, as others have mentioned, raising my kids is MY responsibility and I am not held accountable for how other children are raised/educated. A child is not a tool for social reform – they need to be raised, educated, and prepared before they enter the world as adults who then can work for social reform. If I send my children to public school they are not going to impact the school so much that change occurs, instead they will be influenced to adopt the same values and lifestyles as those whom they are around for 8 hours a day. I am accountable for how I raise my children and I am not prepared to leave that job to a public school system that strives to turn every child into a secular humanist who lacks all critical thinking skills and lives a lifestyle of rebellion. The public school system has only increasingly failed society since its inception. If a parent wants to sacrifice in order to train their children at home, they should and no one should try to make them feel guilty for fleeing a structure that is crumbling on top of their children.
If you are looking for a good documentary on the topic watch “Indoctrination” (it is faith based but it is well done and the information about public school efficacy is unbiased)
There are so many holes in this article that disturb me that it will be the first time that I put fingers to keyboard and voice myself. The author of the article has very little understanding of the reasons why many families choose to homeschool. There are many ways to school children. Classroom environment, online school, traditional at-the-kitchen table schooling, small private school. There doesn’t need to be a one size fits all mentality but rather a discussion of what educational philosophy works best for that given child’s learning style. I am a homeschool parent and I don’t have such dark hateful issues towards public schools. I certainly do not consider that it is my obligation to keep my children in school for the benefit of helping those less intelligent. How very insulting to those groups in the population that you identify. Many of my homeschool friends are indeed concerned about the behaviors of children in today’s society, however, we see it as a lack of commitment on the parent’s part, not that of the schools. This article continues to shock me and I am grateful for so many responses above in order to help enlighten this author. It reads as if the author is trying to incite anger as opposed to putting forth an intelligent article.
“I am so always suspicious of things like this…”My 4 year old, however, is reading at a third grade level with no pushing and little effort”…yeah, sure….” Sounds like sour grapes to me. Both my 2 oldest children were reading at least on a 3rd grade level before their 5th birthdays. I did teach them phonics but it was literally about 15-20 minutes per day and I didn’t start until AFTER they had already started decoding CVC words on their own. They were super-motivated at that point to learn to read so it didn’t require any pushing on my part. Be skeptical all you want, but it’s the God’s honest truth.
How were you guys with the preschool readers testing comprehension? Oh, wait…!
My kids are early readers too. Not sure if you can define my methods as being pushy. From the time they were babies I read age appropriate books to them every day for at least 15 minutes. I didn’t actively teach them, just exposed them to books, read to them, and interacted with them. As they got older, they started asking what the words were, and I’d answer – but I did not have a “curriculum” to “teach” them to read. When my oldest (7.5) was 4 he picked up books and started reading them to his younger brother. I though the just had them memorized but then his preK4 teacher told me she would give him books he’d never seen and he’d read them. By the time he started Kinder he was reading all sorts of books. He’s now in 2nd and reading all sorts of chapter books on his own. I don’t make him do it. He’s the kind of kid that will go to his room on his own and read. My next son is nearly 6 and same thing — by Kinder he was already reading simple books. I’m reading him the Magic Tree House series to him every night for about 15-20min and he asks a million questions about them. If you want to consider that pushing fine but I consider it quality time. My 3yo daughter loves having me read to her for 20-30min a night. She now will go up to the book case, pull out board books and “read” them to herself by telling stories about the pictures. My 22mo clearly says the word “book” and loves to be read to. She’s into touch and feel, hide and peek type books. She too will sit by the book case, pull out books, and page through them herself. I love to read, and I loved being read to by my dad as a child. So yes, I read to my kids and we own 3 large bookshelves full of kids books for all ages. We don’t have cable to tv and my kids watch limited DVDs. I don’t consider me being “pushy” at all. I don’t watch much tv myself and pretty much from 7:30-9pm every night you will find me reading one on one with each of my kids. Sure there are some nights that we skip for a variety of reasons… but overall we’re fairly consistent.
Linda, maybe I’m too tired to get the point of your post… my 2nd grader took the Iowa Basics standardized test at his private school last year and scored 90+ percentile on every topic. Since it’s a private school, they don’t do the local/state standardized tests, but they do the Iowa one just as a check. They don’t do any test prep at all, and don’t “teach for the test” the way our local public schools do so it’s a better measure of the child’s abilities – not how well his school prepped him for it.
I was talking to the people who claimed their children read at a 3rd grade (or whatever) level in preschool. The fact is that no one tests their four year old for anything, because that would be dumb. Also, I hope you’re aware that what you described above is so typical as to be mundane. Who do you imagine isn’t reading to their kids?
CW, I can assure it it’s not sour grapes. It’s eye-rolling at the ridiculousness of saying a preschooler can read at X grade level–as Linda, TOO, noted. Lots of kids read when they’re around 4 or 5, but “at a third grade level?” and boasting like it’s something extraordinary. “Reading” seems to mean different things to different people, too. My brother, for example, said his 2 year old could “read” because she could identify things that were happening on pages of books. I can agree that, in some sense, that is “reading” but not what most people think of when they think in terms of either sight-recognition of words or phonetic reading. Anyway, I just think it’s kind of a ludicrous statement to make “My 4 year old, however, is reading at a third grade level…”
Are you serious? There are many many parents who don’t read to their kids. You can’t be that naive. Sure it’s the norm for a certain parenting demographic, but certainly not typical. I was describing in detail to show that it’s possible for young kids to learn to read without “pushing”. I know in my son’s Kinder class there are many kids who don’t yet know how to read more than a few site words. Both of my son’s teachers have told us that it’s obvious we read to our kids and that they wished the other parents were doing the same – as in, they other parents don’t do it. We have a “read-a-thon” every April where parents track the books/minutes the students read and it’s pathetic that the teachers have to beg and plead for the parents to have their kids do it and fill in the log. As for testing, when both of my boys were in our school’s full time PreK4 they were tested for Kindergarten readiness in the spring and part of that was reading ability.
That may be a function of where you live, but I don’t personally know anyone who doesn’t read to their kids and have a ton of books around. IME, what you described is just the bare minimum that almost everyone does. And still, as you pointed out, kids begin to read at all different ages (Which is fine. You’re the one putting some weird value judegment on it.) Look, my kids all love to read and are excellent students. We’re mostly past the “learning to read” stage (youngest is in first grade). It seems weird to me that you can’t think outside the box a little bit on this issue. That ‘read-a-thon” thing sounds absolutely. horrible. I wouldn’t have my kids do it. In fact, I stopped filling out reding logs a really long time ago and just told the school I wasn’t going to do it anymore, because I didn’t feel like it was my job to police my kids as they wandered off with a book for a few hours. Perhaps, some of the other parents at your school think logs and “read-a-thons” are counterproductive and want their kids to grow up reading because it’s enjoyable not because it earns them some plastic trinket and a piece of paper. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that your kids can read. I just think you make a mistake when you assume your kids are smarter or were read to more or have better parents because they happen to have been reading before kindergarten. The fact that you sent them to “time PreK4″ is telling too. My kids (particularly my boys who both learned to read IN kindergarten) were digging holes in the back yard and filling them with mud at 4. They were free to explore and play because they weren’t in full time childcare. Learning happens on a continuum and it’s pretty well known that “earlier” does not always equal “better at in the long run” anyway so it seems weird to be scandalized by the fact that some kids don’t read before they even start kindergarten. These sort of ideals were why my kids ended up at alternative school in the first place and why they won’t be served if the school is closed down.
*full time preK
Yeah, I don’t get those reading logs, either. Our library has them to encourage a love for reading, but there are like 8 lines on the sheet…we read that many books in a day, often, at this age. Then the “prize” is a McDonalds gift certificate or something. No thanks! We just read cause it’s something to do, and I agree that in the demographic reading and kvetching on here, it’s standard procedure.
“My kids (particularly my boys who both learned to read IN kindergarten) were digging holes in the back yard and filling them with mud at 4. They were free to explore and play because they weren’t in full time childcare.” Love. Love. LOVE this. Yes!
I am new to this site; just want to complement you on the quality of the comments posted here. You have some articulate and thoughtful readers engaging here. Thank you.
Yeah, add me to the “non-reading” parents who don’t fill out the Read-A-Thon papers and reading logs. I hate those things with the passion of a thousand fiery suns. Reading-for-rewards is the one and only issue on which I agree with Alfie Kohn; I think systems like Book IT (reading for pizza) and my kids’ school’s thing, reading for Six Flags tickets, just suck all the natural reward out of reading, and nine times out of ten the kids and I just plain forget to write that crap down, anyway. But my kids still read at appropriate levels and have been read to their whole lives.
The real issue with the claims of reading at whatever grade level is not only that parents generally aren’t testing comprehension (and,no, just because Scholastic recommends a certain book or series for 3rd grade doesn’t mean it’s actually third grade level) but really…if your kid is reading above grade level, so what? It’s not necessarily appropriate for him or her to progress into higher reading, as the subject matter gets more and more grown-up, and don’t give me “bored”. I read above grade level when tested (I was tested frequently) from the time I was four, and you know what? As long as the story was funny or engaging, I was never just dying for bigger words and more complex sentences when I read at grade level. When I read too far above grade level, I missed a LOT, too—I started realizing that as I went back and reread stuff with my (public) middle and high school classes. The best example I can think of is To Kill A Mockingbird. I read that at 7 or 8 on my own, and then again in 9th grade for school. No real difference in how hard or easy the text was, but HUGE difference in what I got from it. I mean, there *is* a ceiling on reading proficiency, and most kids will get pretty close to it as they grow up—is it really that important to keep “challenging” them toward it and at an accelerated rate just because they started out fast?
This conversation has veered way off course. I was replying to the comments that some of you were skeptical of 4 year olds could be advanced readers without pushing or a lot of effort by chiming in that I have early ready readers without my pushing or effort. Now it’s twisted into me be scandalized by kids who aren’t reading when they start kindergarten which is not what I think at all and putting a “weird value judgement on it”. Not true and not my intention. And yes, babble readers and your peer group may read to their kids but there are plenty of American families that don’t. Seems you need to think outside your bubble on that one.
I should also point out that the “full time PreK” I’m referring to is not childcare. It’s 8-3, M-F, Aug – May, at the K-8 school – they recently changed the name to “Junior Kindergarten” – it’s an additional grade at the school. They have math, science, reading, writing, PE, music, spanish, art, religion – a full curriculum. I used the word full time to distinguish it from the couple hour a week preschools. My kids were at home every year before that. We are sending them to start “school” at 4 because we choose to, not because we needed childcare. We still have a parent at home with the little ones. Kinder is all day here and for a wide variety of reasons we started them in the 4yo class the year before. They get plenty of unscheduled hours to play in the mud on the 1 acre lot we live on, especially since we are in a warm climate and they can be outside any day it’s not pouring rain. Actually, when it’s warm they’ve gone out and ran around in the rain – fun times. We don’t have them signed up for a bunch of extracurricular activities, we don’t have any handheld electronic devices, and as I mentioned in a previous post, we don’t have cable and limit screen time. They have hours and hours of free play time to be outside, use their imagination, read, and play. They are at home all summer long. We decided that for OUR family, our city, our neighborhood, it was best to start them in the 4yo program at school during the school year. So far, it’s working wonderful for us.
Okay, what do you call reading a chapter book that is a bit beyond the “Magic Treehouse” level if not 3rd grade? Something like “George Washington’s Socks” by Elvira Woodruff that has 176 pages. Accelerated Reader says it’s a 4.6 but AR is notoriously inflated, Lexile says it’s a 840. Of course, I don’t give reading comprehension quizzes to 4 y.o.’s but I do discuss the book with the child. When the student can retell the plot in his/her own words with good accuracy, I have no reason to doubt that he/she has understood it. As for the running out of books to read that are challenging yet appropriate, that hasn’t been a problem for my 9 y.o. Books written in the early part of the 20th century or earlier tend to be challenging without containing inappropriate content (aside from some racist or sexist attitudes that we discuss as reflecting their authors’ times).
“Of course, I don’t give reading comprehension quizzes to 4 y.o.’s…” Exactly.
To all the parents freaking out because a parent mentioned her 4 year old reading 3rd grade books…seriously? Kids develop at different paces. I could read (yes, actually look at letters and interpret them as language) at 2. My parents didnt teach or push me. I saw an older girl reading in my Montessori school, got frustrated I couldn’t do the same, and got older kids and occasionally the teacher to help me figure it out. My parents talked to other people about it, not to show off, but because I was their first kid, they didnt think it was normal for kids to read at that age, and they wanted to see if anyone else shared their experience; they wanted to make sure I wasn’t an “idiot savant” (their term) with a disability they just hadn’t discovered yet. Side note: I’m now an adult dealing with severe mental illness my doctors and I think was largely caused by my peers’ behavior in public elementary school. My sister, who has better social skills and went through the same school system five years after me, didn’t learn to read until late (speech processing delay), enjoyed school, has no mental illness, and might actually be a certifiable artistic genius. Whether in choosing homeschool, public school, or private school, or in learning to read, the bottom line is this : kids are different. That isn’t always because their parents are pushing or neglecting them.
Way to paint with a really large brush. This is just irritating, that liberal parents have an “overheated hostility toward public schooling.” We homeschool one of our four kids because he NEEDED IT. I am a proud progressive liberal and that had NOTHING to do with our decision to homeschool. I am a full supporter of making public schools safer and more productive, and our other kids go to a public school, but when it came to my eldest son falling through the cracks for the 9th year and him becoming suicidal, it was time to do something different. I now realize that private school wouldn’t have helped, but I couldn’t afford it anyway. So we took a huge terrifying leap and pulled him out of the second semester of 8th grade. If we waited for the year to finish, I don’t know if he would still be alive. It was that bad for him by this point. After homeschooling for the last two years, he’s a great student, volunteers, works in theatre, and is a happy kid. We are grateful and aware of the privilege we had to reduce my income and for me to take over his education. I teach at the university level, so I teach, but this was very different
There are hundreds of very personal reasons why people choose to homeschool, and many of them have nothing to do with ideologies.