| | Organized public schools have some advantages. Here are a few:
1. Socialization. Yes, Socialization is good, and important; and the child gets an opportunity to meet and relate to different types of people (yes, some unpleasant ones, too). Self-definition by comparing and contrasting.
2. Exposure to different ideas. I would have vastly prefered to have learned Objectivism first, and the rest of the crap later. But I HAVE BEEN enriched by learning the other crap. I shudder when I think about where I would be right now if my father was my only teacher.
3. Rounded education. A standardized curriculum has advantages--for example, if your Mom doesn't like math, or doesn't think its important, how good are you gonna be? Or what if your parent think History is boring and pointless? Different techers with different specialties house orders of magnitude of more knowledge than any one person can.
4. Specialist teachers. Teachers have been trained in HOW to engage young mind, how to present materials effectively. Most parents would be a hell of alot worse than the average teacher.
5. Indoctrination. Until a young mind begins to think for itself, we can and should plug Capitalism, Democracy, and Freedom with all the ardor our teachers can muster.
6. Standardized tests. Face it--standardized tests are used for job placement, college placement and admissions, graduate school, you name it. Practice makes perfect, and public school certainly introduces students to the idea of standardized tests. And they DO have their place. Mommy's little superstar make make really creative fingerpaintings, but it isn't until we test Junior against other kids his age that we have SOME inkling whether his reading skills and knowledge of basic math are up to snuff or are progressing.
Now, that stuff above is the ideal. Its the way things should, ought to and CAN be. But it isn't. Public shcools are shameful warehouses with dullards at the front of the classsroom, in the business because it means 10 months of work for a full salary, and a short work day. They preach the absolute importance of good grades and knowledge, but the student athletes are the school pets; the brains get stuffed in lockers. Many teachers are failures in their fields, or those who never even had the gumption to try their fields. Which is why an enlightened parent can give their child a much more effective educational experience at home. My girlfriend's sister is a teacher. She's a mess. She shouldn't be teaching anyone, anything. She might work as a cautionary tale. (Ok, I am being harsh here--she isn't that bad). I had some great teachers, but I have always been lucky to have had the best in every school I attended, since I was always in the accelerated classes. But I saw what purported to be 'educators' that my younger brother was stuck with--mental midgets, drunks.
I dont understand how we can have an overabundance of teachers, yet be stuck with people who are ignorant and bad at their job. I thought the market self-adjusts by pushing the for-shit teachers out of the business....oh waity, Chicago Public School teachers are unionized...
No one can dispute that there are legendary assholes roaming the halls of schools; predators just looking to inflict humiliation and pain. I can think of a few folks from high school whose death might cause me a chuckle. But school done the right way is best outside of the home.
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