Homeschooling - Good or Bad?

[Legacy Account]

Originally posted by Roger Bunting
That\'s assuming the teacher\'s are any good.

Kids in the UK will have many teachers during their school careers. They\'ll encounter good and bad for sure, but they\'ll get more good than bad.

As for teachers \'controlling\' a class, you tell me how that\'s possible if their are several pupils in that class who are determined to disrupt it? \'Inclusion\' policies in school and the lack of respected punishments are tying teachers hands. You can\'t send kids out of a class as they\'re then out of your sight and you\'re responsible if they do anything. Only option is to call for senior management and have the kid removed - often not an option.

Before people start spouting about the quality of teachers, perhaps they should consider looking society in general and the culture that has been created over the last 20 years in schools.

To be perfectly honest, I think much of the blame lies squarely at the feet of incompetent parents and teachers are an easy scapegoat...

 

[supervike]

I agree the public schools are largly in shambles. The problem has been for years and the politicians answers seems to be to throw large sums of money at them. There needs to be some accountability, and it needs to come from the teachers that are there.

The Teachers union (and this pains me to say, as I am a unionist) has built a system where it is impossible to fire the most inept teachers, even when they have proven to be terrible employees.

ON THE converse though, there are teachers who make a serious positive difference in our childrens lifes and are not given the money they deserve because of those same unions. It\'s frustating that they have politicized such an important issue.

I disagree that the pay is crap. Maybe starting out pay is, but what other profession lets you take off all major holidays, weekends, and the entire summer off? It seems every third person I know is educated to be a teacher, and there are not enough jobs to go around (at least in my area), sounds like someone likes the money they are getting.

BUT...all that said, I do agree with Spacemunkie. Parents should be held responsible for what their kids do in school.

 

[Evil Dave]

Originally posted by Spacemunkie
To be perfectly honest, I think much of the blame lies squarely at the feet of incompetent parents and teachers are an easy scapegoat...

Agreed, but then again the teachers accepted the extra burden willingly.

 

[Legacy Account]

@ Dave: Couldn\'t agree more on this one. Exactly the same over here.

I love the expression \'control kids\'. I didn\'t become a teacher specifically to \'control\' or to discipline kids. I became a teacher to impart my knowledge to them and to perhaps try to help them through what can admittedly be a difficult time in any person\'s life.

I did not expect to have to be teaching teenagers basic manners and behavioural skills.

 

[Evil Dave]

Originally posted by supervike
It seems every third person I know is educated to be a teacher, and there are not enough jobs to go around (at least in my area), sounds like someone likes the money they are getting.

Or are comfortable enough not to leave a job that is almost impossible to get fired from.
Job security is a big perk.

I work for a university and the pay is peanuts compared to what I could get in the field, however, to be completely honest, I\'m making enough to be comfortable (only through living well under my budget for years) and have a few perks that simply do not compel me to find another higher paying job.

 

[Davyboy74]

It would certainly cut down truancy.......

 

[Legacy Account]

Originally posted by supervike

The Teachers union (and this pains me to say, as I am a unionist) has built a system where it is impossible to fire the most inept teachers, even when they have proven to be terrible employees.

That\'s all very well, but what percentage of the overall teaching population would be classed as \'inept\'? 5%?

You can\'t blame the the state of your entire education system on a few thousand teachers. The problem seems to run a good deal deeper than that to me.

And don\'t blame teachers for the politicisation of education. It\'s politicians that use it as a football to kick around to win votes. Teaching unions in the UK have become far more militant over the years because of this as much as anything else. Teachers can barely keep up with some of the cretinous, half-arsed schemes that spoon-fed, foppish twats of politicians force upon them term after term.

Teachers have little control over what they teach or how they teach it these days. Their pedagogical methods are as prescribed as the lessons they\'re forced to teach. Bunch of arse if you ask me.

 

[Hinton]

Originally posted by treide
Thanks for your perspective, Hinton. How many years were you homeschooled?

No problem.

My sister and I were home schooled for about 3 years (7th, 8th and 9th grades for me). Badly. My father didn\'t keep records, so when we tried to enter public school (long story that I won\'t get into) I basically had to repeat those grades.

As long as there is a chance to socialize, I think home schooling can be a good option.

 

[Legacy Account]

Everyone has an opinion about education because we all did it. How many people actually know much about it? Seems to me that there are plenty of parents out there who are simply happy to blame one or two key areas for problems that run far deeper than our education system.

Very few seem to go out of their way to try and make a difference. If the local school is poor, the answer is to move away from it, not try to help sort it out. How many people who moan actually join their PTA or try to get on to the school of governors to try to sort things?

 

[Undave]

Hehe the term \"public school\" has a slightly different meaning in the UK. Most of the schools here are run by the state as I assume your public schools are. Here the \"public schools\" are the independent ones where the posh kids go because Mummy and Daddy can afford the exhorbitant fees.

As I was reading the last page I had the image of everyone on CMoN was wearing a tweed suit and a monocle like the Monty Python Upper Class Twit of the Year sketch as you all seem to have been to public school lol

 

[Ritual]

Originally posted by Spacemunkie
Teachers have little control over what they teach or how they teach it these days. Their pedagogical methods are as prescribed as the lessons they\'re forced to teach. Bunch of arse if you ask me.

Here in Sweden, the politicians have more or less massacred the pedagogical education in an attempt to give it a higher academical status, at the same time as it is easy enough to produce enough authorized teachers. The result is that the students spend their time with pointless, quasi-scientific projects, instead of learning how to teach. Also, the pedagogical diploma is held in much higher regard than the subjects they are going to teach.

 

[Evil Dave]

Originally posted by Spacemunkie
Seems to me that there are plenty of parents out there who are simply happy to blame one or two key areas for problems that run far deeper than our education system.

How dare you insinuate that the problem may be mine and that golden child that came from my loins. He\'s gifted, I tell you, special. You are obviously a poor teacher. lol

 

[Onis Lair]

mmm... Evil dave\'s loins....

I, i couldn\'t help it. It\'s Uber and megatron\'s fault for this post.

 

[Evil Dave]

Originally posted by Onis Lair
mmm... Evil dave\'s loins....

I, i couldn\'t help it. It\'s Uber and megatron\'s fault for this post.

I\'ll have you know, my loins have earned great renown in many countries of the world.
Why, statues have been erected in my honor. You know them as light houses. lol

 

[JesterzUSMC]

So yours has spinning lights at the tip?

Seriously though.
As far as the U.S. is concerned.
There are simple reasons for the piss poor education.
10% of the parents are barely able to accept responsibility of themselves, so good luck with their kids.
that 10% kids cause 98% of the disruptions in class that takes up 99% of the teachers\' time, so that the over loaded class, instead of getting even scholastic educations, are getting 1% of the teachers\' time, while the problem children don\'t have to pass and don\'t care \"no child left behind\" makes sure they don\'t suffer the humiliation of flunking, they\'ll go on to the next grade and their havok will escalate, because the teacher can\'t spank them, and their parents blame the teachers, so the kid never learns personal responsibility an then has kids and the cycle starts again.
Screw Political Correct, Screw Spare the Child.
Without EARNING your education, you don\'t LEARN to value it. Without BAD experiences, the GOOD ones lose their value, and you don\'t DEVELOP coping SKILLS that help you continue to LEARN throughout your life.
And then we end up with a generation that votes George Dubbya, the dumbest President EVER, not once BUT TWICE!!
It\'s been a good trip, but unless something VIOLENT and CATASTROPHIC happens to DECIMATE the overpopulation of idiots in the world, the intelligent people can only sit back and try to survive the RIOTOUS CHAOS that is surely around the corner.


Dangit...I ranted again....:evil::evil:

 

[Farin]

@ jester

you definetly got a point. This \"no kid is left behind\" doesn´t exist here in germany and i agree with your opinion that it will only cause those kids to feel encouraged to go on with their behaviour.

when i came to primary school in berlin that was EXACTLY the problem.we we´ve been a class of 30 kids ( much to large ) and five of the boys were total nuts. Little Psychopaths. that may sounds too hard for you, but believe me, if a tv show like nanny 911 would have had existed at this time, i would have called it immediately. Here are some examples of what they did:

dragging girls in underwear out of the changing room after P.E. or taking stuff from the other guys and threw it into the girls changing room. flushing keys down the toilet.beating up kids for now reason at all.
kicking Footballs and other stuff over the school fence , ....

well, and what did the school do ?
they talked to the parents, who where obbviously not interested in educating there kids, they talked with them (of cause they never listened ) , and finally the school pinned a note to the bulletin board saying that they were bad , uneducated students. great idea , isn´t ? appeal to the conscience of a bunch 11 year old a**:cussing: who thought it was fun to mob other kids. Don´t get me wrong im AGAINST spanking kids, but when you are confronted with such kids you should come up with a punishment that really affects them


EDIT:

just remembered that weird classmate and friend my brother had when he went to grammar school. i guess you all know Eric Cartman from Southpark. and i know that must sound like a made up story, but this kid was like a real life Cartman: he was (really) fat, spoiled and stupid. like cartman he was a only kid living with his single parent ( his dad ), who obviously never punished him and like Cartman he had an attitude that was really antisocial.

After knowing that kid for a few months, i asked my brother about him and he told me that he spend his entire day in front of computer playing videogames and eating chips (not that cheesie stuff ).

my point is, if some parents would actually care about their kids education instead of placing them in front of the tv or computer we wouldn´t have to deal with such brats

 

[Shawn R. L.]

My brother and his wife have home schooled their 5 kids and some of the cousins and they all have turned out fine. I had my doubts at first but it worked out just fine. Kind of wish I had had something like that. I was way out of synch with the regular teaching method that is a one size fits all thing. I didn\'t do very well in school and thought I was just not that bright but once I got out of school I found I wasn\'t stupid, it was just that the way information was presented was not the way I learned. I NEEDED visual\'s. Geometry totally lost me but through a mechanical drawing teacher teaching me triangulation and sheet metal layout (which made PERFECT sense to me) I learned a fair amount of geometry without even knowing it.

 

[johnboyjjb]

I intend to home school both of my daughters when the time comes. The public schools around here are swelling in class size so fast due to over development. Mix in a local government that is quite liberal about illegal immigrants and you have a school system that is very stressed. Both my wife and I went to public schools and the ones around here were ok 10 years ago, and today I wouldn\'t feel too bad about sending my kids. But I do think I can do a better job teaching them then the majority of the teachers in school.

I find that most of the problems with home schooling is that most of the parents of children are religious wackos who have way too tight a grip on their kids. I will admit that I am religious and I am certainly a wacko, but am not a religious wacko. (NSA might argue with that)

 

[paintingploddy]

Depends on the kids, who is doing the teaching and what they are teaching. It has its place though the thought of home schooled kids gives me the shivers.

 

[Roger Bunting]

@Spacemunkie. I wasn\'t making a statement on the state of our educational institutions, or placing the blame at teacher\'s for any unruly kids. I agree, it starts with the parents. My mum worked for over 20 years as an Educational Care Officer (now called Teaching Assistant or something like that), helping kids with problems such as learning difficulties, physical disabilities or bahavioral problems. She had plenty of respect for the teachers and the kids who were really causing problems usually had parents who would blame anyone and everyone but themselves. Some teachers can control classes beter than others, though.

My example was from my school days about 20 years ago, and most of the kids in that chemistry class were in other classes I had where the teacher\'s could control them. Of course, back then, the teacher\'s disciplinary powers hadn\'t been eroded as much as they are now.